Hot springs capable of sustaining life once bubbled away on the surface of Mars, researchers say after Spirit, a robotic explorer vehicle, detected tell-tale deposits of silica on the surface of Mars. Jack Farmer, a professor of astrobiology at Arizona State University, said: “On Earth, hydrothermal deposits teem with life and the associated silica deposits typically contain fossil remains of microbes,” said Jack Farmer, a professor of astrobiology at Arizona State University in the United States.

“But we don't know if that's the case here because the rovers don't carry instruments that can detect microscopic life.

“What we can say is that this was once a habitable environment where liquid water and the energy needed for life were present.” The silica was in the Gusev Crater and would have been formed when volcanic stream or hot water burst through the surface. Nasa's Phoenix probe is due to land on Mars on Sunday.

Times Recommends

• Tree stump 'shows image of Virgin Mary'
• BBC drops Strictly judge for younger model
• Trafalgar Square 'reduced to a spectacle'