For a meeting supposedly devoted to planets, moons, comets and asteroids, there was just one topic that seemed to be on everybody's mind as some 1200 scientists gathered in Houston last week-Mars. More spacecraft are circling around and roving over the Red Planet than ever before, sending back an unprecedented torrent of new information. This year's Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, held on the outskirts of the Johnson Space Center (NASA-JSC) was the first opportunity for researchers from NASA's Mars Rover missions and Europe's Mars Express orbiter to present detailed data to their colleagues. It was also a chance for teams studying Martian meteorites and Mars-like environments on Earth to add their discoveries to the mix. What emerged was a picture of a planet once encircled by briny, acidic lakes and rivers - an environment ideally suited for preserving signs of life.
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