Life on Mars

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Another view of a terraformed Mars

For centuries people have speculated about the possibility of life on Mars due to the planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. Although there has been much speculation, to date there has never been any absolute proof of life existing on Mars. However, cumulative evidence is now building that Mars once was habitable to life or may harbor life forms presently.




Early speculation[edit]

Historical map of Mars from Giovanni Schiaparelli.
Mars canals illustrated by astronomer Percival Lowell, 1898.



Spectroscopic analysis of Mars' atmosphere began in earnest in 1894, when U.S. astronomer William Wallace Campbell showed that neither water nor oxygen were present in the Martian atmosphere.[9] By 1909 better telescopes and the best perihelic opposition of Mars since 1877 conclusively put an end to the canal hypothesis.


Chemical, physical, geological, and geographic attributes shape the environments on Mars. Isolated measurements of these factors may be insufficient to deem an environment habitable, but the sum of measurements can help predict locations with greater or lesser habitability potential.[10] The two current ecological approaches for predicting the potential habitability of the Martian surface use 19 or 20 environmental factors, with emphasis on water availability, temperature, presence of nutrients, an energy source, and protection from Solar ultraviolet and galactic cosmic radiation.[11][12]

Scientists do not know the minimum number of parameters for determination of habitability potential, but they are certain it is greater than one or two of the factors in the table below.[10] Similarly, for each group of parameters, the habitability threshold for each is to be determined.[10] Laboratory simulations show that whenever multiple lethal factors are combined, the survival rates plummet quickly.[13] There are no full-Mars simulations published yet that include all of the biocidal factors combined.[13]

Habitability factors[12]
Water  · liquid water activity (aw)
 · Past/future liquid (ice) inventories
 · Salinity, pH, and Eh of available water
Chemical environment Nutrients:
 · Fixed nitrogen
 · Availability/mineralogy
Toxin abundances and lethality:
 · Globally distributed oxidizing soils
Energy for metabolism Solar (surface and near-surface only)
Geochemical (subsurface)
 · Oxidants
 · Reductants
 · Redox gradients
physical conditions
 · Temperature
 · Extreme diurnal temperature fluctuations
 · Strong ultraviolet germicidal irradiation
 · High CO2 concentrations in the global atmosphere


Recent models have shown that, even with a dense CO2 atmosphere, early Mars was, in fact, colder than Earth has ever been.[14] However, transiently warm conditions related to impacts or volcanism could have produced conditions favoring the formation of the late Noachian valley networks, even though the mid–late Noachian global conditions were probably icy. Local warming of the environment by volcanism and impacts would have been sporadic, but there should have been many events of water flowing at the surface of Mars.[14] Both the mineralogical and the morphological evidence indicates a degradation of habitability from the mid Hesperian onward. The exact causes are not well understood but may be related to a combination of processes including loss of early atmosphere, or impact erosion, or both.[14]

The loss of the Martian magnetic field strongly affected surface environments through atmospheric loss and increased radiation; this change significantly degraded surface habitability.[15] When there was a magnetic field, the atmosphere would have been protected from erosion by solar wind, which would ensure the maintenance of a dense atmosphere, necessary for liquid water to exist on the surface of Mars.[16] The loss of the atmosphere was accompanied by decreasing temperatures. A part of the liquid water inventory sublimed and was transported to the poles, while the rest became trapped in a subsurface ice layer.[14]


Soil and rock samples studied in 2013 by NASA's Curiosity rover's onboard instruments brought about additional information on several habitability factors.[17] The rover team identified some of the key chemical ingredients for life in this soil, including sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and possibly carbon, as well as clay minerals, suggesting a long-ago aqueous environment — perhaps a lake or an ancient streambed — that was neutral and not too salty.[17] On December 9, 2013, NASA reported that, based on evidence from Curiosity studying Aeolis Palus, Gale Crater contained an ancient freshwater lake which could have been a hospitable environment for microbial life.[18][19] The confirmation that liquid water once flowed on Mars, the existence of nutrients, and the previous discovery of a past magnetic field that protected the planet from cosmic and Solar radiation,[20][21] together strongly suggest that Mars could have had the environmental factors to support life.[22][23] However, the assessment of past habitability is not in itself evidence that Martian life has ever actually existed. If it did, it was probably microbial, existing communally in fluids or on sediments, either free-living or as biofilms, respectively.[15]


No definitive evidence for biosignatures or organics of Martian origin has been identified, and assessment will continue not only through the Martian seasons, but also back in time as the Curiosity rover studies what is recorded in the depositional history of the rocks in Gale Crater.[10] While scientists have not identified the minimum number of parameters for determination of habitability potential, some teams have proposed hypotheses based on simulations.


