Life on Mars Could Be Found Within THREE YEARS Astrobiologist Says After Breakthrough

• Life on Mars Could Be Found Within THREE YEARS Astrobiologist Says After Breakthrough
  by CIARAN MCGRATH, https://www.express.co.uk/
  COMPELLING evidence of life on Mars could be found within three years, a NASA scientist has predicted after two major discoveries.
  –
  Scientists are on the brink of a breakthrough in space exploration following the discovery of a lake of water on the Red Planet’s surface coupled with the identification of fluctuations in methane levels consistent with organic processes.
  –
  Professor Vladimir Airapsetian made his exciting prediction to Express.co.uk in the wake of the two exciting discoveries unveiled last month.
  –
  First NASA revealed that its Curiosity rover had discovered small but significant changes in the level of methane in the Martian atmosphere depending on seasons, which on Earth are usually a result of biological emissions and as such, an indication of life.
  –
  Second, the Marsis radar instrument on board the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter was used to identify a lake located under the planet’s south polar ice cap, which is thought to be about 12 miles in diameter.
  –
  Addressing the subject of the lake, Professor Airapetian said: “In my opinion, this study is particularly important given the recent evidence of fossils found in mantle rocks about half a mile below the ground (or the ancient seafloor) of the Iberian continental margin off the coast of Spain and Portugal in 1993.
  –
  “This drilling project on Earth strongly suggests that microbial life survives in harsh environments where water is available.  “The current study based on MARS Express radar data suggests the presence of standing bodies of water (or a lake) at depths of about 1 mile below the South Pole Layered Deposits.
  –
  “The radar method of identification of subsurface Martian lake was previously use to identify the lake beneath the ice in Antarctica and Greenland.”
  –
  read more.

end