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Published online 20 June 2008 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2008.904

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Yes, there's ice on Mars

"Ice!" screams NASA's Phoenix lander.

Katharine Sanderson

“Whoohoo! Was keeping my eye on some chunks of bright stuff & they disappeared! Sublimated! So it can't be salt, it's ice.” That's the triumphant verdict of the Mars lander Phoenix, which yesterday boldly declared, after 24 Martian days of scratching the planet’s surface, that yes, there is ice on Mars.

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  • What is the temperature just below surface on Mars?

    • 20 Jun, 2008
    • Posted by: Krushna Mavani

  • Does that mean we have water supply if human immigrate to Mars?

    • 21 Jun, 2008
    • Posted by: Mingwu Yao

  • I don`t want to be sceptical, but could this be solid CO2. Optimist

    • 21 Jun, 2008
    • Posted by: Karthikeyan Ganesan

  • Exciting. Lets see if it's definitely not CO2 and if organics are mixed in. Maybe it's time to review the Viking data again. Could Martian life be ultra-quick to take advantage of the briefest moments of temp and humidity? Anyway, we'll see.

    • 24 Jun, 2008
    • Posted by: Robert Gertz

  • can Phoenix test the presence of organic molecules in the ice found ?

    • 24 Jun, 2008
    • Posted by: Massimiliano Tomasulo