Scientists say an analysis of a soil sample by the Mars Lander Phoenixshows that Mars could support life. VOA's Jessica Berman reports.

This image taken by the Surface Stereo Imager on NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander shows the lander's Robotic Arm scoop positioned over the Wet Chemistry Lab delivery funnel, 25 Jun 2008

Scientistswith the US space agency NASA appear to have finally found what theywere seeking when they sent Phoenix millions of kilometers to the Redplanet.

When the lander analyzed soil it had scooped up twoweeks ago, water vapor was released when the lander heated the dirt toover 538 degrees centigrade.

Sam Kovanis is lead chemist with the Phoenix Mars project at the University of Arizona.

"Thisis the first wet chemical analysis on the Martian soil and any otherplanet besides Earth, and we were all flabbergasted with the data wegot back," said Sam Kovanis.

To the surprise of scientists, thesoil was not too acidic to sustain life.  In fact, Kovanis says itappears to contain enough minerals that make Earth bound plantsflourish.

"We basically have found what appears to be therequirements, the nutrients, to support life, whether past, present orfuture, the sort of soil you have there, the type of soil you'dprobably have in your backyard, alkaline, you might be able to growasparagus in it really well, strawberries not very well," he said. "Andagain, this is one more piece of evidence showing that the soil's outthere by some sort of liquid water action in the history of Mars."

Atthis point, scientists say they are can only measure the chemistry ofthe Red planet, not determine what, if any, life inhabited Mars.