Phoenix scientists soon will analyze Martian ice

Scientists with the US Phoenix lander will make their first analysis of Martian ice fragments in coming days but it could be the last done in one of the probe's small ovens, NASA said on its website Friday.

A team of engineers and scientists were trying to get to the bottom of what caused a short-circuit on the TEGA (Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer) which has four small ovens able to heat samples of Martian soil up to 1,000 degrees Celsius.

"Since there is no way to assess the probability of another short circuit occurring, we are taking the most conservative approach and treating the next sample to TEGA as possibly our last," said the University of Arixona's Peter Smith, Phoenix's principal investigator and top mission scientific official.

TEGA is vital to determining whether Martian ice contains organic or carbon-based compounds which would be essential for life on Mars.

Phoenix officials believe the short-circuit in oven number four was caused by vibrations that jolted the lander for days as scientists moved it to get a grainy soil sample into the lander.

A soil sample picked up by the lander's robotic arm in the trench dubbed "Snow White" should be in Phoenix's "optical microscope on Thursday, and if material remains in the scoop, the rest will be deposited in the Wet Chemistry Laboratory, possibly early on Sunday," NASA said.

"In a few days the Phoenix team will conduct tests so the instruments can deliver the icy sample quickly, so no materials sublimate, or change from a solid to a vapor, during the delivery process," mission officials said.

"Once the sample is delivered to the chemistry experiment, Smith said the highest priority will be obtaining the ice-rich sample and delivering it to TEGA's oven number zero," they added in a statement.

On June 20, NASA scientists announced that the Phoenix Mars lander confirmed a long-held belief that ice is hiding under the surface in the Red Planet's northern region.

The lander's robotic arm started digging trenches into Martian soil after touching down near the planet's north pole on May 25, revealing a white substance that scientists have said was ice.

NASA scientists said they will analyze ice fragments in the TEGA oven; if the ice contains impurities the results could speak volumes of the climate history in that area of the Red Planet.

Mars is currently too cold for water to flow, but it is possible that in a distant past the polar regions saw higher temperatures and had liquid water, according to the scientists.

Phoenix's mission is to search for water and organic components to see if a primitive form of life was possible on Mars.

The Phoenix probe does not have the instruments necessary to detect microorganisms.

© 2008 AFP

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