The soil on Mars may contain microbial life, according to a new interpretation of data collected more than 30 years ago, reports Reuters.
Joop Houtkooper of the University of Giessen, Germany, said the Viking spacecraft may have found signs of a weird life form based on hydrogen peroxide when it touched down on the subfreezing, arid Martian surface in 1976.
His analysis of one of the experiments carried out by the Viking spacecraft suggests 0.1 per cent of the Martian soil could be of biological origin.
That is roughly comparable to biomass levels found in some Antarctic permafrost, home to a range of hardy bacteria and lichen.
"It is interesting because one part per thousand is not a small amount," Houtkooper said. "We will have to find confirmatory evidence and see what kind of microbes these are and whether they are related to terrestrial microbes. It is a possibility that life has been transported from Earth to Mars or vice versa a long time ago."
Life possible on Mars soil, says study
FE Team | Published: August 25, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like