Phoenix Lander to Launch Today

While it may be a slim chance, it’s interesting to think that in just nine months we could find life on Mars:

Nasa to launch Mars polar probe

“NASA is to launch a spacecraft on a nine-month journey to Mars, where it will dig below the surface for clues to the existence of past or present life. The Phoenix probe is scheduled to lift off on Saturday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, atop a Delta II rocket.

The mission will aim to shed light not only on the history of this water ice but also on whether the region could support microbial life. Crucial to this question will be tests for complex, carbon-based chemicals (organics) in the soil and signs the ice periodically melts. “The real question we’re trying to answer is: ‘has that ice melted’, because liquid water in contact with soil may provide us with a habitable environment,” said Peter Smith, the mission’s principal investigator and a professor at the University of Arizona.”