Los Angeles Times
PASADENA, Calif. — Just days after starting its science mission, a new spacecraft orbiting Mars has struck paydirt, detecting vast fields of ice that scientists say provide evidence of sufficient water to make it possible for the planet to have harbored life.
The discovery is a coup for NASA, whose leaders are using a "follow the water" strategy to understand the evolution of Mars and look for signs of past and present life there. The presence of water would also be key to any future attempt to have astronauts explore the Martian surface.
"Water is vital to life. Water has changed the surface of Mars in the past. And water is essential to the future exploration of Mars," Stephen Saunders, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s project scientist for the Odyssey orbiter, said at a media conference Friday at JPL to release the findings.
The normally cautious scientists were able to make strong conclusions so quickly because "we really have a whopping large signal," said William Boynton, a planetary scientist from the University of Arizona who directs the instrument that detected the ice. "It really just blew us away when we looked at it."
Boynton’s team used a gamma ray spectrometer to probe the chemistry of the Martian surface. The instrument can detect the chemical constituents on the surface, including the hydrogen atoms contained in water molecules, by analyzing the unique gamma ray signatures emitted by each element.
The instrument has been called a "virtual shovel" because it can read signals from underneath the ground, in the shallow surface layers of Mars.
"The signal we’re getting is loud and clear. There’s lots of ice on Mars," Boynton said. "We’re not just looking at surface frost. It’s a fair amount of ice."
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