Mars Plus Water Plus Web Equals NASA Mess

Most of the time when perchlorates make news on Earth it is because they have been found as contaminants in drinking water. But the substance exists in benign and naturally occurring forms in places such as Chile's hyper-dry Atacama desert.

Scientist initially believed perchlorates would render such environments unsuitable for life, but after more thorough studies in Atacama, researchers discovered bacterial life forms that not only could co-exist with the substance, but were using it as an energy source.

"The story possibility could turn out to be the same for Mars. We don't know yet," said Richard Quinn, a soils expert and Phoenix science team member from the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif.

Added Hecht, "We've only begun to think about some of these ideas and what their implications might be" on Mars.

Science and the Internet

The discovery of perchlorates on Mars may be a fluke. Scientists are about midway along a painstaking process to rule out other sources of the compound, such as inadvertent contamination by the booster rocket that helped send Phoenix on its way to Mars.

"It's very unlikely, but we're certainly going to look at it," Smith said.

The team also is testing a brew concocted to mirror the chemistry of Mars to see if similar results are found in Phoenix-type soil analyzers in laboratories on Earth. Finally, Phoenix will take a second sample from the exact spot where perchlorates were first found to see if another science instrument will yield the same finding.

Phoenix's suite of instruments includes tiny ovens to heat soil samples, sensors to identify released gases, and miniature chemistry tests that add water to soil to test for soluble ions. Discoveries of perchlorates were made in two water tests.

"Just as we reach conclusions as human beings using all our senses -- our sight, our sense of smell, our hearing, Phoenix was designed with an array of different tools to evaluate soil properties," Hecht said.

If the finding is verified, the discovery will be documented in a formal report, submitted to a scientific journal for evaluation by experts not affiliated with the project and finally published. It is usually at that point that the finding would be made public.

"We don't want to come to you in the media and say we found chocolate on Mars and two weeks later flip-flop and say we made a mistake, it was strawberry," said Hecht."That hurts our reputation. That hurts your reputation. So we want to make sure we get it right."

"When we see something on the Internet that is in fact a speculation, that is attributed to us, and that is wrong that does indeed change the equation a little bit," he added. "All of us here have the same objective, which is to send a consistent story to the public and one in which we believe is correct."

Related Links:

Discovery Space

Irene Klotz's blog: Free Space

Mars Phoenix Mission

How Stuff Works: Mars Phoenix Lander