Historic Mars lander ‘did find life’
Claims have re-emerged that the US space agency (Nasa) did find signs of life on Mars during the historic Viking landings of 1976.
Dr Gil Levin, a former mission scientist, says he now has the evidence to prove it, just days before the US and Europe send new expeditions to the Red Planet.
The United States and Russia have spent billions since the 1960s on a handful of space craft designed to land on Mars.
Only three have succeeded so far: the two Viking probes in the 1970s and Mars Pathfinder in 1997.
In 1976, the world was gripped by excitement when a robotic spacecraft touched down on Mars for the first time in history.
Biology experiments detected strange signs of activity in the Martian soil - akin to microbes giving off gas.
Before announcing the news that life had been found on another planet, Nasa carried out more tests to look for evidence of organic matter.
However, the Viking experiments failed to find this essential stuff of life and it was concluded that Mars was a dead planet.
