Scientists have been receiving controversial information from Phoenix, the lander on Mars’ arctic surface: it seems to be snowing on Mars!

James Whiteway, Canada-based York University professor, was amazed by the peculiar meteorological event, saying that nothing even remotely similar to this has ever taken place on the Red Planet. Upon further analysis, Whiteway and his team discovered that the “snow” vaporized before they reached the ground, but commenced in the planet’s “sky” as crystals of ice.

Although startling in itself, snow on Mars was not completely unexpected. By studying the movements of the clouds, and by shooting a laser beam from a Lidar on Phoenix, the falling snow was reflected in the beam.

While Whiteway is studying the falling snow, NASA is analyzing Mars’ soil and ice. Also, Peter H. Smith of the Arizona University has concluded, with the help of Phoenix’s robotic arm, that there’s a pellicle of ice a few inches under the soil. What’s puzzling in light of this discovery is why the soil on Mars is so dry.

The PH of the ice on Mars is of 8.3, a level usually associated with seawater. Furthermore, the icy soil is also rich in calcium carbonate. Apart from this, water was also found in clay mineral structures, identified by Michael Hecht of NASA. Upon these breakthroughs, Hecht thinks it’s time to rewrite the papers referring to Mars’ chemistry.

Phoenix is a solar-powered robot, and as winter is approaching, there will be nowhere near enough energy for the machine to power up all its instruments. As the sun will be sinking beneath the horizon and the temperature will drop, Phoenix won’t be able to recharge, and all its energy will be focused on keeping itself warm to operate, thus losing the energy used in the summer to function properly, at maximum capacity.

In a matter of months, Phoenix will be encapsulated in ice, and the chances that it will awake in summer and resume its tasks seem pretty slim for the robot.