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WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency says its Phoenix Mars Lander has detected snow falling from Martian clouds, vaporizing before reaching the planet's surface. And the National Aeronautics and Space Administration says that, plus soil test experiments, have proven evidence of past interaction between minerals and liquid water -- both processes that occur on Earth. "A laser instrument designed to gather knowledge of how the atmosphere and surface interact on Mars detected snow from clouds about 2.5 miles above the spacecraft's landing site," NASA said, adding data shows the snow vaporizing before reaching the ground. "Nothing like this view has ever been seen on Mars," said Jim Whiteway, of Canada's York University, the lead scientist for the Canadian-supplied Meteorological Station on Phoenix. "We'll be looking for signs that the snow may even reach the ground." Since landing May 25, Phoenix has also confirmed a hard subsurface layer...

WASHINGTON (UPI) -- The U.S. space agency plans a Mars robotic mission to study that planet's climate history and potential habitability in greater detail than ever before. Called the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution spacecraft, the $485 million mission is scheduled for launch in late 2013. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration said it selected that mission from among 20 investigational proposals submitted in response to a NASA Announcement of Opportunity in August 2006. "This mission will provide the first direct measurements ever taken to address key scientific questions about Mars' evolution," said Doug McCuistion, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. Mars once had a denser atmosphere that supported the presence of liquid water on the surface, scientists said. As part of a dramatic climate change, most of the Martian atmosphere was lost. The spacecraft, nicknamed MAVEN, will make definitive scientific measurements of present-day atmosp...