The Phoenix Mars Lander has spent months searching for liquid on the Red Planet. Now it appears that water has found the intrepid spacecraft.
Several photographs taken by Nasa's explorer show what look like water droplets clinging to one of its robotic landing struts.
Nilton Renno, a professor from Michigan University and co-investigator on the Phoenix mission analysed the images alongside several colleagues.
The droplets appear to darken and merge in the series of images, which Professor Renno said could prove they are made of liquid water.
However, the Phoenix landed on the polar northern plains of the planet. Temperatures here never warmed above -15 degrees Fahrenheit during the six months the spacecraft was operational last year, so liquid should not have been present.
But the team said that salts may have lowered the freezing temperature of the Martian water droplets to minus 90 degrees, or more than 120 degrees colder than the usual freezing temperature of 32 degrees for pure water.
However, the Phoenix landed on the polar northern plains of the planet. Temperatures here never warmed above -15 degrees Fahrenheit during the six months the spacecraft was operational last year, so liquid should not have been present.
But the team said that salts may have lowered the freezing temperature of the Martian water droplets to minus 90 degrees, or more than 120 degrees colder than the usual freezing temperature of 32 degrees for pure water.
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