THE surface of Mars could be littered with the chemical residues of life.
Previous missions to the planet were simply not equipped to detect them,
researchers claim.
The Viking spacecraft, which landed on Mars nearly 25 years ago, failed to
find any signs of organic molecules, dashing hopes of detecting traces of
life—modern or ancient—on the surface. Scientists have since assumed
that the harsh oxidising environment on the surface would destroy such molecules
and that future missions will have to drill into the ground to find them.
But the chemistry of Mars could have altered organic molecules in…