Although Mars soils are likely not to be overtly toxic to terrestrial microorganisms,[10] life on the surface of Mars is extremely unlikely because it is bathed in radiation and it is completely frozen.[24][25][26][27][28][29] The radiation environment on the surface, as recently determined by Curiosity rover "is so high that any biological organisms would not survive without protection."[30] Therefore, the best potential locations for discovering life on Mars may be at subsurface environments that have not been studied yet.[15][29][31][32][33][34] The extensive volcanism in the past possibly created subsurface cracks and caves within different strata where liquid water could have been stored, forming large aquifers with deposits of saline liquid water, minerals, organic molecules, and geothermal heat – potentially providing a habitable environment away from the harsh surface conditions.[29][35][36][37]

Surface brines[edit]

Although liquid water does not appear at the surface of Mars,[38][39] several modeling studies suggest that potential locations on Mars could include regions where thin films of salty liquid brine or perchlorate may form near the surface[39][40][41] that may provide a potential location for terrestrial salt and cold-loving microorganisms (halophile psychrophilic).[42] Various salts present in the Martian soil may act as an antifreeze and could keep water liquid well below its normal freezing point, if water was present at certain favorable locations.[39][43][44] Astrobiologists are keen to find out more, as not much is known about these brines at the moment. The briny water may or may not be habitable to microbes from Earth or Mars.[45] Another researcher argues that although chemically important, thin films of transient liquid water are not likely to provide suitable sites for life.[43] In addition, an astrobiology team asserted that the activity of water on salty films, the temperature, or both are less than the biological thresholds across the entire Martian surface and shallow subsurface.[12]

The damaging effect of ionizing radiation on cellular structure is one of the prime limiting factors on the survival of life in potential astrobiological habitats.[27][28][46] Even at a depth of 2 meters beneath the surface, any microbes would probably be dormant, cryopreserved by the current freezing conditions, and so metabolically inactive and unable to repair cellular degradation as it occurs.[28] Also, solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation proved particularly devastating for the survival of cold-resistant microbes under simulated surface conditions on Mars, as UV radiation was readily and easily able to penetrate the salt-organic matrix that the bacterial cells were embedded in.[47] In addition, NASA's Mars Exploration Program states that life on the surface of Mars is unlikely, given the presence of superoxides that break down organic (carbon-based) molecules on which life is based.[48]

Cosmic radiation[edit]

In 1965, the Mariner 4 probe discovered that Mars had no global magnetic field that would protect the planet from potentially life-threatening cosmic radiation and solar radiation; observations made in the late 1990s by the Mars Global Surveyor confirmed this discovery.[49] Scientists speculate that the lack of magnetic shielding helped the solar wind blow away much of Mars's atmosphere over the course of several billion years.[50] As a result, the planet has been vulnerable to radiation from space for about 4 billion years.[51] Currently, ionizing radiation on Mars is typically two orders of magnitude (or 100 times) higher than on Earth.[52] Even the hardiest cells known could not possibly survive the cosmic radiation near the surface of Mars for that long.[24][53] After mapping cosmic radiation levels at various depths on Mars, researchers have concluded that any life within the first several meters of the planet's surface would be killed by lethal doses of cosmic radiation.[24][25][54] The team calculated that the cumulative damage to DNA and RNA by cosmic radiation would limit retrieving viable dormant cells on Mars to depths greater than 7.5 metres below the planet's surface.[25]


The Radiation assessment detector (RAD) on board the Curiosity rover is currently quantifying the flux of biologically hazardous radiation at the surface of Mars today, and will help determine how these fluxes vary on diurnal, seasonal, solar cycle and episodic (flare, storm) timescales. These measurements will allow calculations of the depth in rock or soil to which this flux, when integrated over long timescales, provides a lethal dose for known terrestrial organisms.[55]

