Did Viking Probes Miss Life on Mars?
Oct. 24, 2006 — NASA’s first experiments to look for organic matter on Mars may not have been sensitive enough to detect life, concludes a team of researchers studying Martian-like soils in remote regions of Earth. The twin Viking probes landed on the surface of Mars in 1976 to search for signs of past or present life. One test involved the rapid heating of soil samples so they vaporized, leaving trace molecules to be analyzed by spectrometers. No biological materials were found and NASA abandoned ground exploration of Mars for more than 20 years.
