July 9
A SPACE probe designed to look for signs of life in the oceans that once covered Mars will this week be unveiled by NASA scientists.

The Phoenix Mars Lander will be sent to the icy wastelands near the red planet's north polar ice cap. It will be launched next month, and is expected to reach the planet in May.

When the probe lands, its task will be to dig deep into the soil, scoop out chunks of ice and analyse them for signs of past or present life forms. The landing site has been chosen as the most likely point to find buried ice that once formed part of the planet's oceans.

Mars is now a cold desert planet with the thinnest of atmospheres and no water on the surface. However, previous missions have shown that there are large amounts of ice below the planet's crust in the northern arctic plains.

Data from previous missions suggest that billions of years ago, water flowed through canyons and formed shallow seas. Some of these may have still been in existence 100,000 years ago.

The search for water is more than scientific. NASA's long-term goal is to send a human to Mars and a manned mission would be easier if the crew were guaranteed a source of water.

The Phoenix probe is one of the largest that NASA has sent to Mars and will require descent thrusters to control the landing.

NASA is also this week due to launch its Dawn probe, which will penetrate deep into the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter. It will investigate two of the largest asteroids, thought to be part of the "rubble" left over from the formation of the solar system 4.5 billion years ago.
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