The European Space Agency (esa) claims that its Mars orbiter has detected direct evidence of water in the form of ice on the planet's surface. According to esa scientists, the discovery is based on water vapour molecules' analysis by an infrared camera aboard the Mars Express spacecraft that is circling the red planet's south pole.

Although it's too early to confirm the find, scientists believe that Mars may have the potential to support life if it once contained surface water. They had long suspected that the planet's polar caps contain frozen water, and indirect methods such as analysis of temperature data or detection of hydrogen traces lent weight to their theory.

However, Orlando Fidueroa, the director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (nasa) Mars exploration programme disputes Europe's assertion that its discovery is new. "Our (the us') Odyssey spacecraft has been orbiting Mars since 2001. We did discover vast amounts of frozen water in the northern and southern latitudes. And we were surprised by the fact that there was so much, and so close to the surface,' he points out.