A curiosity on Mars

A recent major science event has been the successful arrival and spectacular landing on Mars of the NASA rover Curiosity. This rover will be busy on Mars for years to come and developments are eagerly anticipated. See BBC reports here and here.

While not designed to detect life directly I would expect it to find some positive indications of ancient or recent life or even just of suitable environmental conditions. It has recently been found that lichen can survive under Martian conditions and the same may be true of bacteria.

More water on Mars

Watching the progress of the Rovers on Mars since the beginning when they landed has been fascinating. The big question is life or no life. But there is also the question of water which is neccessary for life that we are familiar with. Since the Rovers landed much has been learnt - from the Rovers themselves and from NASA and ESA orbiters.
The most recent excitement is over liquid water and if it reaches the surface where it would soon freeze or evaporate. What seems to be water escaping on the surface and freezing has been seen:
BBC report
Space.com article


The guy at Xenotech Research has been collecting pictures for years on this - seems he has been closer to the truth than many sceptics. Here is one of the pictures (see right).
Xenotechresearch.com