Mars, the wet planet

SCIENTISTS have found definitive proof that there is water on Mars, it was announced yesterday.

The discovery described by experts as the ‘holy grail’ of Mars exploration holds out the tantalising prospect that there could be life on the Red Planet.

Two years ago, a U.S. mission found strong indications of water. But Mars Express, the ‘mothership’ which carried the ill-fated British Beagle 2 probe, has now found cast-iron proof, European experts said.

Excited scientists announced the news at mission control yesterday, after studying data from an infrared camera aboard the craft orbiting over the planet’s south pole.

Dr Alan Moorehouse said: ‘You look at the picture, look at the fingerprint and say this is water ice.

This is the first time it’s been detected on the ground. This is the first direct confirmation.’ Mars Express is the European Space Agency craft that carried the tiny Beagle lander on its 250millionmile journey from Earth.

Beagle 2 has been silent since its descent to the planet on December 24, amid fears that it may have crashed or that its computer failed.

Mars Express has just started its two-year mission to orbit the Red Planet and study its surface in unprecedented detail.

Professor David Southwood, the European Space Agency’s director of science, said of the water: ‘Previous measurements have been indirect and this is the first time we have direct indications of molecules that are present in water.

‘Of course finding anything that has to do with water on Mars is a sort of holy grail. This is certainly better than anything we’ve had so far.’ The presence of water does not necessarily mean there is or was life on the Red Planet. But it makes it much more likely.

Nasa disputed the Europeans’ claim that their discovery was new.

Orlando Figueroa, director of Nasa’s Mars exploration programme, said: ‘Our Odyssey spacecraft that has been orbiting Mars since 2001 did discover vast amounts of frozen water in the northern and southern latitudes.’ A batch of remarkable pictures taken at very high resolution from Mars Express were also released yesterday.

The images show winding valleys, deep gorges, cliffs, craters and tabletop mountains.

Details as fine as dust blowing over the rims of craters are visible, and some features clearly indicate erosion caused by flowing water long ago.

t.utton@dailymail.co.uk