Nasa's Mars Phoenix lander has been twittering like crazy since yesterday's announcement that it had found water ice on the Red Planet.
"I can now say I'm the first mission to Mars to touch and then taste the water," it told Phoenix fans back on Earth.
The analysis from the scientists was only slightly more sober. "We have water," said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the lander's Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument. "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."
So what does Phoenix think about its find? Here are some highlights from the Twitter feed.
I've seen water ice before but this is big news because it's 1st time EVER H20 has been collected/measured.
It was a bit of a surprise. Assumed I was placing a dry sample (with ice sublimated already) into oven, but it still had ice.
Sample still being analyzed for other stuff e.g., mineral content and possibility of organic material.
Full TEGA testing will take many more days, heating the remaining soil to higher temps; analyzing the stuff will take some time.
Nasa also has a cool video of the Mars panorama and one of a practice soil sample delivery on Earth. And for all the latest news from the Red Planet visit our Mars special page.
