Weather Threatening at Cape Canaveral

It's just a little more than ironic, isn't it? The first of two Mars Rover missions set to launch Sunday morning in a search for water on the red planet might be delayed because of... rain.

Thunderstorms near the Kennedy Space Center (FL), threatened to cause a scrub, with a 60-percent chance that the launch would be rained out. The Rover and its twin, to be launched later in the month, will scour the Martian surface for signs of water that could lead to signs of past - or future - life.

"As you can tell, we're obsessed with this water thing," said NASA's Mars program director, Orlando Figeuroa Saturday. "On Earth, wherever there is water, basic nutrients and a source of energy, we have found life. So we are excited about the prospects of finding it elsewhere on another planet.

But Don't Count Your Chickens Until They Land...

There have, so far, been 12 missions sent to land on Mars over the past three decades. Only three survived long enough to report back. None has succeeded since the Pathfinder landed on Mars in 1997.

Then again, there may be safety in numbers. As ANN reported last Monday, the European Space Agency, using a Russian booster, sent its Mars Express mission on the way to the fourth planet. The Express mission features the UK-developed Beagle II rover, designed to look for signs of life on what appears to be a very barren Mars surface.

FMI: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mer