New hope of life on Mars

Press, 18 September 1976, Page 1

New hope of life on Mars

NZPA-Reuter Pasadena American scientists are leaning closer to the theory of life on Mars, after encouraging signals from the Viking 2 spacecraft. In July, Viking 1 started sending back readings of gas produced by reactions of chemical agents within Martian soil. On Earth such an experiment would definitely have indicated that life existed.

But biologists have been cautious about interpreting the results as showing life, saying the gas could have been produced through the exotic chemistry of the Martian soil, which is still not fully understood. The Viking 2 results differ slightly from those of Viking 1 though, and lean more towards the “life" explanation and away from the chemical one. “It does not mean that we won’t find a chemical explanation,” said a biologist, “but it will have to be a more complex one.” Scientists had predicted that when Martian soil from the damper areas near the north polar ice cap, where Viking 2 is situated, was activated chemically, more oxygen would be produced if the cause was purely chemical.

Instead, less oxygen was produced than during the Viking 1 experiment 6400 km away, in a drier area, and 25 per cent more radioactive carbon dioxide resulted.