Mars Probe Phoenix after two weeks efforts has successfully dug Martian soil for the first time. Soon after the digging of the soil it started analyzing its compound character including the probability of availability of water in the planet. The amount of the sample is 200 ML and is topped by a white crust. Now the sample is debated for it being ice or salt deposit from evaporated water among NASA scientists.

 

For NASA scientist and Phoenix mission chief Peter Smith it is a good sample and really an important occasion. He told media persons that now the question is poised to make a measurement for the first time of the polar soil that will tell how much water is in the soil, and secondly what the minerals are that make up the soil. Further he added that the major question is to find out whether ice believed to be under the Martian soil has already melted and changed the composition of the soil.

 

Landed on moon on May 25, Phoenix will collect two more samples of Martian soil over the next few days, said Phoenix mission chief Mat Robinson, at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in Pasadena, California. The issue with the Phoenix Probe is that it is not equipped to test Martian soil for fossils or living microbes. Interestingly, Phoenix Probe has already send many photos of red planet to earth.