In the 1970s, NASA would have destroyed evidence of life on Mars – Science

Since the arrival of Curiosity in 2013, scientists have been searching for traces of life on the planet Mars. The robot has been able to identify organic molecules, containing carbon and hydrogen, fueling the hypothesis of a life on Mars, recalls Numerama.

Already in the 1970s, the Viking mission reportedly discovered organic molecules on the planet, according to NewScientist, which claims they were destroyed by accident.

At the end of the Viking probe's mission, the results obtained were ambiguous. This led scientists to conclude that they had not identified any evidence of life on Mars.

Planet scientist Christopher McKay, a researcher with the Ames Research Center, says today that a probe had found organic matter at the time, but that it had inadvertently burned it.

This hypothesis is plausible because of the presence of a substance discovered ten years ago on Mars, recalls BusinessInsider. In 2008, NASA's Phoenix mission discovered a toxic compound called perchlorate on Mars. As on Earth, this compound is highly flammable. It is also used, among other things, in fireworks.

However, the Viking probe would have heated samples of Martian soil to 500 degrees. With the perchlorate in the mixture, the sensitive organic molecules were probably destroyed immediately, the researchers suggested.

The information provided by Phoenix would clarify the ambiguities reported by Viking more than 40 years ago, according to researchers and suggests that NASA may have lost this valuable data.