A German scientist claims alien life was found on Mars 50 years ago but NASA accidentally destroyed it. According to the scientist, life was discovered half a century ago during experiments on NASA’s Viking mission to the Red Planet. However, he claims that the tests introduced water into the Martian soil, which likely wiped out all life.

NASA may have discovered alien life on Mars when it first sent two Viking landers to the Red Planet 50 years ago, but the agency may also have accidentally destroyed it. According to the Daily Mail, these claims were made by Dirk Schulze-Makuh from the Technical University of Berlin. Schulze-Makuh believes that an experiment conducted in the 1970s in which water was added to the soil suppressed all life lurking in the soil. Martian landscape.

The test, known as the Viking Labeled Release experiment, initially showed positive results, but a related study found no traces of organic material.

Dirk Schulze-Makuh believes that the water containing the nutrient solution in the soil may be very liquid. “And [будь-яке життя] He died after a while”.

The Daily Mail notes that while these theories may seem strange to some, they involve microbes living inside salt rocks in the Atacama, a Mars-like landscape that doesn’t need rain to survive, and where too much water can kill them.

The Daily Mail recalls that two landers from NASA’s Viking mission touched down on Mars on July 20, 1976 (“Viking-1”) and September 3, 1976 (“Viking-2”). The instruments were equipped with a variety of instruments, including gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, seismometer, meteorological instrument, and color stereo cameras. The devices allowed them to look for possible signs of life and study the physical and magnetic properties of the soil and atmosphere.

In an article for BigThink, Schulze-Makuh called the results “surprising” and shared that one of the tests was positive and the other was negative for gas exchange. However, small amounts of chlorinated organic matter were detected.

Water was added to the soil to see if it produced products of respiration and metabolism that tested positive for life.

The theory was that if life existed on Mars, microorganisms would consume nutrients and release radioactive carbon as gas.

In a 2007 study, an astronomy professor suggested that life on Mars might contain hydrogen peroxide in its cells.

“This adaptation would have certain advantages in the Martian environment, such as providing a low freezing point, oxygen supply and hygroscopicity.”Schulz-Makuch and co-author Joop M. Hautkooper wrote in the study.

“If we assume that indigenous life on Mars could adapt to the environment by incorporating hydrogen peroxide into their cells, this could explain Viking’s results.”, – says Dirk Schulze-Makuh. – “If Mars cells contained hydrogen peroxide, it would kill.” Moreover, this would cause the hydrogen peroxide to react with any nearby organic molecules to produce large amounts of carbon dioxide, which is what the device found.”.

Pyrolytic release, another experiment tested for organic synthesis, also gave positive results. This test mixed carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from the Earth to see if carbon could be incorporated into the soil.

Viking landing parties found chlorinated organic materials, but scientists suggested these raw materials may have been introduced to the planet from hitchhikers brought back from Earth, the Daily Mail writes.

“However, subsequent missions confirmed the presence of local organic compounds on Mars, albeit in chlorinated form.”, – Dirk Schulze-Makuh wrote. – “Life on Mars could adapt to an arid environment by existing in salty rocks and absorbing water directly from the atmosphere. Viking experiments involving adding water to soil samples may have suppressed these potential microbes, leading to their demise.”.

The probes continued their missions until their final data transfers to Earth on November 11, 1982 (“Viking 1”) and April 11, 1980 (“Viking 2”), but they are still on Mars. Source