500 planetary scientists filled a standing-room only presentation yesterday in Houston at the 40th Lunar & Planetary Science conference, to hear the evidence for liquid water on Mars, as reported by the Phoenix Mars Lander team members.
Nilton Renno of the University of Michigan, presented pictures showing apparent drops of liquid on the Lander legs.
Other argued that the photos are blown up from edges of larger pictures, so the resolution cannot support the conclusion, and that the chemistry and environmental conditions won't support liquid water.
UA scientist Peter Smith is a co-author on one paper calling the spheres water but is also on another paper that disputes that.