Times Newspapers Ltd.
 NASA
scientists have discovered ancient sea or lake beds on the surface
of Mars that could once have harboured life, writes Jonathan Leake.
The discovery
is among the most significant concerning Mars so far, because
such places are the most likely locations for fossils or other
signs of past life.
Nasa will
announce the discovery in this week's edition of Science with
the suggestion that the next generation of Mars landings should
be sent to such areas.
This weekend
a British group building a craft bound for Mars said it was already
considering rerouting its vehicle, Beagle II, to land in the middle
of one of the newly discovered sea beds.
Professor
Colin Pillinger, an astronomer at the Open University who heads
the Beagle II project, will also announce that he has raised the
full £30m needed for the British mission.
He has just
been offered £9m by the European Space Agency, with the
rest coming from commercial sponsors. "We will launch in
June 2003 and hope to land on Mars on Boxing Day," he said.
The Nasa discovery
is based on images taken by Mars Global Surveyor, which has been
orbiting the red planet for more than a year.
It is said
to have sent back detailed pictures of rocks that could only have
been created by sedimentation, in which particles sink to a sea
bed and are compressed into rock.
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