Barnacles on Phenoix

Anyone know what these white spots might be. I suspect ice. But then again, wouldn't ice disappear quickly versus move around.

"One potential photographic subject is the Holy Cow ice feature directly underneath the lander. The ice was exposed when Phoenix's thrusters pushed away the dirt lying on top of it during landing. The feature was first imaged by Phoenix's robotic arm camera.

The imager might also catch a glimpse of some so-called "barnacles" attached to Phoenix's legs. Smith describes these as "bright dots on the legs" that are pieces of the Martian surface that were splashed onto the legs by the thrusters during landing.

Some of the dots have grown and some have moved around over the course of the mission, which is now entering its fifth month on the Martian surface. Mission scientists aren't sure why the dots have such unusual behavior.

"It's one of those wonderful Martian mysteries," Smith said."

The whole story can be found here - http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/081001-tw-phoenix-microphone.html

RJS