Watch a slideshow of images showing signs of water on Mars
SINCE the Viking orbiters beamed back the first tantalising images of water-cut features on Mars in the 1970s, NASA's mantra for the Red Planet has been simple: "follow the water". Working out when Mars had liquid water on its surface, and where that water went, they reason, will provide vital clues about whether Mars could once have harboured life, and whether life could cling on today.
Since then a long line of orbiters, landers and rovers have searched the Martian surface for signs of where water once flowed. The latest, NASA's Phoenix lander, is scheduled to reach the surface of Mars on 25 May. If all goes well, it could be the first lander to actually hold Martian water in its robotic hands, and will answer some long-standing questions about the planet's hydrological history.
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18:00 07 October 2008
17:56 07 October 2008Subscribe today at only USD $5.95 for your first 4 issues and get New Scientist, the world's leading science & technology news magazine delivered direct to your door every week
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