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Finding evidence of the existence of life on Mars would be one of the greatest scientific discoveries in the history of mankind and that is why NASA has devoted decades to this problem. One of the first attempts to find evidence of life on the red planet occurred in the 1970s. However, a new study suggests that the instrument used by NASA to study soil samples March has actually destroyed the evidence that
The article, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research, focuses on the Viking program, which has successfully placed two spacecraft on the surface of Mars. There, the little explorers were developed to analyze the soil of the planet and, ideally, to discover organic remains that could indicate the presence of life on this planet.
The main author of the article suggests that when Viking explorers heated soil samples to analyze the vapors produced, they actually caused an ignition. A type of fuel salt called perchlorate was found on Martian soil in 2008, but it happened decades after the Viking undercarriages performed sample readings. The paper suggests that it is possible that they accidentally burned the samples that they were trying to test.
As the Tech Times reported, when landers passed on their readings to Earth, they lacked evidence of organic life. We recall that post-red planet missions have revealed the presence of organic molecules.
Scientists still can not tell if there was really life on Mars. However, the presence of organic molecules points in this direction. However, it should be noted that there are other natural processes that could have produced them without resulting in life.
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