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US spacecraft Odyssey finds sign of water ice on mars
Initial scientific results from Mars Odyssey spacecraft indicate that Mars may hold vast amount of frozen water, scientists from the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said on Friday. At a press conference at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, scientists unveiled the first images sent back by Odyssey, which was launched in 2001 and officially began to map the Mars last week. The preliminary data gathered by the spacecraft portend some " tantalizing findings," including possible identification of large areas of frozen water on the red planet's surface, scientists believe. The signal is the detection of high content of hydrogen, one component of water. New measurements by Odyssey's gamma-ray spectrometer instrument show the presence of significant amounts of hydrogen in the south polar region of Mars. Preliminary assessment of the data also indicates the likely presence of hydrogen in the upper few feet of the Martian surface, in an area about 400 miles (644 kilometers) across. Scientists said the significant amount of hydrogen is most likely due to water ice, but they also pointed out that the amount of ice cannot be quantified yet and further analysis is needed to confirm the results.
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