Geologist Cites Evidence of Life on Mars

NASA scientist David McKay says there is additional evidence to support his claim last year that a meteorite contained signs of ancient life on Mars.

McKay said Oct. 20 that film-like material in the meteorite resembles slime secreted onto underground rocks by microbes on Earth.

“We don’t have a smoking gun yet, but we’re increasing the probability” that Mars once harbored primitive life, the Johnson Space Center geologist said during the Geological Society of America’s annual meeting.

“I’m still not convinced,” said paleontologist Jack Farmer of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif.

Geoscientists who debated the issue at the meeting agreed that the question of whether life once existed on Mars is unlikely to be answered until a NASA spacecraft lands on the planet in 2005, scoops up soil and brings it back to Earth for analysis.