The Mars Rover, named Curiosity, has discovered that there was at least one strong flowing stream on the surface of the Red Planet.

Project scientist on the mission, Professor John Grotzinger, told the Today programme that there was "clearly evidence for very vigorous flows" that probably existed between three and four billion years ago.

Prof Grotzinger said that the Mars Rover did not have the ability to perform life detection, but what it could do was search for "traces of organic carbon that may have been left behind", and then "hopefully someday" it might be possible to answer the question of whether there was ever life on Mars.