Maine’s new astrobiology pilot program and Martian carbonates

Welcome! "Alien Life" tracks the latest discoveries and thoughts in the various elements of the famous Drake Equation. You may notice that this and future entries are shorter than usual; career, family and book deal commitments have forced me to cut back some of my projects. Now, here's today's news:
g Abodes - NASA’s Phoenix lander mission is now over, and scientists are analyzing the data collected from its various experiments. Phoenix's discovery of carbonates in the frozen northern soil of Mars indicates the area once could have had liquid water. However, there is no way to tell if the carbonates formed locally, or if they came from somewhere else on the planet and blew in with the wind. See article.
g Message -Project Argus, The SETI League's key technical initiative, has been called the most ambitious microwave SETI project ever undertaken without government equipment or funding. When fully operational, it will provide, for the first time ever, continuous monitoring of the entire sky, in all directions in real time. For more, click here.
g Cosmicus -Pictures of the moon's surface, taken from lunar orbit by Chandrayaan-1 spacecraft's Terrain Mapping Camera, are now available for the public to see.
g Learning - Nokomis High School is among nine in the state of Maine that is offering classes as part of a new Astrobiology Pilot Program.