The UK Space Agency is making 1.6M pounds available in support of projects to further explore our neighbouring planet Mars and keep the UK at the forefront of ESA's Aurora Programme - a European long-term plan for the robotic and human exploration of the solar system.

The new funding will support projects to better understand the past and present environment and geophysics of Mars, characterize the biological environment of the planet and search for traces of past and present life.

Mars may appear arid and lifeless but it is the most Earth-like planet in the Solar System. It is the most likely planet to have supported life at some time in its history as it shows substantial evidence of surface water in the past. Even today liquid water could still be present at depth beneath the surface.

Dr David Williams, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said: "Understanding the conditions that could have supported life on Mars is an important step towards addressing one of mankind's most fundamental questions: are we alone in the Universe?

Thanks to the scientific and technological advances made from investment in programmes like Aurora, we can address this question by exploring our Solar System. The Aurora programme brings together the best of UK minds and industry, further develops our highly-skilled space sector and delivers economic impact through technology spin-outs."

The new funding scheme is open to academics and Research Council Institutions for proposals to fund:

+ Project Studentships to develop researchers to exploit future data sets from Mars missions.

+ Individual Fellowships to develop promising young researchers or allow existing academics to discipline-hop.

+ Research Assistants to support academics on Mars related science.

+ Support for academics to participate in international science teams to exploit data from future missions such as Nasa's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL).

For more information, please see the Announcement of Opportunity