Today a team of NASA and Stanford scientists announced the discovery of strong circumstantial evidence that microscopic life once existed on Mars . Dr. David McKay, Dr. Everett Gibson, and Kathie Thomas-Keprta of Lockheed-Martin, all from ( NASA / JSC ), and Dr. Richard Zare ( Stanford ) have led a team that has found chemical evidence for past life on Mars - including what they interpret as possible microscopic fossil remains (tube-like structures pictured above) - in a meteorite thought to have originated on Mars . A small fraction of the many meteorites that fall to Earth from space have composition similar to the Martian surface . Many scientists believe that these meteorites are indeed Martian rocks that have been catapulted into space during a catastrophic event on Mars , such as an asteroid impact. The escaped rocks would then circle the inner Solar System, some of them falling to Earth . The meteorite containing the evidence landed on Earth 13,000 years ago, but may indicate a life-form that existed on Mars billions of years ago. The team's findings will be published in the August 16 issue of Science Magazine . Even skeptical scientists look forward to future research confirming or refuting these exciting claims.
Media Credits & Attribution
Credit: courtesy NASA