Research published in January 2014 of data collected by the RAD instrument, revealed that the actual absorbed dose measured is 76 mGy/year at the surface,[56] and that "ionizing radiation strongly influences chemical compositions and structures, especially for water, salts, and redox-sensitive components such as organic matter."[56] Regardless of the source of Martian organic matter (meteoritic, geological, or biological), its carbon bonds are susceptible to breaking and reconfigurating with surrounding elements by ionizing charged particle radiation.[56] These improved subsurface radiation estimates give insight into the potential for the preservation of possible organic biosignatures as a function of depth as well as survival times of possible microbial or bacterial life forms left dormant beneath the surface.[56] The report concludes that the in situ "surface measurements —and subsurface estimates— constrain the preservation window for Martian organic matter following exhumation and exposure to ionizing radiation in the top few meters of the Martian surface."[56]

Nitrogen fixation[edit]

After carbon, nitrogen is arguably the most important element needed for life. Thus, measurements of nitrate over the range of 0.1% to 5% are required to address the question of its occurrence and distribution. There is nitrogen (as N2) in the atmosphere at low levels, but this is not adequate to support nitrogen fixation for biological incorporation.[57] Nitrogen in the form of nitrate, if present, could be a resource for human exploration both as a nutrient for plant growth and for use in chemical processes. On Earth, nitrates correlate with perchlorates in desert environments, and this may also be true on Mars. Nitrate is expected to be stable on Mars and to have formed in shock and electrical processes. Currently there is no data on its availability.[57]

Low pressure[edit]


Liquid water[edit]

Main article: Water on Mars
A series of artist's conceptions of past water coverage on Mars.

Liquid water, necessary for life as we know it, cannot exist on the surface of Mars except at the lowest elevations for minutes or hours.[59][60] Liquid water does not appear at the surface itself,[61] but it could form in minuscule amounts around dust particles in snow heated by the Sun.[62][63] Also, the ancient equatorial ice sheets beneath the ground may slowly sublimate or melt, accessible from the surface via caves.[64][65][66][67]

Water on Mars exists almost exclusively as water ice, located in the Martian polar ice caps and under the shallow Martian surface even at more temperate latitudes.[68][69] A small amount of water vapor is present in the atmosphere.[70] There are no bodies of liquid water on the Martian surface because its atmospheric pressure at the surface averages 600 pascals (0.087 psi)—about 0.6% of Earth's mean sea level pressure—and because the temperature is far too low, (210 K (−63 °C)) leading to immediate freezing. Despite this, about 3.8 billion years ago,[71] there was a denser atmosphere, higher temperature, and vast amounts of liquid water flowed on the surface,[72][73][74][75] including large oceans.[76][77][78][79][80] It has been estimated that the primordial oceans on Mars would have covered between 36%[81] and 75% of the planet.[82]

Warm-season flows on slope in Newton Crater



There is disagreement in the scientific community as to whether or not the recent gully streaks were formed by liquid water. Some suggest the flows were merely dry sand flows.[87][88][89][90] Others suggest it may be liquid brine near the surface,[91][92][93] but the exact source of the water and the mechanism behind its motion are not understood.[94]


The silica-rich patch discovered by Spirit rover


Based on Earth analogs, hydrothermal systems on Mars would be highly attractive for their potential for preserving organic and inorganic biosignatures.[97][98][99] For this reason, hydrothermal deposits are regarded as important targets in the exploration for fossil evidence of ancient Martian life.[100][101][102]

Possible biosignatures[edit]


Trace amounts of methane in the atmosphere of Mars were discovered in 2003 and verified in 2004.[103][104][105][106][107][108] As methane is an unstable gas, its presence indicates that there must be an active source on the planet in order to keep such levels in the atmosphere. It is estimated that Mars must produce 270 ton/year of methane,[109][110] but asteroid impacts account for only 0.8% of the total methane production. Although geologic sources of methane such as serpentinization are possible, the lack of current volcanism, hydrothermal activity or hotspots[111] are not favorable for geologic methane. It has been suggested that the methane was produced by chemical reactions in meteorites, driven by the intense heat during entry through the atmosphere. Although research published in December 2009 ruled out this possibility,[112] research published in 2012 suggest that a source may be organic compounds on meteorites that are converted to methane by ultraviolet radiation.[113]


The existence of life in the form of microorganisms such as methanogens is among possible, but as yet unproven sources. If microscopic Martian life is producing the methane, it probably resides far below the surface, where it is still warm enough for liquid water to exist.[31]

Since the 2003 discovery of methane in the atmosphere, some scientists have been designing models and in vitro experiments testing growth of methanogenic bacteria on simulated Martian soil, where all four methanogen strains tested produced substantial levels of methane, even in the presence of 1.0wt% perchlorate salt.[114] The results reported indicate that the perchlorates discovered by the Phoenix Lander would not rule out the possible presence of methanogens on Mars.[114][115]


