[extropy-chat] NASA and martian life, not

[Damien Broderick]

February 18, 2005

RELEASE: 05-052

NASA Statement On False Claim Of Evidence Of Life On Mars

News reports on February 16, 2005, that NASA scientists from
Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have found strong
evidence that life may exist on Mars are incorrect.

NASA does not have any observational data from any current Mars
missions that supports this claim. The work by the scientists
mentioned in the reports cannot be used to directly infer
anything about life on Mars, but may help formulate the strategy
for how to search for martian life. Their research concerns
extreme environments on Earth as analogs of possible
environments on Mars. No research paper has been submitted by
them to any scientific journal asserting martian life.