Fire and Ice on Mars

These are exciting times for the exploration of Mars. Several reports have arrived in recent days detailing discoveries of great importance to our understanding of the red planet and the prospects for live there, and visits by human beings. First, from Mars Express scientist Gerhard Neukum (Berlin University), comes news that volcanos spotted by the probe have been geologically active in "recent times". Of course, recent times for a geologist can mean a very long time ago, and here we are talking millions of years, but that is so close in geological terms that it does raise the very real possibility that these volcanos could come back to life. More here.

Then from the Mars Odyessy spacecraft, comes positive news that Mars is jampacked with Water. Heat and water, a pretty good combination to make life on Mars just that little bit more plausible.