In June 2012, scientists reported that measuring the ratio of hydrogen and methane levels on Mars may help determine the likelihood of life on Mars.[117][118] According to the scientists, "...low H2/CH4 ratios (less than approximately 40) indicate that life is likely present and active."[117] Other scientists have recently reported methods of detecting hydrogen and methane in extraterrestrial atmospheres.[119][120]

In contrast to the findings described above, studies by Kevin Zahnle, a planetary scientist at NASA's Ames Research Center, and two colleagues, conclude that "there is as yet no compelling evidence for methane on Mars". They argue that the strongest reported observations of the gas to date have been taken at frequencies where interference from methane in Earth's atmosphere is particularly difficult to remove, and are thus unreliable. Additionally, they claim that the published observations most favorable to interpretation as indicative of Martian methane are also consistent with no methane being present on Mars.[121][122][123]

The Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in August 2012, is able to make measurements that distinguish between different isotopologues of methane, and in 2014, Curiosity detected a "tenfold spike" in the level of methane in the Martian atmosphere compared to the usual background readings.[124][125][126] However, even if the mission is to determine that microscopic Martian life is the seasonal source of the methane, the life forms probably reside far below the surface, outside the rover's reach.[127] The first measurements with the Tunable Laser Spectrometer (TLS) in the Curiosity rover indicated that there is less than 5 ppb of methane at the landing site at the point of the measurement.[128][129][130][131] On July 19, 2013, NASA scientists published the results of a new analysis of the atmosphere of Mars, reporting a lack of methane around the landing site of the Curiosity rover.[132][133][134] On September 19, 2013, NASA again reported no detection of atmospheric methane with a measured value of 0.18±0.67 ppbv corresponding to an upper limit of only 1.3 ppbv (95% confidence limit) and, as a result, conclude that the probability of current methanogenic microbial activity on Mars is reduced.[135][136][137]

India's Mars Orbiter Mission, launched on November 5, 2013, will search for methane in the atmosphere of Mars using its Methane Sensor for Mars (MSM). The orbiter is scheduled to arrive at Mars on September 24, 2014. The Mars Trace Gas Mission orbiter planned to launch in 2016 would further study the methane, if present,[138][139] as well as its decomposition products such as formaldehyde and methanol.


In February 2005, it was announced that the Planetary Fourier Spectrometer (PFS) on the European Space Agency's Mars Express Orbiter had detected traces of formaldehyde in the atmosphere of Mars. Vittorio Formisano, the director of the PFS, has speculated that the formaldehyde could be the byproduct of the oxidation of methane and, according to him, would provide evidence that Mars is either extremely geologically active or harbouring colonies of microbial life.[140][141] NASA scientists consider the preliminary findings well worth a follow-up, but have also rejected the claims of life.[142][143]

Viking lander biological experiments[edit]

The 1970s Viking program placed two identical landers on the surface of Mars and tasked to look for biosignatures of microbial life on the surface. Of the four experiments performed by each Viking lander, only the 'Labeled Release' (LR) experiment gave a positive result for metabolism, while the other three did not detect organic compounds. The LR was a specific experiment designed to test only a narrowly defined critical aspect of the theory concerning the possibility of life on Mars; therefore, the overall results were declared, officially, inconclusive.[9] Further, no Mars lander mission has found traces of biomolecules or biosignatures until the Curiosity rover, in 2014, found organics.[144][145] The claim of extant microbial life on Mars, is based on old data collected by the Viking landers, currently reinterpreted as sufficient evidence of life, mainly by Gilbert Levin,[146] Joseph D. Miller,[147] Navarro,[148] Giorgio Bianciardi and Patricia Ann Straat,[149] that the Viking LR experiments did, indeed, detect extant microbial life on Mars.

