Scientists: Martian soil similar to Chile’s desert
Perchlorate find still needs confirmation; it wouldn’t rule out habitability

The most surprising thing is that some of Phoenix's soil samples appear to contain chemicals that are found in rocket fuel — and in the natural soil of Chile's Atacama Desert, one of the places on Earth considered most like Mars.

That was the mixed message emerging from Tuesday's teleconference for journalists, which NASA organized in the wake of leaked reports that the Phoenix team had come upon unexpected findings about Mars' potential habitability.

"It doesn't limit us in our search for habitability in this icy soil," Smith said. "And if we were lucky enough to see some organic signatures, it would not be a huge surprise, I think, that they were co-existing with perchlorates."

So do Phoenix's findings make it more or less likely that Mars was once hospitable to life? "It probably comes down on the positive side rather than the negative," Smith said.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26043028/