NASA-International Space Station

Scientists have been trying to prove signs of life on mars

“This is very strong proof of life on Mars,” said David Mackay, a senior scientist at the Nasa Johnson Space Centre , who was part of the team of scientists that formerly investigated the meteorite when it was discovered in 1984.

The latest analyses show that this is very unlikely to have resulted in the kinds of structures seen in the rock. Close assessment recommended that about 25 per cent of the crystal structures were chemically reliable with being formed from bacteria.

Allen Hills Meteorite

According to scientists, the meteorite was broken off the surface of Mars by the collision of an asteroid, and reached Earth after floating through space for about 16 million years. It landed in Allan Hills in Antarctica. Scientists were talented to trace the meteorite back to Mars, as its chemical composition matched the relative proportions of different gases measured in observations of the atmosphere of Mars made by the Viking spacecraft in the 1970s.

Microscopic view of the rock

The meteorite also conserves evidence of liquid water on Mars, signifying that the planet may have had more suitable conditions for life to develop in the past. The study was published in the November issue of Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta, the journal of the Geochemical and Meteoritic Society. Nasa is likely to announce the findings formally on Monday.

The team has also been studying two additional Martian meteorites — Nakhla, which landed in Egypt in 1911, and Yamato 593, which was found by a Japanese expedition to Antarctica. In research due to be published shortly, the scientists declare that both of these fossils also show evidence of microbial life.

A close up view of red planet shows the craters on its surface

Bill Clinton, then the US President, said of the research in 1997: “It speaks of the possibility of life. If this innovation is confirmed, it will surely be one of the most astonishing insights into our Universe that science has ever uncovered. Its implications are as far-reaching and awe-inspiring as can be imagined.”