011 - Did We Kill Life on Mars?

“It’s possible we found alien life on Mars nearly 50 years ago — and then promptly drowned it. At least, that’s the hypothesis astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch proposed last year.

In 1976, NASA landed two Viking spacecraft on Mars to search for signs of life. Situated thousands of miles apart, the stationary landers collected soil samples and conducted four experiments to search for evidence of biological activity and material. Three of the experiments turned up nothing. But one found strong markers of life.

Why the contradiction? Schulze-Makuch argues it might partly stem from the Viking landers adding too much water to the samples during the tests, potentially drowning Martian microbes that evolved to survive Mars’ extremely dry conditions. This week, Schulze-Makuch continues this line of evolutionary thinking, making the case for why NASA is looking for Martian life in the wrong place.” - Stephen Johnson, Smarter Faster

Source: Nature Astronomy, We may be looking for Martian life in the wrong place, Dirk Schulze-Makuch (2024, September, 27).
Image: Satellite image of salt deposits on Mars. (Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / University of Arizona).