Confirmed: Water Ice On Mars
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on June 23, 2008 at 1:38:31 PM
A huge breakthrough was discovered last week on Mars. The NASA Phoenix lander has found water ice. This is a big discovery since it ads a bunch of questions. How did it get there? Why is still there? Is are a big store of water ice?
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Bathed in martian sunlight for four days, the white substance sublimated--i.e., it transformed from solid to gas without passing through the liquid state. This is how water behaves on Mars. Atmospheric pressure on the Red Planet is so low (1% that of Earth), it rarely allows H2O to exist in liquid form on the planet's surface; solid and gas are the only options. Some readers have asked, how do we know the white substance is not frozen CO2 (dry ice) instead of frozen water? Answer: Phoenix's landing site is too warm for dry ice. The average daily temperature is about -70 F while dry ice requires temperatures lower than about -109 F.