But they never got there. The first disappeared into deep space. Another missed its target when its coordinates were confused. One NASA control center was working in metric, the other in feet and inch...
The ground here is permafrost, a mixture of soil and ice frozen together. A group of Russian scientists have teamed up with NASA to drill down into it in search of microorganisms. It's work that's bee...
But even if there had been water, life doesn't start overnight. Even a simple microbe is the product of complex chemical systems that take millions of years to evolve. Had the water lasted long enough...
Rice had seen the same thing in Iceland, one of the few places on Earth with similarities to Mars. It too is extremely cold, and most of the water is frozen into glaciers. And also like Mars, buried u...
For Mars to have rivers, it must once have had streams, rain, clouds and an atmosphere, a planet just like the Earth today-if these were rivers. They had to be sure. The answers would come in 1998 wit...
William Boynton is professor of planetary sciences at the University of Arizona. And he's dedicated his life to looking for water on Mars. The link between life and water is very strong. Even here in...
These discoveries raised the stakes. Here was a planet similar to our own. Mars might not have cities or civilizations. But it could be home to other smaller life forms like microbes. Chris McKay is N...
Conditions on Mars were so harsh that it was hard to imagine any life surviving there. The idea of sophisticated aliens was wiped out. We know that conditions on Mars today are not very good for life....
I think it is exciting. Because it would imply that if life arose independently on Mars. The implication is that life is pervasive throughout the universe. This is why Mars has so obsessed scientists....
In 2001 a new NASA probe was launched. Called Odyssey, it was sent to Mars to carry out the most detailed analysis ever of the planet’s surface. What it has discovered may be about to answer one of...