Relatively recent assessments published in December 2010 by Rafael Navarro–Gonzáles,[150][151][152][153] indicate that organic compounds "could have been present" in the soil analyzed by both Viking 1 and 2. The study determined that perchlorate —discovered in 2008 by Phoenix lander[154][155]— can destroy organic compounds when heated, and produce chloromethane and dichloromethane as byproduct, the identical chlorine compounds discovered by both Viking landers when they performed the same tests on Mars. Because perchlorate would have broken down any Martian organics, the question of whether or not Viking found organic compounds is still wide open.[156][157]


Gillevinia straata[edit]

In 2006, Mario Crocco, a neurobiologist at the Neuropsychiatric Hospital Borda in Buenos Aires, Argentina, proposed the creation of a new nomenclatural rank that classified the Viking landers' results as 'metabolic' and therefore belonging to a form of life. Crocco proposed to create new biological ranking categories (taxa), in the new kingdom system of life, in order to be able to accommodate the genus of Martian microorganisms. Crocco proposed the following taxonomical entry:[159]

  • Organic life system: Solaria
  • Biosphere: Marciana
  • Kingdom: Jakobia (named after neurobiologist Christfried Jakob)
  • Genus and species: Gillevinia straata

As a result, the hypothetical Gillevinia straata would not be a bacterium (which rather is a terrestrial taxon), but a member of the kingdom 'Jakobia' in the biosphere 'Marciana' of the 'Solaria' system.[148][160] However, some consider Crocco's taxonomy a single nomen nudum.[161]




  6. Are there any organic biomarkers present?
  7. Are the features indigenous to the sample?




An electron microscope reveals bacteria-like structures in meteorite fragment ALH84001


Some structures resembling the mineralized casts of terrestrial bacteria and their appendages (fibrils) or by-products (extracellular polymeric substances) occur in the rims of carbonate globules and preterrestrial aqueous alteration regions.[165][166] The size and shape of the objects is consistent with Earthly fossilized nanobacteria, but the existence of nanobacteria itself is controversial.

In November 2009, NASA scientists reported after more detailed analyses, that a biogenic explanation is a more viable hypothesis for the origin of the magnetites in the meteorite.[167][168]

Nakhla meteorite


The Nakhla meteorite fell on Earth on June 28, 1911 on the locality of Nakhla, Alexandria, Egypt.[169][170]

In 1998, a team from NASA's Johnson Space Center obtained a small sample for analysis. Researchers found preterrestrial aqueous alteration phases and objects[171] of the size and shape consistent with Earthly fossilized nanobacteria. Analysis with gas chromatography and mass spectrometry (GC-MS) studied its high molecular weight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in 2000, and NASA scientists concluded that as much as 75% of the organic matter in Nakhla "may not be recent terrestrial contamination".[163][172]



The Shergotty meteorite, a 4 kg Martian meteorite, fell on Earth on Shergotty, India on August 25, 1865 and was retrieved by witnesses almost immediately.[175] This meteorite is relatively young, calculated to have been formed on Mars only 165 million years ago from volcanic origin. It is composed mostly of pyroxene and thought to have undergone preterrestrial aqueous alteration for several centuries. Certain features in its interior suggest remnants of a biofilm and its associated microbial communities.[163] Work is in progress on searching for magnetites within alteration phases.

Yamato 000593[edit]


Geysers on Mars[edit]

Main article: Geysers on Mars

The seasonal frosting and defrosting of the southern ice cap results in the formation of spider-like radial channels carved on 1 meter thick ice by sunlight. Then, sublimed CO2 – and probably water –increase pressure in their interior producing geyser-like eruptions of cold fluids often mixed with dark basaltic sand or mud.[179][180][181][182] This process is rapid, observed happening in the space of a few days, weeks or months, a growth rate rather unusual in geology – especially for Mars.

A team of Hungarian scientists proposes that the geysers' most visible features, dark dune spots and spider channels, may be colonies of photosynthetic Martian microorganisms, which over-winter beneath the ice cap, and as the sunlight returns to the pole during early spring, light penetrates the ice, the microorganisms photosynthesize and heat their immediate surroundings. A pocket of liquid water, which would normally evaporate instantly in the thin Martian atmosphere, is trapped around them by the overlying ice. As this ice layer thins, the microorganisms show through grey. When the layer has completely melted, the microorganisms rapidly desiccate and turn black, surrounded by a grey aureole.[183][184][185] The Hungarian scientists believe that even a complex sublimation process is insufficient to explain the formation and evolution of the dark dune spots in space and time.[186][187] Since their discovery, fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke promoted these formations as deserving of study from an astrobiological perspective.[188]

A multinational European team suggests that if liquid water is present in the spiders' channels during their annual defrost cycle, they might provide a niche where certain microscopic life forms could have retreated and adapted while sheltered from solar radiation.[189] A British team also considers the possibility that organic matter, microbes, or even simple plants might co-exist with these inorganic formations, especially if the mechanism includes liquid water and a geothermal energy source.[190] However, they also remark that the majority of geological structures may be accounted for without invoking any organic "life on Mars" hypothesis.[190] It has been proposed to develop the Mars Geyser Hopper lander to study the geysers up close.[191]

Forward contamination[edit]

For more details on this topic, see Planetary protection.


