Direct evidence for life on Mars may remain as elusive as ever, but if something is living there, it is probably lurking beneath the surface, according to scientists.
A study has found that martian meteorites contain pockets of methane gas, hinting that methane-eating microbes might be able to thrive in the planet’s soil in a “deep biosphere similar to that on Earth”.
Nigel Blamey, who led the research at Brock University in Ontario, said: “We must be clear that we have not detected life. However, if life exists on Mars, then we should be focusing on the subsurface.”
Unmanned, robotic probes may be inadequate to detect subsurface microbal (and other) life. It will likely require humans on the Martian surface to do that. To read more, click here.