On Thursday, scientists working on the Phoenix project revealed new information with regard to the on-site ongoing procedures.  

After having stirred up a Martian soil sample, the spacecraft’s robotic laboratory managed to identify certain chemicals that are currently being used by plants and microbes on Earth.

The Phoenix Lander is now continuing the work of Opportunity and Spirit, NASA’s Mars rovers that have spent about four years on the Red Planet’s surface. Judging by data gathered by the two rovers, it was announced that the Red Planet was too salty to sustain life. The early planet’s high concentration of minerals in water appears to have made it inhospitable to even the most powerful microbes. Therefore, the new information scientists are now working with can be seen as quite a breakthrough.

The soil was found to be highly alkaline – which is in fact a feature that supports certain types of primitive organisms in Antarctica. William Boynton of the University of Arizona in Tucson, currently in charge with the Phoenix lab, considers the results to be "spectacular."

The operation was carried out as follows: the soil sample was mixed with water brought from Earth in the solid state and the mixture was then heated at temperatures ranging from 400 to 1,800 degrees. During the heating process carbon dioxide was driven off and Martian water vapor traces were revealed.

Samuel Kounaves, a Tufts University chemist, reported the discovery of nutrient minerals in the soil, such as soluble magnesium, sodium, potassium as well as several chloride compounds.

As the mission has encountered a few setbacks along the way so far, everyone is hoping for things to run smoothly from now on and for good news, such as those received this week, to keep on coming.