Stuff from the Mars Wiki

WATER(MARS)
The most recent mission to Mars was the NASA Phoenix Mars lander, which launched August 4, 2007 and arrived on the north polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008.[103] The lander has a robotic arm with a 2.5 m reach and capable of digging a metre into the Martian soil. The lander has a microscopic camera capable of resolving to one-thousandth the width of a human hair, and discovered a substance at its landing site on June 15, 2008, which was confirmed to be water ice on June 20.[104][105] The mission was declared concluded on November 10, 2008, after engineers were unable to contact the craft.
NUTRIENTS(MARS)
In June, 2008, the Phoenix Lander returned data showing Martian soil to be slightly alkaline and containing vital nutrients such as magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride, all of which are necessary for living organisms to grow. Scientists compared the soil near Mars's north pole to that of backyard gardens on Earth, and concluded that it could be suitable for growth of plants such as asparagus.[23] However, in August, 2008, the Phoenix Lander conducted simple chemistry experiments, mixing water from Earth with Martian soil in an attempt to test its pH, and discovered traces of the salt perchlorate, while also confirming many scientists' theories that the Martian surface is considerably basic, measuring at 8.3. The presence of the perchlorate, if confirmed, would make Martian soil more exotic than previously believed.[24] Further testing is necessary to eliminate the possibility of the perchlorate readings being caused by terrestrial sources, which may have migrated from the spacecraft either into samples or the instrumentation.
PHOBOS(ONE OF THE MOONS)
Phobos has also been proposed as an early target for a manned mission to Mars,[48] since a landing on Phobos would be considerably less difficult (and hence, much less expensive) than a landing on the surface of Mars itself. A lander bound for Mars would need to be capable of atmospheric entry and subsequent in-situ return to orbit without any support facilities (a capacity which has never been attempted in a manned spacecraft), or would require the creation of support facilities in-situ (a "colony or bust" mission), while a lander intended for Phobos could be based on equipment designed for lunar and asteroid landings.



Just thought this might help
Kush Agrawal
PS(Just for fun): Be sure to check out http://beamartian.jpl.nasa.gov/ ,Microsofts collaboration with NASA. Sahil showed this to me in the newspaper today.