Life on Mars Was Detected as Early as the 1970s
Retrospective

Life on Mars Was Detected as Early as the 1970s

The experiments related to life on the surface of Mars were conducted in the 1970s by the landers of the Viking 1 and 2 spacecraft. Using radioactive materials, they primarily investigated whether signs of metabolism could be detected in Martian soil under suitable conditions with the addition of water. Out of the four experiments, three yielded negative results, while one provided a positive indication of life.

The Viking mission found traces of complex organic materials on the planet. However, due to an accidental error, the remote-controlled spacecraft burned these valuable samples.

Since then, the experiments have been repeated several times on Earth, in some cases using sterile samples. Some of these yielded positive results, while others were unable to detect any signs of life even in Earth samples.

Created: 2019-06-13 21:00
Last modified: 2019-12-03 21:00

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