One of the most encouraging signs for those searching for evidence of early water on Mars has been the existence of clays. But a French-US team has now rained on that particular parade.
With the weather we're currently getting in the UK, it's hard to believe that the Earth is short of water. But at less than one percent of the planet's total mass, there's not nearly as much of the stuff as scientists would expect.
There's vastly more water in Mars's mantle than previously thought - as much as on Earth, in fact - dramatically raising the chances that the planet might once have sustained life.
Almost a quarter of a crater near the moon's south pole is covered with ice, scientists using NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) spacecraft have found.
Clouds of snow blanket the Red Planet's poles during the dead of a Martian winter. However, unlike Earth's water-based snow, the particles on Mars are actually frozen crystals of carbon dioxide.
ESA’s Mars Express has discovered a series of 'pit-chains' in the Tharsis region of Mars that could, says ESA, be tempting targets in the search for microbial life.
