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NASA may have discovered alien life on Mars 50 years ago when it first landed its two Viking landers on the Red Planet, but the agency may also have accidentally killed it.
The claims have been made by Dirk Schulze-Makuch of the Technical University of Berlin, who believes that a 1970s experiment in which water was added to the soil drowned out any life lurking in the Martian landscape.
The test, known as the Viking Labeled Release Experiment, was initially positive for metabolism, but a related study found no trace of organic matter.
Schulze-Makuch believes that the water with a nutrient solution in the soil may have been too liquid “and (every life) died out after a while.”
While the theories may sound strange to some, this is the case for microbes living in salt rocks in the Atacama, which has a similar landscape to Mars, that don’t need rain to survive — and too much water would wipe them out .
One scientist has claimed that NASA’s 1970s Viking mission discovered life on Mars, but probably killed it during experiments. Pictured is a shot taken by Viking 1 landing in 1976
The two landers from NASA’s Viking mission landed on Mars on July 20, 1976 (Viking 1) and September 3, 1976 (Viking 2).
The landers were equipped with a slew of instruments, including a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, X-ray fluorescence spectrometer, seismometer, meteorology instrument and stereo color cameras.
The devices allowed them to search for possible signs of life and study the physical and magnetic properties of the soil and atmosphere.
Schulze-Makuch called the results “mysterious” in an opinion piece Big Think, sharing that one of the tests came back positive, and another was negative for gas exchange. Nevertheless, small amounts of chlorinated organics were identified.
The test positive for life added water to the soil to see if products of respiration and metabolism appeared.
The theory was that if there was life on Mars, microorganisms would consume the nutrients and release the radioactive carbon as a gas.
The two landers from NASA’s Viking mission landed on Mars on July 20, 1976 (Viking 1) and September 3, 1976 (Viking 2). Pictured is a photo taken in September 1976 by Viking 2
The Viking lander mission in the 1970s, adding water to the soil, drowned out all life lurking in the Martian landscape. The photo shows Viking 1
In a 2007 study, the astronomy professor suggested that life on Mars might have hydrogen peroxide in their cells.
“In the Martian environment, this adaptation would have the particular advantages of providing a low freezing point, a source of oxygen, and hygroscopicity,” Schultz-Makuch and co-author Joop M. Houtkooper wrote in the study.
“If we assume that native life on Mars may have adapted to its environment by incorporating hydrogen peroxide into its cells, this could explain the Viking results,” Dirk Schulze-Makuch wrote.
“If the cells of Mars contained hydrogen peroxide, it would have killed them.
“In addition, it would have caused the hydrogen peroxide to react with organic molecules in the environment, creating large amounts of carbon dioxide – which is exactly what the instrument detected.”
Another experiment, pyrolytic release, tested for organic synthesis also came back positive.
In this test, carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide from the earth were mixed to see if the carbon would be absorbed into the soil.
The Viking landers discovered chlorinated organics, but scientists thought these untreated craft may have contaminated the planet with terrestrial “hitchhikers.”
“Subsequent missions, however, have verified the presence of native organic compounds on Mars, albeit in chlorinated form,” Dirk Schulze-Makuch wrote.
Life on Mars could have adapted to the arid environment by existing in salty rocks and absorbing water directly from the atmosphere.
“The Viking experiments, where water was added to soil samples, may have overwhelmed these potential microbes, leading to their demise.”
The landers continued their missions until the final transmission to Earth on November 11, 1982 (Viking 1) and April 11, 1980 (Viking 2), but are still on Mars to this day.