The Mars Phoenix space mission is reportedly about to make an announcement beyond the findings of water and "earth-like" soil on Mars and speculation is that what they briefed the US president about is the the chances of life on Mars (cue the drumroll):
Although good news, Thursday's announcement of the discovery of water on Mars comes as no surprise to mission scientists and some are amused by the media's reaction to the TEGA results. "They have discovered water on Mars for the third or fourth time," one senior Mars scientist joked. These new MECA results are, according to the Phoenix team, a little more complex than the water "discovery." Scientists are keen to point out however, that this secretive news will in no way indicate the existence of life (past or present) on Mars; Phoenix simply is not equipped make this discovery. What it can do is test the Mars soil for compounds suitable to support life. The MECA instrument does have microscopes capable of resolving bacterial-scale life forms however, but this is not the focus of the forthcoming announcement, sources say.
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/08/02/th...r-life-on-mars/I think if they have a press conference about this they should have theremin music in the background like in Fantastic Planet!
