Significant water ice deposits easily accessible on the surface of the planet would benefit any future Mars mission astronauts and make it much more likely that life might have existed on the planet.

NASA scientists said they were excited by the initial indications of hydrogen deposits, describing the readings sent back as clearer, more definite and much earlier than had been expected.

``We were expecting that it would take many orbits (to determine the presence of hydrogen),'' said Stephen Saunders, a scientist on the Odyssey project. ``But we saw it the very first time.''

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Damn, Mars may just be colonizable after all. Kinda ruins Ed's day.

-philw