i escape

Scientists rejoiced after the Phoenix Mars lander confirmed their long-held belief that ice is hiding under the surface in the Red Planet's northern region.

The lander's robotic arm started digging trenches into Martian soil after touching down near the planet's north pole on May 25, revealing a white substance that scientists had said could be either salt or ice.

Phoenix flexed its arm again to enlarge a trench on June 15. It then took pictures of eight bright bits of material the size of dice inside the hole, which scientists dubbed "Dodo-Goldilocks."

When the lander took new photographs of the trench four days later on Thursday, the material had vanished, settling the debate about whether it was salt or ice.

"Now we know for sure that we are on an icy surface and we can really meet the science goal of our mission at the highest level," Phoenix science team member Mark Lemmon said.

Besides evidence of water, the three-month Phoenix mission is also hoping to find life-supporting organic minerals in the polar region.

The probe is equipped with oven-like instruments that can melt any ice collected by the robotic arm and analyze the water.