To date, a scientific majority remain convinced that ALH84001 was dead on arrival, toting not a shred of evidence for past Martian life. However, there are some holdouts. More resolute than ever that ALH84001 is a time capsule of past Martian life is NASA's Everett Gibson, a member of the JSC scientific team that first discovered possible evidence for relic life on Mars in the meteorite. The key to his staunch belief centers on carbonate globules carried by the Mars rock, within which the evidence for ancient microbial life on Mars rests, he said. Minerals called magnetites were found inside the carbonate globules.
Magnetite is an iron ore with structures that can carry a magnetic charge.
Bacteria on Earth often yield magnetite in this chain pattern. This is a result of bacteria biologically processing iron and oxygen from water, then yielding crystals that naturally align themselves with Earth's magnetic field. Gibson said that there are three distinct types of magnetites within the Mars rock. Bolstering the case that ALH84001 does indeed hold evidence for past Martian life is new work by Imre Friedmann of the Department of Biological Science at Florida State University in Tallahassee. While the results of his latest research are yet to be released, Friedmann pointed to an earlier paper he co-authored and presented at a Martian meteorite workshop last year.