The prime concern of hardware contaminating Mars, derives from incomplete spacecraft sterilization of some hardy terrestrial bacteria (extremophiles) despite best efforts.[12][194] Hardware includes landers, crashed probes, end of mission disposal of hardware, and hard landing of entry, descent, and landing systems. This has prompted research on radiation-resistant microorganisms including Brevundimonas, Rhodococcus, Pseudomonas genera and Deinococcus radiodurans survival rates under simulated Martian conditions.[195] Results from one of these experimental irradiation experiments, combined with previous radiation modeling, indicate that Brevundimonas sp. MV.7 emplaced only 30 cm deep in Martian dust could survive the cosmic radiation for up to 100,000 years before suffering 10⁶ population reduction.[195] Surprisingly, the diurnal Mars-like cycles in temperature and relative humidity affected the viability of Deinococcus radiodurans cells quite severely.[196] In other simulations, Deinococcus radiodurans also failed to grow under low atmospheric pressure, under 0 °C, or in the absence of oxygen.[197]

Life under simulated Martian conditions[edit]

On 26 April 2012, scientists reported that an extremophile lichen survived and showed remarkable results on the adaptation capacity of photosynthetic activity within the simulation time of 34 days under Martian conditions in the Mars Simulation Laboratory (MSL) maintained by the German Aerospace Center (DLR).[198][199][200][201][202][203] However, the ability to survive in an environment is not the same as the ability to thrive, reproduce, and evolve in that same environment, necessitating further study.



Main article: Mars program

Mars-1 was the first spacecraft launched to Mars in 1962,[204] but communication was lost while en route to Mars. With Mars-2 and Mars-3 in 1971-1972, information was obtained on the nature of the surface rocks and altitude profiles of the surface density of the soil, its thermal conductivity, and thermal anomalies detected on the surface of Mars. The Program found that its northern polar cap has a temperature below -110 °C and that the water vapor content in the atmosphere of Mars is five thousand times less than on Earth. No signs of life were found.[205]

Mariner 4[edit]

Main article: Mariner 4


Viking orbiters[edit]

Main article: Viking program


Viking experiments[edit]

Carl Sagan poses next to a replica of the Viking landers.



One of the designers of the Labeled Release experiment, Gilbert Levin, believes his results are a definitive diagnostic for life on Mars.[9] Levin's interpretation is disputed by many scientists.[211] A 2006 astrobiology textbook noted that "With unsterilized Terrestrial samples, though, the addition of more nutrients after the initial incubation would then produce still more radioactive gas as the dormant bacteria sprang into action to consume the new dose of food. This was not true of the Martian soil; on Mars, the second and third nutrient injections did not produce any further release of labeled gas."[212] Other scientists argue that superoxides in the soil could have produced this effect without life being present.[213] An almost general consensus discarded the Labeled Release data as evidence of life, because the gas chromatograph & mass spectrometer, designed to identify natural organic matter, did not detect organic molecules.[146] More recently, high levels of organic chemicals, particularly chlorobenzene, were detected in powder drilled from one of the rocks, named "Cumberland", analyzed by the Curiosity rover.[124][125] Nonetheless, the results of the Viking mission concerning life are considered by the general expert community, at best, as inconclusive.[9][213][214]

In 2007, during a Seminar of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institution (Washington, D.C., USA), Gilbert Levin's investigation was assessed once more.[146] Levin still maintains that his original data were correct, as the positive and negative control experiments were in order.[215] Moreover, Levin's team, on 12 April 2012, reported a statistical speculation, based on old data —reinterpreted mathematically through cluster analysis— of the Labeled Release experiments, that may suggest evidence of "extant microbial life on Mars."[215][216] Critics counter that the method has not yet been proven effective for differentiating between biological and non-biological processes on Earth so it is premature to draw any conclusions.[217]

A research team from the National Autonomous University of Mexico headed by Rafael Navarro-González, concluded that the GCMS equipment (TV-GC-MS) used by the Viking program to search for organic molecules, may not be sensitive enough to detect low levels of organics.[153] Klaus Biemann, the principal investigator of the GCMS experiment on Viking wrote a rebuttal.[218] Because of the simplicity of sample handling, TV–GC–MS is still considered the standard method for organic detection on future Mars missions, so Navarro-González suggests that the design of future organic instruments for Mars should include other methods of detection.

