Nasa's Phoenix Mars lander spacecraft has identified water in a sample of soil collected on the planet for the first time. Scientists will now be able to begin studying the sample to see whether the planet was ever, or is, habitable.
"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," William Boynton, one of the researchers on the mission, explained.
"We're also finding nutrients - sodium, potassium, magnesium, fluorides - things that we find in our own bodies and are definitely nutrients that are important for life. However, we have yet to discover organic materials."
Well, if there is life on Mars, I'm hoping it's Dejah Thoris...
Nasa's lander samples Mars water
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