Soil samples taken from "Snow White" trench, shown here on July 8, 2008, were found to contain the highly oxidizing substance perchlorate after analysis in the Phoenix Mars Lander's Wet Chemistry Laboratory. (Photograph by NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/Texas A&M University)From Popular Mechanics:
Despite today’s findings of toxic perchlorate in Martian soil, NASA is not ready to write off life on Mars; leading space scientists point to earthbound extremeophiles that process the substance.
Less than a week after NASA announced that its Phoenix Lander has positively identified water on Mars, the agency today dampened enthusiasm for the search for Martian life by announcing the probe has found a toxic chemical that is not friendly to life. Although media leaks of today's announcement started the buzz on indications that life could not exist on the planet, scientists inside and out of the Phoenix program hold out hope that Mars could still harbor organisms.
NASA's announcement this afternoon detailed the presence of a highly oxidizing substance called perchlorate in the planet's soil—making Martian life a long shot because the highly reactive salt would break down organic compounds. Samples of Martian soil containing perchlorate have been tested in two labs on the Phoenix Mars Lander: the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA) and the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA). NASA is now ready to report the results from both machines.
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