Check this out.
Sea on Mars May Have Sustained Life
PASADENA (California) - The site where a Nasa robot found the first hard evidence that liquid water once existed on Mars, is the remains of an ancient shoreline of a salty sea that would have been hospitable to life and capable of preserving its remains, scientists said on Tuesday.
A detailed chemical and geological analysis of rocks in a shallow crater indicates the formations were shaped by gently flowing saltwater that came and went, indicating the area was probably once the coastline of an ocean, scientists said.
'We think Opportunity is now parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars,' said Dr Steve Squyres of Cornell University, who is leading the scientific team studying Mars.
Further study will be needed to determine how long, and how long ago, the body of water existed and how big it was, the researchers said. But the findings bring them a tantalising step closer to the goal of determining whether Earth's closest relative in the solar system may have once been home to living organisms.
Life on Mars...it takes me back to reading Ray Bradbury's "The Martian Chronicles" in sixth grade. I still think those are some of the best science fiction stories ever written, next to pretty much anything by Robert A. Heinlein.