Unmanned probe blasts off from Cape Canaveral in a search for the

Nasa's 'Phoenix' spacecraft is on its way to Mars to discover whether conditions were ever suitable for life to have developed, or indeed whether life exists there now. An unmanned Delta rocket blasted off yesterday from Cape Canaveral carrying the craft, which is expected to land in the northern polar region of Mars next May.

'Phoenix' was originally scheduled to launch on Friday, but severe weather conditions prevented fuelling, forcing Nasa officials to delay the launch. The US space agency wants to land the probe on relatively flat terrain in an area on Mars which is geographically equivalent to where northern Alaska is on Earth. 'Phoenix' has a 7.7ft robotic arm, equipped with a drill and other instruments, to bore down into the frozen ground. It will retrieve soil and ice samples for analysis inside the body of the lander. Peter Smith from the University of Arizona and the $420m ([pound]205m) mission's principal investigator said: "The real question we're trying to answer is, 'Has that ice melted?' because liquid water in contact with soil may provide us with a habitable environment." TM

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