“We have water,” said William Boynton of the University of Arizona, lead scientist for the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer, or TEGA. “We’ve seen evidence for this water ice before in observations by the Mars Odyssey orbiter and in disappearing chunks observed by Phoenix last month, but this is the first time Martian water has been touched and tasted.”
Basically, the TEGA cooks the sample, releasing vapors that are then characterized by a mass spec that allows comparisons of isotopic abundances of H, O, C, and N (in other words, looking for molecular signs of life).
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