Photo courtesy NASA/JPL-Calech/University of Arizona An artist conception of the Phoenix Lander touching down on Mars. image:40380:3::0

Last week, the Phoenix Mars Lander was analyzing the dirt by testing them with its on board equipment. There have been some glitches in the analyzing process, and scientists are working to correct them soon. In the meantime, NASA scientists had a chance to compare the images of the surface of Mars after dirt was dug up by the Lander.

Initially, a portion of the surface was exposed and they found a white-colored substance. NASA scientists speculated it was ice, but they were not sure. When they compared the images that were taken few days apart, they could see some of the white clumps disappeared from the surface, leading some to believe that it really may be ice after all.

Phoenix Principal Investigator Peter Smith of the University of Arizona, Tucson told reporters in a news conference Friday:

"It is with great pride and a lot of joy that I announce today that we have found proof that this hard bright material is really water ice and not some other substance,"

Nasa.gov These color images were acquired by NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander's Surface Stereo Imager on the 21st and 25th days of the mission, or Sols 20 and 24 (June 15 and 19, 2008). These images show sublimation of ice in the trench informally called "Dodo-Goldilocks" over the course of four days. In the lower left corner of the left image, a group of lumps is visible. In the right image, the lumps have disappeared, similar to the process of evaporation. image:41099:2::0

Smith said ice is not the only thing they are interested in; they want to find minerals, organic materials, chemicals etc., along with it.

The Lander carries enough instruments to analyze the soil and determine whether microbial life ever existed on Mars. In addition to water, they can look for any organic compounds, providing evidence of the chemical building blocks and energy needed to sustain life.

Scientists are overjoyed about the confirmation of water ice on the surface of Mars and anticipate even bigger discoveries from the robotic mission in the weeks ahead.

Doug McCuistion at NASA Headquarters, Washington, director of the space agency's Mars Program said in a press release:

"This specific discovery is the result of an outstanding team working with a robust spacecraft that has allowed them to work ahead of their original science schedule."

Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station, lead scientist for Phoenix's Surface Stereo Imager camera, was one of the scientists who analyzed the two images (one taken June 15 and the other taken June 19). He said the disappearing small chunks in the images clearly shows evidence of water ice and not any other substance like carbon-dioxide ice because the latter is very unstable at local temperatures present on Mars.

This discovery will lead them to carry out other experiments to find evidence of life on Mars.

For more about Phoenix Mars Lander’s mission and images, click here or here.