New photographs from space suggest that water occasionally flows on the frigid surface of Mars, raising the possibility that the Red Planet is hospitable to life, scientists reported tonight.

President George Bush is set to announce plans to send Americans to Mars and establish a permanent human presence on the moon, senior US administration officials said today.

The Beagle 2 space probe was launched on its final approach to Mars today, a critical step in Europe’s first mission to explore the surface of the Red Planet.

Astronomers across Ireland were rigging up their telescopes today as Mars comes closer to the Earth than any time since the last ice age almost 60,000 years ago.

Nasa's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft has successfully entered orbit around the Red Planet.