NASA announced today that liquid water once soaked the environment around Opportunity's landing site, raising the chances that life once existed on the Red Planet. This announcement came from Opportunity's detailed examination of a region of exposed rock on the side of the crater it landed in. By analyzing the rock with every instrument at its disposal, scientists now have conclusive evidence that liquid water once acted on this rock, changing its texture and chemistry. Opportunity's next job will be to determine if the rocky outcrop was actually formed by water, or if it's volcanic in origin. This means that there was probably a long period of time on Mars where the environment would have supported life.