[Rockhounds] Perchlorate found in Martian soil

[Kreigh Tomaszewski]

New soil chemistry tests by NASA's Phoenix Mars lander have  
unexpectedly uncovered evidence of perchlorate, a highly reactive salt  
found naturally on Earth and used in a variety of products, including  
fertilizer, fireworks and rocket fuel, scientists said Tuesday.

  The finding has surprised scientists evaluating results from Phoenix,  
but they denied that the presence of large amounts of the salt would  
render Mars uninhabitable.

"It might even be a positive" indicator for habitability, said Peter  
Smith, principal investigator on the Phoenix mission.

  On Earth, perchlorate is found most abundantly in the surface soils of  
Chile's Atacama Desert, which coincidentally has long served as a  
Martian stand-in for researchers trying to understand conditions on the  
Red Planet.

See...

	http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-sci-phoenix6- 
2008aug06,0,4986721.story

...for the rest of the story (long url may wrap).

I note that Science Fiction writers (Clark, Baxter, etc) have predicted  
perchlorates in martian soils.

Chlorine makes fun minerals.

Enjoy!

Kreigh


P.S., I'm leaving MI for a week's vacation to Denver (to visit my  
oldest daughter) Friday morning, including a day collecting trip with a  
list member. I hope my mailbox doesn't fill up with spam before I get  
back; I'll probably catch you later.