Presence of methane suggests life on Mars

According to the British tabloid,alien microbes living just below the Martian soil are responsible for a haze of methane around the Red Planet,Nasa scientists believe. Furthermore,Nasa has found the gas in the same regions as clouds of water vapour,the vital drink needed to support life.

UK Mars expert Professor Colin Pillinger,who masterminded the unsuccessful Beagle 2 mission to Mars in 2003,believes the methane can only point to the presence of life on the planet.

Methane is a product of biology. For methane to be in Mars atmosphere,there has to be a replenishable source, he told paper.

The most obvious source of methane is organisms. So,if you find methane in an atmosphere,you can suspect there is life. Its not proof,but it makes it worth a much closer look, he stressed.

John Murray,member of the Mars Express European space probe team,believes the mini-Martians may be in a form of suspended animation and could even be revived. He has found overwhelming evidence of a vast frozen ocean beneath the dust near the Martian equator where simple life could have thrived as microbes. Brad Bebout,a NASA microbiologist,said if methane is present in the atmosphere of Mars,then something must be producing it on the planet now,because the gas is broken down by sunlight within 300 years.

The Red planet resembles Earth in many ways. It is made of rock,it has an atmosphere and weather systems. Proof that water is still on Mars came in 2007 when Mars Express used ground-piercing radar to study the region around the planets South Pole.