NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander succumbed to the polar winter of Mars early last month, but analysis of data it obtained will go on for quite a while.
Already, scientists studying the water cycle determined by Lander instruments are seeing a niche environment at the surface within a film of water in which microbes could thrive. The question is whether microbes ever evolved on Mars to fill that niche.
The mission also confirmed water exists just under the surface in that area, and found elements often associated with life.
The emerging picture of Martian geologic and climatologic history seems to indicate that if life ever got started on Mars it could have survived over long periods of time. In that case, there are likely at least fossils waiting to be discovered.
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