History of Ice on Mars

Via NASA, several years back:

May 28, 2002: Using instruments on NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft, surprised scientists have found enormous quantities of buried treasure lying just under the surface of Mars -- enough water ice to fill Lake Michigan twice over. And that may be only the tip of the iceberg.

And here's a year ago:

Mars' South Pole Ice Deep and Wide

03.15.07

Pasadena, Calif. -- New measurements of Mars' south polar region indicate extensive frozen water. The polar region contains enough frozen water to cover the whole planet in a liquid layer approximately 11 meters (36 feet) deep. A joint NASA-Italian Space Agency instrument on the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft provided these data.

And then two months ago at Daily Galaxy

May 8, 2008

"is not a dead planet -it undergoes climate changes that are even more pronounced than on Earth."

James Head of Brown University

The prevailing thinking is that is a planet whose active climate has been confined to the distant past. About 3.5 billion years ago, the Red Planet had extensive flowing water and then fell quiet - deadly quiet. It didn't seem the climate had changed much since. Now, recent studies by scientists at Brown University show that Mars' climate has been much more dynamic than previously believed.

Via Faux News, just under a month ago:

Sunday, June 01, 2008 — Sharp new images received Saturday from the Phoenix lander largely convinced scientists that the spacecraft's thrusters had uncovered a large patch of ice just below the Martian surface, team members said.

That bodes well for the mission's main goal of digging for ice that can be tested for evidence of organic compounds that are the chemical building blocks of life.

via Voice Of America, 22 hours ago:

Scientists Confirm There Is Ice On Mars
25 June 2008

...

"It is enormously significant because water, liquid water specifically, but water in any variety is the fundamental building block of carbon-based life as we understand it," Launius said. "So having it present there and perhaps having it present in great abundance might mean that there was life that evolved on Mars."

The scientists hope to drop soil with ice into small ovens on the lander for analysis. That could provide information about the climate history of the red planet and possible evidence of organic compounds.

"If we can show that right here in our solar system that life started twice, independently. Then that would tell us, I think conclusively that life is common in the universe," NASA scientist Chris McKay said.

All of which is exciting news for those of us hoping to get off this rock, and/or eagerly awaiting confirmation of life elsewhere in the cosmos.

But is it even news? Turns out, if I'd just been keeping tabs on the European Space Agency, I'd have already seen photos of standing ice on Mars three years ago.

28 July 2005
These images, taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on board ESA’s Mars Express spacecraft, show a patch of water ice sitting on the floor of an unnamed crater near the Martian north pole.

UPDATE: July 31st, 2008: NASA finally admits there's water on Mars. Turns out the water table is just 2 inches below the ground! The Phoenix lander dug down two inches, and found water ice.