Where there is water, life may be or have been. This is why Mars Global Surveyor (MGS), the flagship of NASA's current flotilla of spacecraft destined for Mars, has been acquiring volumes of data pertinent to the search for water. But, much as it was for the early pioneers who settled the American West, finding water on Mars involves both savvy and serendipity. On page 2330 of this issue, Malin and Edgett report on the surprising discovery of geologically young gullies and debris fans emanating from beneath strata exposed along steep martian scarps. Their findings indicate that Mars, although extremely cold and arid at present, has very recently, probably within the last few million years, produced sizable discharges of spring water. Strangely, these features occur in the higher, more frigid latitudes.
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