Pasadena, California, August 26: America’s Viking-I Mars probe has sent back another clear reading that there could be life in the Martian soil but space scientists said they were still sceptical about the results.
The Viking project biologist, Dr. Orman Horowitz, said the latest readings sent yesterday “certainly increase the chance” that there are microscopic forms of life in the red Mars soil.
“I really don’t understand it, but I’m overwhelmed,” said the Viking project scientist, Dr. Geraid Soffen.
The latest experiment was a controlled test on a Martian soil sample which had already signalled it could contain as many living organisms as soil in the Antarctic region on earth.
Under the test, the soil sample is cooked to a high temperature to kill any organisms in it.
Pasadena, California, August 26: America’s Viking-I Mars probe has sent back another clear reading that there could be life in the Martian soil but space scientists said they were still sceptical about the results.
The Viking project biologist, Dr. Orman Horowitz, said the latest readings sent yesterday “certainly increase the chance” that there are microscopic forms of life in the red Mars soil.
According to results announced at a press conference here all three biological tests in the tiny Viking laboratory now show there could be life on the planet.
“I really don’t understand it, but I’m overwhelmed,” said the Viking project scientist, Dr. Geraid Soffen.
The latest experiment was a controlled test on a Martian soil sample which had already signalled it could contain as many living organisms as soil in the Antarctic region on earth. Under the test, the soil sample is cooked to a high temperature to kill any organisms in it.
If the sample is dead when it is retested — as happened with the controlled test announced on Tuesday — then the chances are that the initial readings were caused by biology and not by chemistry, scientists say. Dr. Horowitz said: “if we had observed these results in laboratories on earth we would have concluded that it was weak but definitely positive biological signal.