After the discovery of perchlorates on Mars by the Phoenix lander, practically the same team of Navarro-González published a paper arguing that the Viking GCMS results were compromised by presence of perchlorates.[219] A 2011 astrobiology textbook notes that "while perchlorate is too poor an oxidizer to reproduce the LR results (under the conditions of that experiment perchlorate does not oxidize organics), it does oxidize, and thus destroy, organics at the higher temperatures used in the Viking GCMS experiment."[220] Biemann has written a commentary critical of this Navarro-González paper as well,[221] to which the latter have replied;[222] the exchange was published in December 2011.

Phoenix lander, 2008[edit]

Main article: Phoenix (spacecraft)
An artist's concept of the Phoenix spacecraft

The Phoenix mission landed a robotic spacecraft in the polar region of Mars on May 25, 2008 and it operated until November 10, 2008. One of the mission's two primary objectives was to search for a "habitable zone" in the Martian regolith where microbial life could exist, the other main goal being to study the geological history of water on Mars. The lander has a 2.5 meter robotic arm that was capable of digging shallow trenches in the regolith. There was an electrochemistry experiment which analysed the ions in the regolith and the amount and type of antioxidants on Mars. The Viking program data indicate that oxidants on Mars may vary with latitude, noting that Viking 2 saw fewer oxidants than Viking 1 in its more northerly position. Phoenix landed further north still.[223] Phoenix's preliminary data revealed that Mars soil contains perchlorate, and thus may not be as life-friendly as thought earlier.[224][225][226] The pH and salinity level were viewed as benign from the standpoint of biology. The analysers also indicated the presence of bound water and CO2.[227] A recent analysis of martian meteorite EETA79001 found 0.6 ppm ClO4-, 1.4 ppm ClO3-, and 16 ppm NO3-, most likely of martian origin. The ClO3- suggests presence of other highly oxidizing oxychlorines such as ClO2- or ClO, produced both by UV oxidation of Cl and X-ray radiolysis of ClO4-. Thus only highly refractory and/or well-protected (sub-surface) organics are likely to survive. [228] In addition, recent analysis of the Phoenix WCL showed that the Ca(ClO4)2 in the Phoenix soil has not interacted with liquid water of any form, perhaps for as long as 600 Myr. If it had, the highly soluble Ca(ClO4)2 in contact with liquid water would have formed only CaSO4. This suggests a severely arid environment, with minimal or no liquid water interaction. [229]

Curiosity rover self-portrait.

Mars Science Laboratory[edit]

The Mars Science Laboratory mission is a NASA project that launched on November 26, 2011 the Curiosity rover, a nuclear-powered robotic vehicle, bearing instruments designed to assess past and present habitability conditions on Mars.[230][231] The Curiosity rover landed on Mars on Aeolis Palus in Gale Crater, near Aeolis Mons (a.k.a. Mount Sharp),[232][233][234][235] on August 6, 2012.[236][237][238]


Methane measurements in the atmosphere of Mars
by the Curiosity rover (August 2012 to September 2014).
Methane (CH4) on Mars - potential sources and sinks.
Detection of Organics in the "Cumberland" rock sample.
Spectral Analysis (SAM) of "Cumberland" rock.

Future missions[edit]

  • Mars 2020 rover mission – The Mars 2020 rover mission is a Mars planetary rovermission concept under study by NASA with a possible launch in 2020. It is intended to investigate an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars, investigate its surface geological processes and history, including the assessment of its past habitability and potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geological materials.[240]

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Mumma, Michael J. (January 8, 2012). "The Search for Life on Mars". Origin of Life Gordon Research Conference. Galveston, TX. 
  12. ^ a b c d MEPAG Special Regions-Science Analysis Group; Beaty, D.; Buxbaum, K.; Meyer, M.; Barlow, N.; Boynton, W.; Clark, B.; Deming, J.; Doran, P. T. et al. (2006). "Findings of the Mars Special Regions Science Analysis Group". Astrobiology 6 (5): 677–732. Bibcode:2006AsBio...6..677M. doi:10.1089/ast.2006.6.677. PMID 17067257. 
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