Not So Fast Sat. After being batted around the solar system like some cosmic softball, a rock from Mars ended up on Earth thousands of years ago. Researchers say the rock, known as the Allan Hills meteorite, provides compelling evidence that there was life on Mars, at least in the distant past.
Few questions loom larger in space science today.
If Mars once had life, than we humans would be faced with the increased likelihood that life has sprung up elsewhere, and we that are not alone. Click here to read the full story. But after five years of intense scrutiny, the scientific community is no closer to agreement on whether the rock tells us anything. The meteorite, scientifically known as ALH 84001, reentered the spotlight yesterday, when researchers said they had developed further evidence of structures left in the rock by ancient Martian bacteria. The evidence revolves around tiny structures called magnetite crystals, so small that millions of them could hide within the period at the end of this sentence.