Continue reading

17-03-09 Did Mars Phoenix Find Liquid Water?

The Mars Phoenix Lander conked out in November,ending the active mission of the robotic scientist,but the results of its five months of research on Martian geology are still coming in.In a late-breaking update,some Phoenix scientists now declare that they spotted several drops of liquid salt water on the lander’s legs;this would be the first time liquid water has been detected and photographed beyond Earth.The researcher who proposed the hypothesis,Nilton Renno,was careful to say,“This is not a proof.” But he added:“I think the evidence is overwhelming.It’s not circumstantial evidence” [The New York Times]. Liquid water would boost the possibility that microbial life could survive beneath the Martian surface Image Mars water