High spirits as mission to Mars touches down

SCIENTISTS are a step closer to discovering if there is life on Mars after stunning images of the red planet were beamed back to Earth.

The black-and-white pictures showed a panoramic view of the barren, rock-strewn Martian landscape surrounding the Spirit lander, which touched down at the windswept centre of the Gusev crater early yesterday morning.

The robotic explorer made a safe landing in what NASA scientists said could be a dry lake bed ideal for finding signs of life.