Here's the thing. Mars has water. It's frozen at it's poles, but we know very well that it does have water. We also know that Mars has a gas named methane, which (as far as we know) can only come from two things: Microbial life that releases it or active volcanoes erupting. As far as we know, there are no active volcanoes on Mars. That being said, the only logical thing that could be producing the methane are tiny microbes that might live on the planet. Another thing that further reinforces the theory that there are microbes on Mars is that methane percentage in Mars' atmosphere is higher in the day than during the night.
Now, why do scientists suddenly think that there is life on Mars? Well 36 years ago, we sent the Viking spacecrafts to Mars. When the rover landed, there is a high chance that any microbial life that could have been in the soil could have been melted at temperatures of about 160 degrees.
NASA has commented that there is still a lot of uncertainty on whether there really is life on Mars or not, but followed up by saying that Curiosity (which will be landing on mars in August) has instruments that will allow NASA to "discover the nature of oxidants in the Martian soil".
Now all this being said, this is great! In my opinion there definitely is microbial life on Mars, we just haven't found it yet. If and when we do discover concrete evidence that there is life on Mars (Martian microbes in a petri dish, anyone?) a lot will change.
Now, why do scientists suddenly think that there is life on Mars? Well 36 years ago, we sent the Viking spacecrafts to Mars. When the rover landed, there is a high chance that any microbial life that could have been in the soil could have been melted at temperatures of about 160 degrees.
NASA has commented that there is still a lot of uncertainty on whether there really is life on Mars or not, but followed up by saying that Curiosity (which will be landing on mars in August) has instruments that will allow NASA to "discover the nature of oxidants in the Martian soil".
Now all this being said, this is great! In my opinion there definitely is microbial life on Mars, we just haven't found it yet. If and when we do discover concrete evidence that there is life on Mars (Martian microbes in a petri dish, anyone?) a lot will change.
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