The search for water on the planet Mars and with it, possible forms of life, is one of the main tasks of the NASA space probe “Mars Odyssey 2001”. And after its initial exploratory work, all the doubts have been removed, to the excitement of the scientific community. “There is a great deal of ice on Mars. The signals we’re receiving are loud and clear,” said jubilant planetary scientist William Boynton at the first press conference by the U.S. space agency NASA about the start of the probe’s work.