How has Phoenix on Mars both discovered and tasted water?”
There was a minor glitch that caused the arm that scoops the soil from the surface into the analyzer to be clogged with the soil. But after some maneuvering of the arm, another sample was taken and successfully delivered to the analyzer. That analysis positively showed water as the sample was heated and broken down into its constituent elements. This is what they mean by “tasting water”. Water on means that it can be mined for fuel and other uses by future probes and manned missions. It will make those missions cheaper since water will not have to be boosted into orbit from Earth, and all the way to Mars. It could be used by future farmers on Mars to nourish crops grown in a biodome. Just because there is water does not mean there is life. No evidence of past or present life has been found. This is not a huge surprise. Earlier, soil fragments had been observed to disappear, and it was theorized that those were fragments of ice evaporating in the sunlight. Now the chemical analysis has
