Today NASA’s Curiosity rover successfully blasted off to Mars on an Atlas 5 rocket.

Artist concept of the rover by NASA.

• Interesting Semantic Web links [Tom Scott] Tom asked on Twitter: “What are your top 5 URLs to explain to a Senior Exec type what the Semantic Web is and why it’s important?”
• Ten years [A List Apart] A celebration of the first decade of A List Apart – the site “for people who make websites”.
• Information architecture for audio: doing it right [Boxes and Arrows] “When using audio today [on the web], we face challenges similar to those of written text about a decade ago.”
• New NASA law allows for possible shuttle extension [New Scientist] The problem: “how to get crews to and from the space station between 2010-2011 (when the shuttle stops flying and NASA’s current contract to use Russian Soyuz spaceships runs out) and 2015 (when the agency’s Ares/Orion programme starts flying, maybe)”.

• NASA Mars Lander sees falling snow, soil data suggest liquid past [NASA] Snow detected and evidence of past interaction between minerals and water on Mars.
• Four years [43 Folders] Merlin Mann’s site “about finding the time and attention to do your best creative work” is four years old.
• The 25 most influential people on the web [BusinessWeek] The 2008 list compiled by BusinessWeek readers and staff.
• Time Out at 40 – Covers archive [Time Out] A selection from the distinctive covers of London’s listing magazine.

• New Number10 site goes live [Puffbox] Powered by WordPress!
• Time Out at 40 [Observer] London’s ground-breaking listings magazine is forty, its covers have always distinctive; some background from ex-Editor Dominic Wells.
• Phoenix discovery may be bad for Mars life [New Scientist Space Blog] Has perchlorate, a highly oxidising substance, been found, or is it connected with rocket fuel?
• Obituary: Sir Bill Cotton [Guardian]

• Lost tapes of the Dr Who composer [BBC News]
• Announcing the Open Web Foundation [Open Web Foundation]
• Twitter searches for the next step [Technology Guardian]
• Wider, bigger, better [BBC Radio Labs]
• If you want to repeat Apollo, do it right [New Scientist Space Blog]

• New findings show diverse, wet environments on ancient Mars [SpaceRef]
• 30+ must-have updated Firefox 3 extensions [Mashable]
• 30 year railway strategy lasts just one year [Christian Wolmar]
• Full steam again [Guardian]
• Our electric future [The American]
• Nick Cave: part of me is screaming to get out [Telegraph.co.uk]

• Guardian Media Group buys paidContent for $30 million [All Things Digital]
• Digital TV takeup growth continues [Guardian]
• Flickr on TV [BBCi Labs]
• Phoenix diary: Mission to Mars [BBC]
• The Faces likely to reunite [NME]

• Step by step, the BBC is moving towards a post-licence fee world [Guardian]
• Media big-wigs decamp to Sun Valley [Guardian PDA]
• The Yahoo circus pulls into Sun Valley next week [All Things Digital]
• STS-125: The final visit [NASA]
• Franz Ferdinand – The Adelphi, Hull [NME]

Phoenix Lander scientists believe Martian soil appears to contain sufficient nutrients to support life.

Preliminary analysis on the planet’s soil have found it to be much more alkaline than expected.

In another development Phoenix has scraped to icy soil confirming that surface, subsurface and icy soil can be sampled at a single trench.

The mission appears to be making excellent progress, with the possibility of discovering evidence of Martian life either now, or in the past, seemingly increasing on a daily basis.

It looks like the Phoenix Mars Lander may have found ice on Mars.

If the discovery of ice is confirmed it would vastly increase the chances of finding life on Mars now or evidence of life in the past.

Such a discovery would be likely to lead to a step change in our perception of the universe.