The Opals that the Martian Sea Left in its Wake

The question at this point isn't whether Mars was once covered in liquid water — it's just a question of how long that water was there before it evaporated. This image provides new evidence that water washed the Martian shores for a tremendously long time. Long enough to reshape the rocks in that crater and to leave behind whole beaches of pearly, hydrated silica commonly known as opal. More »

Yes, There Is Water on Mars — But You Can't Drink It

Though NASA has been reporting for years that there is water ice on Mars, today the US space agency held a press conference to announce definitively that the Phoenix Lander has found traces of water ice on the red planet. As Phil Plait over at Bad Astronomy points out, today's announcement was really about the continuation of the Phoenix mission, which was scheduled to sunset in the next few weeks. Now that the cool lander is scooping up hunks of ice in the sticky Martian dirt (plastered into the bottom of Phoenix's scoop, above), NASA has poured enough money into the project to keep it going at least through September. But pretty much every single news source reporting the Martian water story has neglected to tell you the most important thing about this "water ice." It's probably not drinkable. More »