Phoenix soil test confirms water on Mars

TUCSON, July 31 (UPI) -- Scientists confirmed Thursday that water, considered an essential building block of life, does indeed exist on the planet Mars.

An analysis of a soil sample collected by the Phoenix lander detected traces of water, which exists as ice just below the red soil on the Martian surface.

"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," scientist William Boynton said in a written statement released by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Lab, "but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted."

Boynton is lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer team based at the University of Arizona.

Details of the composition of the water were not immediately released. The sample came from a 2-inch deep trench carefully carved by the lander's robotic arm.

The presence of water is one of more dramatic discoveries made by the Phoenix since it touched down on Mars near the pole May 24. NASA announced it had secured funding to extend the Phoenix mission through Sept. 30.