Nasa scientists said tonight they had definitive proof that water exists on Mars after further tests on ice found on the planet in June by the Phoenix Mars Lander.
"We have water," said William Boynton, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer instrument on Phoenix.
"We've seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted," he said, referring to the craft's instruments.
Nasa also extended the mission of the Phoenix Mars Lander by five weeks, saying its work was moving beyond the search for water to exploring whether the red planet was ever capable of sustaining life.
"We are extending the mission through September 30th," Michael Meyer, chief scientist for Nasa’s Mars exploration program, told a televised news conference.
The extension will add about $2 million to the $420 million cost of landing Phoenix on May 25th for what was a scheduled three-month mission, Mr Meyer said.
Phoenix is the latest Nasa attempt to discover whether water - a crucial ingredient for life - ever flowed on Mars and whether life, even in the form of mere microbes, exists or ever existed there.
Phoenix touched down in May on an ice sheet and samples of the ice were seen melting away in photographs taken by the lander's instruments in June.
Mr Boynton said that water was positively identified after the lander's robotic arm delivered a soil sample yesterday to an instrument that identifies vapors produced by heating.
Mission scientists said the extension would give time for more analysis of Martian samples. They plan to dig two additional trenches - dubbed "cupboard" and "neverland" - using the robotic arm on the Phoenix craft.
"We hope to be able to answer the question of whether this was a habitable zone on Mars. It will be for future missions to find if anyone is home on this environment," Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith told the news conference.
REUTERS