'œHoly Cow!' Martian ice just under Phoenix

William Atkins
Sunday, 01 June 2008 18:58

Science - Space

If the scientists can verify this discovery of ice on Mars, then it adds evidence that the planet was much warmer in its most distant past, and may have supported life.

With frozen water (ice) present on the planet, this spacecraft and others on future missions can explore the surface and subsurface for signs that primitive life may have existed at one time.

Smith stated, "Ice is a great preserver and it's one of the building blocks of life."

The name of this patch of ice has been given the name “Holy Cow!” by the Smith team.

Smith commented on the depth of their find, "We were expecting to find ice within two to six inches of the surface. The thrusters have excavated two to six inches and, sure enough, we see something that looks like ice. It's not impossible that it's something else, but our leading interpretation is ice." [Space.com: “New Images From Phoenix Lander May Show Martian Ice”]

He added, "We were worried that it may be 30, 40, 50 centimeters deep, which would be a lot of work. Now we are fairly certain that we can easily get down to the ice table.” (Thirty to fifty centimeters equals about 11.8 to 19.7 inches) [CNN]

The next step of the Phoenix team is to dig into the patch of ice and test it for signs of organic compounds, which would lend evidence to the planet’s ability in the distant past of supporting microscopic life.

This three-month mission to the cold northern reaches of Mars is turning out to be quite interesting and informative to astronomers and scientists all around the world. It has the potential to make many discoveries so we can add more knowledge as to how our solar system came to be, and how Mars evolved over billions of years.

We have yet to find evidence of life outside of Earth.

This mission, and future missions to Mars and other bodies out there in the solar system, could eventually produce valid proof that extraterrestrial life exists (or once existed) in our local volume of space. Such scientific pursuits adds to our bits and pieces of information on possible life in the Universe.

Similar studies are being pursued by astronomers as they explore extrasolar planets (exoplanets), or planets circling stars other than our Sun. With 293 exoplanets so far discovered (as of May 2008), we are learning more about the likelihood of life outside our home planet, and what it takes to get life started on a planet such as ours.