Mars Invasion: Probing Puzzles On The Red Planet

jerel writes "This week's Science News has an article here about the ongoing search for evidence of life on Mars. Even as Mars and Earth now drift slowly apart, three envoys from Earth are racing to the Red Planet. If all goes according to plan, the European Space Agency's Mars Express will begin orbiting Mars next month, using radar to search for hidden reservoirs of water. The craft will also jettison a suitcase-size stationary lander, Beagle-2, that will look for signs of life by examining soil at and just below the surface of a region called Isidis Planitia. Then, in January, two NASA craft bearing identical rovers, named Spirit and Opportunity, will touch down in regions of the planet that may once have had water coursing through them and so could have hosted primitive life."