LOS ANGELES: The Phoenix Mars Lander may have detected perchlorate, a potentially toxic substance used in rocket fuel, in soil samples taken from the Red Planet, Nasa scientists said on Monday.
The space agency said further tests were required to confirm the presence of perchlorate in Martian dirt and rule out contamination from the spacecraft. Phoenix is the latest Nasa probe to discover whether water, a crucial ingredient for life, ever flowed on Mars and if life, even in the form of microbes, exists or ever existed there.
Last week, Nasa said Phoenix had provided definitive proof that water exists on Mars after further tests on ice found by the lander in June.
A Nasa spokeswoman declined to characterize perchlorate as detrimental to life. But perchlorate, an oxidizing substance, is known to be harmful to humans under certain circumstances and its existence in the soil could suggest that Mars is less hospitable to life than the scientists have so far believed.
"This is surprising since an earlier (Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer) measurement of surface materials was consistent with but not conclusive of the presence of perchlorate," Phoenix chief investigator Peter Smith said. "While we have not completed our process on these soil samples we have very interesting intermediate results," he said. He said an initial analysis suggested soil similar to that on Earth but further examinations had revealed "un-Earthlike aspects of the soil chemistry."
Seva posted Re:Toxics found in Mars soil on 1 month ago
It will be interesting to find out from where these toxics came - whether natural to Mars' soil, or were created on Mars through the polluting and contaminating activities of Martians, or due to the contamination by visiting spacecraft from Earth?
Too bad for those who believed that poles of Mars have the same soil as Earth's gardens.
It will be interesting to find out from where these toxics came - whether natural to Mars' soil, or were created on Mars through the polluting and contaminating activities of Martians, or due to the contamination by visiting spacecraft from Earth?