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US space agency Nasa says it has proof that water exists on Mars, after further tests on ice found on the planet in June by the Phoenix Mars Lander.
Scientists will now study the sample to see whether or not there has been life on the red planet.
"We have water," lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyser instrument on Phoenix, William Boynton, said this morning.
Dr Boynton says traces of water have only been observed from a distance before by the Mars orbiter.
"But we've now finally touched it and tasted it. That's one thing that hasn't been done before and I'd like to say from my standpoint, it tastes very fine, I'm very glad to be in this position."
Nasa has extended the Phoenix Lander's mission by five weeks, saying its work is moving beyond the search for water to exploring whether the red planet was ever capable of sustaining life.
The extension will add about US$2 million to the US$420 million cost of landing Phoenix on May 25 for what was a scheduled three-month mission, Dr Meyer said.
Phoenix is the latest Nasa bid to discover whether water - a crucial ingredient for life - ever flowed on Mars and whether life, even in the form of mere microbes, exists or ever existed there.
Phoenix touched down in May on an ice sheet and samples of the ice were seen melting away in photographs taken by the lander's instruments in June.
Dr Boynton said that water was positively identified after the lander's robotic arm delivered a soil sample on Wednesday to an instrument that identifies vapours produced by heating.
Mission scientists said the extension would give time for more analysis of Martian samples.
They plan to dig two additional trenches - dubbed "cupboard" and "neverland" - using the robotic arm on the Phoenix craft.
"We hope to be able to answer the question of whether this was a habitable zone on Mars. It will be for future missions to find if anyone is home on this environment," Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith told the news conference.
Mission scientists said in June that Martian soil was more alkaline than expected and had traces of magnesium, sodium, potassium and other elements. They described the findings as a "huge step forward".
Dr Meyer said the scientific proof of the existence of water meant that Phoenix could "move from looking for water to seeing whether there were habitats for life".
"We are moving towards understanding whether there were or could be places on Mars that are habitable," Dr Meyer said.
- NASA, Radio Australia