But it may have drowned, German scientist: Half a century ago, humans may have found life on Mars

The curiosity about extraterrestrial life has always been one of the driving forces for human exploration of the universe. As a planet very close to Earth, the red Mars has always carried the aspirations of many people. Although some people firmly believe that there must be life on Mars, scientists currently have no conclusive evidence to prove that there is life originating from that planet on Mars.

Recently, German astronomer Dirk Schultz Markush proposed in a paper that NASA may have found the existence of life on the surface of Mars as early as 46 years ago. However, due to improper experimental operations, these microorganisms on Mars were destroyed, causing humans to miss out on the significant discovery of Martian life.

Of course, Dirk's viewpoint has not been widely recognized by scientists. But he believes that a similar phenomenon exists in the Atacama Desert of Chile, which is extremely similar to the Martian environment, which can prove his point.

Mars Life Exploration Experiment: From Weak Positive to Negative

This controversy starts with the 1976 Pirate Mars exploration project. At that time, NASA made two identical Viking landing probes and headed for the surface of Mars. Under the technological conditions at the time, Professor Kevin Brown from Stanford University designed a set of life exploration experiments with the aim of detecting signs of life in Martian soil.

In 1976, Pirate 1 and Pirate 2 landed on the surface of Mars, collecting soil samples and storing them in high-temperature sterilized biological test kits. These two detectors are equipped with a series of instruments, including gas chromatography-mass spectrometer, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, seismometer, meteorological instrument, and stereo color camera.

The preliminary test results showed that some values reached the threshold of NASA's designed life detection indicators, indicating the presence of signs of life on the surface of Martian soil. However, further experiments later led NASA to overturn the preliminary conclusion, stating that the evidence was insufficient to confirm the presence of microorganisms on Mars.

Specifically, the four samples collected by the two "pirate ships" underwent a series of experiments such as pyrolysis release, comprehensive release, and gas exchange, and the accumulated data showed weak positivity, which can be explained as the existence of life on Mars. But after using a gas chromatography-mass spectrometer for precise detection, the result was negative, indicating the absence of organic compounds in the Martian soil

However, what gives scientists some hope is that experimental data shows that the abundance of sulfur in Martian soil is different from any known substance found on Earth or the Moon. After presenting such complex results, NASA concluded at the time that no life had been detected in Martian soil, and this conclusion was also included in astronomy textbooks. However, in the following decades, scientists had different opinions on this. Some believed that life had already been discovered in Martian soil, while others constantly reviewed the experiments and supported NASA's conclusions.

American astrobiologist Chris McKay said that it should not be assumed that there is no life on Mars, and a precise description should be the existence of "uncertain evidence" to support the claim that there is life on Mars.

German scholar: Humans drowned Martian life by adding water

Dirk Schultz Makushi is an astronomy professor at the Berlin University of Technology. Recently, he wrote on the Internet that the reason why NASA failed to detect organic components in Martian soil that year was probably because scientists added too much water to the soil in the previous steps, "drowning" Martian microorganisms.

Deke believes that native life may have incorporated hydrogen peroxide into cells to adapt to the extremely cold and thin air environment on Mars. Hydrogen peroxide reacts with any nearby organic molecules to form a large amount of carbon dioxide, and the scientists of the pirate ship did indeed detect the emission of carbon dioxide gas during pyrolysis release experiments. Deke believes that life on Mars may exist in salt rocks and directly absorb water from the atmosphere to adapt to arid environments. The experiment of the pirate ship added too much water to the soil samples, which may make these Martian microorganisms overwhelmed and lead to their death.

Deke pointed out that due to the fact that Earth itself is a planet rich in water, scientists at that time kindly believed that adding water to the soil could make it easier for life forms to show their existence, but they ignored the fact that the arid environment on Mars is exactly the opposite of Earth. He cited the Atacama Desert in Chile as an example, which is a rare and narrow red desert on Earth similar to the Martian environment. The Atacama Desert has also had an interesting history of microbial evolution: as the desert climate becomes drier, microorganisms not only do not disappear, but also thrive. At the end of this evolutionary path, a type of microorganism that completely depends on salt rock for survival emerged. This microorganism contains special salts that can directly absorb water from relatively humid air, and if a large amount of water is given to the rock surface, this microorganism will die.

"Humans themselves are also species that require a lot of water, but you can't throw them into the vast ocean and let them drink all at once!" said Dirk.