The Phoenix Mars lander has successfully collected water ice in one of its onboard instruments.
“We have water,” said William Boynton, lead scientist for the mission’s TEGA (Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer) instrument, which identifies the vapours produced by heating.
“We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted,” he said, referring to the craft’s instruments.