Water on Mars Found by the Phoenix Mars Lander
Evidence of H20 on Earth's Neighboring Planet
Jun 25, 2009
With the confirmation of water on Mars validated, many more possibilities exist that there may be or that there had been some kind of molecular life on the mostly arid planet. As the evidence for water gets more and more absolute, new instruments and experiments are being developed to uncover additional information about the water that exists on Mars.
Phoenix Mars Lander and its Water Discovery
In June of 2008 Phoenix identified water in a soil sample it collected. "We have water," Said the lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) from the University of Arizona, William Boynton. TEGA worked in conjunction with NASA to study the samples collected on Mars. The Mars Odyssey orbiter saw evidence of this water ice, but it's the first time that Martian water has been positively detected, Boynton added referring to Phoenix's discovery.
Although communications have ceased with the Phoenix Mars Lander, it performed its mission well and delivered on the promise to find water. The Lander has opened new doors for further testing to find out more about the water on Mars and to see if there are underground deposits as well.
Saline Liquid Water on Mars
The water that the Phoenix Mars Lander discovered is saline, or brine water. This has important implications for the possibility of habitability on Mars because saline water has shown to allow conditions for bacterial life to exist says Nilton Renno. A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Renno holds a PhD in atmospheric sciences and was one of the leading scientists of the Phoenix Mars Mission.
Renno believes bacterial life on Mars' saline water is possible due to the recent discovery beneath an Antarctic glacier of ancient microbes living in frigid saline water. In addition, highly saline environments in the super dry Atacama Desert in Chile also form habitable environments.
New Instrument to Potentially Detect Underground Water on Mars
The Mars Time Domain Electromagnetic Sounder (MTDEM) is a prototype that could be used to detect groundwater deep inside Mars. The MTDEM generates electrical currents in the ground using induction so that secondary magnetic fields are detected at the planetary surface, a report in Science Daily titled 'New Instrument Has Potential To Detect Water Deep Underground On Mars' explains. The instrument was tested by a group of scientists and engineers led by Dr. Robert Grimm, a director in the Space Science and Engineering Division at Southwest Research Institute.
"Groundwater that has been out of atmospheric circulation for eons will be very salty," Dr. Grimm stated. "It is a near-ideal exploration target for inductive systems." He added. Other surface-penetrating radars that are orbiting Mars now, like MARSIS and SHARAD can't look through solid rock to find water like the MTDEM can. The tests done on the prototype by the team of scientists gave very promising results and the MTDEM should be able to detect groundwater at depths up to 3 miles.
It is quite possible that the liquid water on Mars could be a habitable zone for microbes. So with the evidence of water on Mars, instruments such as the MTDEM and other orbiting radars and probes from NASA, it is only a matter of time before the existence of Martian life forms is detected.
