Tuesday, October 25, 2016

A new study supports the possibility of life on Mars

In a new study published in the journal Astrobiology were analyzed in the course of forty years on the Red Planet. They believe that the existence of microbial life on Mars is possible.

The research is based on experiments carried out by the Labeled Release (LR) using Viking Mars probe landing, at the end of 1970. LR was created to search for chemicals produced by living organisms. The probe found several chemicals, according to the authors compiling the report in 1976, Gilbert Levin and Patricia Ann Straat. However, the results were classified as inconclusive.

The same researchers have worked on the new study reviewed information provided by Viking, combining them with recent results from missions of discovery of water on Mars. Experts have concluded that biological hypothesis is still valid.

In the experiments conducted by the LR, Mars soil samples were inoculated with a drop of a diluted nutrient solution attached to a radioactive carbon isotope. Air above the sample was monitored, and scientists have detected radioactive isotopes in samples of carbon dioxide. When they repeated the experiment, a week away, they found the same phenomenon.

Alternative hypothesis suggests that there is an oxidizing agent that changes in the carbon dioxide compound. The same results can be observed in the case of peroxide compound.

Although evidence from Viking ,, not provide sufficient evidence of life on Mars, the paper highlights the fact that there is such a possibility, '' said Chris McKay, Editor in NASA Ames Research Center in California.


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Source:  IFL Science

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