The team behind Nasa's Mars Curiosity Rover has said that it is on the verge of making a 'historic' announcement.

John Grotzinger, principal investigator for Curiosity said in a radio interview, "This data is going to be one for the history books. It's looking really good."

"We're getting data as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting. The science team is busily chewing away on it as it comes down."

The interview, with America's National Public Radio (NPR) suggested that the 'historic' data comes from the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument - SAM - a combination instrument with the ability to detect chemicals relevant to life.

Curiosity's robotic arm delivered SAM's first taste of Martian soil to an inlet port on the rover deck on Nov. 9.

During the following two days, SAM used mass spectrometry, gas chromatography and laser spectrometry to analyze the sample. It has now gathered five samples - and is carrying them for further analysis.

NASA now seems keen to downplay the 'historic' nature of the discovery.

"John was delighted about the quality and range of information coming in from SAM during the day a reporter happened to be sitting in John's office last week. He has been similarly delighted by results at other points during the mission so far," spokesman Guy Webster told AFP.

"The scientists want to gain confidence in the findings before taking them outside of the science team. As for history books, the whole mission is for the history books," Webster said.

The SAM team continues to analyse samples taken from the area called 'Rocknest'.

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NASA Curiosity chief says Rover team on verge of 'historic' announcement