Ice water on Mars!!!
Date: Saturday, January 24 2004
Topic: Science & Technology
DARMSTADT, Germany -- Europe's Mars orbiter has confirmed the presence of water in the form of ice on the red planet's surface for the first time, the European Space Agency said Friday.
Mars Express, circling high above the surface, made the discovery on the planet's south pole, agency scientist Allen Moorehouse said.
"You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint and say this is water ice," Moorehouse said. "This is the first time it's been detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation."
European scientists say they have discovered ice water on Mars
Canadian Press
Friday, January 23, 2004
DARMSTADT, Germany -- Europe's Mars orbiter has confirmed the presence of water in the form of ice on the red planet's surface for the first time, the European Space Agency said Friday.
Mars Express, circling high above the surface, made the discovery on the planet's south pole, agency scientist Allen Moorehouse said.
"You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint and say this is water ice," Moorehouse said. "This is the first time it's been detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation."
If Mars once had surface water, it could have the potential to support life - although Moorehouse, the project's manager of spacecraft operations, cautioned that it was too early to draw conclusions.
Agency officials said that their discovery confirmed something that scientists long suspected.
"It's been looked at for such a long time and it's been inferred there was water" at the south pole, said Jean-Pierre Bibring of the European Space Agency.
Bibring said the evidence was vapours of water molecules detected by the infrared camera aboard the Mars Express circling the planet.
"This is the first time we can really see vapours of the molecules
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