The Phoenix Mars robotic spacecraft, having survived a hair-raising arrival on the red planet, immediately struck gold, or rather ice.

(Please see Space & Missile Defense Report, Monday, May 26, 2008.)

In landing on the frigid northern polar region of Mars, Phoenix kicked up dust to expose what appears to be a precious commodity vital for any human habitation on the nearest planet: water.

Because of the bitterly cold temperatures, the water is frozen into ice, but nonetheless it is an invaluable find. Water, two hydrogen molecules and one oxygen molecule, can provide elements humans must have: water for drinking and bathing, oxygen for breathing, and hydrogen for fuel to burn in an oxygen atmosphere to create power and to heat residential and work buildings that would be constructed on Mars.

To help explore the Martian soil to see what amounts of water might lurk beneath the dusty surface (regolith), Phoenix managed to unfurl its robotic arm and is set to dig down and see what subterranean treasures may lurk below.

Then it will examine the scoops of soil and ice in mini laboratories aboard Phoenix.

It is doubly fortunate that Phoenix may have found ice quickly, because the spacecraft has a cruelly short life expectancy. In just a few months, the long, dark polar winter will close in, and the interminable darkness will rob Phoenix of the sunlight that it requires to generate the electrical power that now is keeping it alive. Once the polar night begins, the spacecraft slowly will freeze to death.

In contrast, far to the south, in much warmer equatorial climes, two Mars rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, are still ticking years after their design lives were to end. They continue to roam the planet surface on a geological expedition to see what Mars is made of, research that is invaluable for future human visits.

Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT] made Phoenix and the rovers.