NASA says Phoenix Mars Lander finds proof of water on the planet

The Phoenix Mars Lander has found conclusive proof of the presence of water on Mars, the Tucson Citizen reports.

It quotes Peter Smith, principal investigator for the University-of-Arizona-led missions, as saying his scientific team "is fully convinced this is H2O."

The frozen water was found in a soil sample collected and analyzed this week, the newspaper says.

Update 4:31 p.m. ET: NASA says the Lander mission was originally scheduled to end in August, but has proven so successful that it will be extended by five weeks.