Phoenix landed safely on the arctic plains of Mars today thus giving everyone at NASA a wonderful surprise. It was a perfect landing at the exact spot. It was like making a whole in one from 10,000 miles.The probe has already sent images from the red planet.

These photos were made by a high resolution stereo camera on board the European Space Agency's Mars Express orbiter. The photos are of Hebes Chasma, an enclosed trough, almost five miles deep.Scientists believe these shots can be used to prove there was once water on Mars.

This photo is among the many send back to Earth by Spirit, but this very photo shows a strange figure sitting on the rocks. The figure looks like a woman stretching her arm out. This maybe just an optical illusion or just a strange rock but to some enthusiasts it looks like a real human-like alien. Personally I don't know what to think. I would not be surprised if it were a rock or an illusion on the other hand life can be found in the harshest of environments and who knows how life evolved on Mars - maybe there are aliens living there now via Dailymail.co.uk

Amazes imagination..

The European Space Agency is seeking six men and six women to embark on the 17-month virtual journey, for a 520-day simulated mission to Mars.The crew's only contact with the outside world will be a radio link to 'Earth' with a realistic 40 minute delay.The volunteers will even eat the same food that astronauts get aboard the International Space Station.The aim of the experiment is to gain an insight into how humans behave in conditions similar to those on a journey to Mars.

When should the plug be pulled on a critically ill astronaut who is using up precious oxygen and endangering the rest of the crew? Should NASA employ DNA testing to weed out astronauts who might get a disease on a long flight?The space agency has begun to ponder some of the thorny practical and ethical questions posed by deep space exploration. "As you can imagine, it's a thing that people aren't really comfortable talking about," said Dr. Richard Williams, NASA's chief health and medical officer. "We're trying to develop the ethical framework to equip commanders and mission managers

Europe's comet-chasing spacecraft Rosetta has sent back new images of Mars after swooping over the planet's surface at the weekend.The craft came within just 250 kilometres of the Red Planet and used Martian gravity to swing its course onward, as it pursues its looping mission around the solar system.During a dramatic 15 minutes, the probe disappeared from mission control screens as it passed the far side of Mars in relation to Earth.Then the spacecraft was forced to switch from solar to battery power for even longer as it traversed a Martian solar eclipse. Via Abc.net.au

Spacecraft has sent back new evidence for the presence of water on Mars. Scientists have long debated, whether there is water on Mars. If there is water on the planet, it raises the possibility of existing living forms, at least primitive.Images from camera aboard Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter show alternating layers of dark- and light-toned rock in a giant rift valley.These deposits are surrounded by "halos" of light-toned bedrock. The "halos" indicate areas, where fluids, could have passed through bedrock. "On Earth, bleaching of rock surrounding a fracture is a clear indication