Mars Lander Takes Sample of Water for Testing

BBC News: “Nasa’s Lander Samples Mars Water” NASA’s Phoenix lander has identified water in a soil sample collected from Mars—no small source of excitement for those who proclaim “where there’s water, there’s life.”

For the first time since Phoenix landed in late May, the probe has successfully transferred water ice (within a soil sample) to its onboard lab. Scientists will now spend weeks (or likely longer!) analyzing the sample “to see whether the planet was ever, or is, habitable,” reports the BBC.

Boynton is referring to a possible sighting of ice last month.

As William Boynton, a mission researcher, explained, “We’ve seen evidence for this water-ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted.” Boynton is referring to a possible sighting of ice last month, which we reported on in “More Ice on Mars?”

Of course, the excitement over the water ice is almost completely driven by evolutionists’ hopes that if there is water on Mars, there may be—could be—may have been—just maybe—some evidence of life on Mars as well. The Phoenix researchers will now look for any sign of organic materials in the sample, even while speculating on the “history of the ice” (whether it has melted before), according to mission chief Peter Smith.

Our comments from “More Ice on Mars?” still apply well to the current news:

[T]his particular icy discovery should cause a cold feeling for evolutionists, who would much prefer to find liquid water but instead have found only this scant evidence of subsurface ice. And of course, the very idea that liquid or frozen water on Mars is a “big thing” comes straight from the evolutionary faith that where there’s water, life will follow. In fact, that’s the entire premise of today’s Martian landers.

We suspect that, after coming up with either no clear evidence of organic materials or only contradictory/inconclusive evidence, the Phoenix researchers will nonetheless claim the ice discovery as a major find related to Martian habitability—which will in turn lead to future probes and an ever-continuing search for life on the planet. The question we politely (and rhetorically) submit is, what evidence could NASA find that would completely quell evolutionist’s hopes for life on Mars?

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