While the future of Russia's Phobos-Grunt probe remains unclear, a team of experts from a space research institute in Moscow has arrived in the United States where NASA is about to launch its Curiosity rover to the Red Planet on what is seen as the 'most ambitious mission' ever sent to Mars.

The rover, also known as the Mars Science Laboratory, will probe the Red Planet's secrets using a wide array of scientific instruments, including a Russian-made device.

Unlike its predecessors, the rover the size of a small 4x4 which is about to embark on a one-way 350 mile trip to explore one of the solar system's most intriguing destinations, takes over from NASA's Viking probe which headed for the Red Planet on a similar mission back in 1976 but never provided the answer to the perennial question of whether there is life on Mars.

Unlike its predecessors, the MSL's mission is to find out whether Mars has ever had conditions favorable for life.

Russia's contribution to the rover's complement of onboard instruments is the Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons, which will be able to detect any presence of water up to 2 m below the Martian surface.

"When the rover lands on Mars and starts moving, the Russian team based in Pasadena will communicate with the DAN, registering everything the rover comes across during its trek, above all, traces of water, and then draw up a plan for the following day, says Vladislav Tretyakov of the Spectroscopy Laboratory in Moscow."

Russian scientists will come to California in August 2012 when the MSL will be aproaching the Red Planet and will work round the clock during the first 90 days of the mission, which promise to be the hardest.

In addition to its main objective, the MSL also aims at finding out the origin of the traces of ammonia and methane on Mars. Back on Earth, these gases originate from bacteria and volcanoes.

There are no active volcanoes to be found on Mars, then how come the climate there is so cold and dry, 3.5 billion years after the Red Planet was formed? And, of course, water! We have indirect evidence of its presence on the planet, including a picture of a steep bluff hollowed out by water. All we need now is direct evidence of this.

But even if we never get direct scientific evidence to this effect, the importance of this mission is hard to overestimate. With a manned flight to the Red Planet already being mulled by many countries, any additional information will surely come in very handy...