http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=365&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Yes, it's finally becoming clear to everyone that asteroid and comet bombarment releases large amounts of water and CO2 from Mars lithosphere - that is, its becoming clear to everyone except for those who continue to try to swindle the Mars Nuts with visions of an Earth-like Mars.

One of the two questions remaining is periodicity. This will turn out to be ca 26 million years for major cometary impact events, verifying Clube, Napier, and Milani et al.'s model of cometary introduction by gravitational effects on our solar system as it passes through the plane of our galaxy, the Milky Way. This result will emerge from the crater counts on both Mars as well as the other solar system bodies - the only question is how rapidly this result will emerge, whether SRWI and Chapman will lead, or others -

That's the banded strata formatio date, but at some 26 million year the comets will have run into other planets, leaving no trace on Mars -

The other question is the relation of the massive impact at Hellas and the formation of the Tharsis volcanic complex. Given that any lithosphere will float on a molten core, the comparative results from Dione will be important here. Also of importance will be the crater counts on the floor of Hellas - these will ultimately provide some kind of date -

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