CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (CNN) – Is there life on Mars? A new discovery could indicate maybe… or maybe not.
NASA announced Thursday its Curiosity rover found organic molecules in the soil on Mars.
Samples were taken from a 3-billion-year-old mudstone.
“We found organic molecules in rocks from an ancient lake bed,” Astrobiologist Dr. Jennifer Eigenbrode. “Those organic molecules could have come from life. We don’t know that there was ever life on Mars. The organic molecules that we found are not specifically evidence of life because there are other sources of making those molecules, including things that are non-biological in nature.”
The rover also detected methane in the Martian atmosphere. Methane is present in other places in our solar system that could host life.
Researchers say the findings are “breakthroughs in astrobiology.” But for conspiracy theorists, this is far from a confirmation of aliens or another life form.
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