[Thursday, February 3, 2005] Injecting synthetic "super" greenhouse gases into the Martian atmosphere could raise the planet's temperature enough to melt its polar ice caps and create conditions suitable for sustaining biological life.

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[Friday, February 4, 2005] The Association of Mars Explorers is sponsoring a workshop to define a 500-day Design Reference Surface Expedition Campaign for a Human Base constructed at Meridiani Planum in the year 2019.

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[Friday, February 4, 2005] The British National Space Centre has today published the report of the ESA/UK Commission of Inquiry set up to investigate the circumstances and possible reasons that prevented completion of the Beagle 2 mission.

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[Saturday, February 5, 2005] "MarsFlight will enable users to fly a Mars Airplane near the surface of Mars to collect data on the Magnetic field that they can print out and analyze following the completion of their mission."

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[Tuesday, February 8, 2005] The MARSIS radar on board Mars Express will be deployed during the first week of May. Assuming that this operation is successful, the radar will finally start the search for subsurface water reservoirs and studies of the Martian ionosphere.

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[Monday, February 14, 2005] NASA Robotic & Human Exploration of Mars Roadmap Committee held its first meeting in Pasadena on 4-5 January 2005. Materials presented at that meeting are now online.

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[Monday, February 14, 2005] The National Research Council was tasked with evaluating the risks of landing humans safely to work on Mars. Their report "Safe on Mars" highlights a number of unique aspects in transit to the red planet, as well as once humans step out onto the surface.

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[Wednesday, February 16, 2005] Mars Express payload operations continue to run smoothly, with scientific instruments operating normally and the spacecraft in good condition. The period of long eclipses, from Jan to Feb 2005, is ending without any power or thermal problem to date.

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[Wednesday, February 16, 2005] The rovers successfully completed their three-month primary missions in April 2004 and are working on extended exploration missions.

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[Thursday, February 17, 2005] After reaching its observational orbit around Mars a year ago, ESA's Mars Express has already delivered an avalanche of scientific data of unprecedented quality that have completely changed the way in which we think about the Red Planet.

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[Friday, February 18, 2005] News reports that NASA scientists from Ames Research Center have found strong evidence that life may exist on Mars are incorrect. NASA does not have any observational data from any current Mars missions that supports this claim.

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[Monday, February 21, 2005] Scientists at the Battleship Promontory field camp look at the rocks they will use to test their machines. The machines look for clues of life inside rocks, and the scientists hope the instruments eventually get sent to Mars.

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[Tuesday, February 22, 2005] NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this mosaic view of the rover. The downward-looking view omits the mast on which the camera is mounted.

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[Tuesday, February 22, 2005] NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its panoramic camera to take the images combined into this mosaic view of the rover. The downward-looking view omits the mast on which the camera is mounted. It shows dust accumulation on Spirit's solar panels.

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[Tuesday, February 22, 2005] The discovery, by an international team of scientists of a frozen sea close to the equator of Mars has brought the possibility of finding life on Mars one step closer.

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[Monday, February 28, 2005] After a week of major announcements about Mars and the results from ESA's Mars Express mission, ESA held a press briefing on 25 February to present the main conclusions of the First Mars Express Science Conference.

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