They're calling it the "Snow Queen," for reasons we shall not touch on here. But it is the highlight of a spectacular photo mosaic sent back by NASA's Phoenix Mars lander.

It reveals an apparent layer of smooth ice, lying just beneath a thin layer of dirt that was blasted aside as NASA's Mars Phoenix lander touched down a couple of weeks ago.

The mission's prime objective is to document the presence of water ice in the Martian arctic, and to test for the presence of life - past or present - in what once was a much wetter planet.

It appears that the first objective may already have been met, at least in part. Hard to imagine what the Snow Queen might be if it isn't ice of some sort. It looks as if the lander's landing retro-rockets not only blew aside the thin layer of soil at the landing spot, but also briefly melted the ice. It looks as though the ice softened, and flowed a bit before refreezing. Or perhaps the thrusters melted those little holes in the ice.

In any event it is a most intriguing image, and far more than the mission's planners expected to see when they maneuvered the camera arm under the spacecraft. Also visible, just to the right of the footpad, is a tiny white spring, partially buried in the dirt. It's believed to be from the "bio-barrier" door that was opened after landing. Our littering of Mars continues.