The database or portions of data which are copyrighted by the Los Angeles Times may not be reproduced, stored in machine-readable form or transmitted by any means. In no event may there be any downloading to retrieval systems of business or governmental entities for subsequent search and retrieval uses. It's been 20 years since any spacecraft successfully reached the planet Mars, but that's all about to change. The signs of life they found were just microbes, like bacteria on Earth. But scientists say finding any kind of life at all on another planet, even if it went extinct long ago, would be one of the greatest discoveries in history.
Nobody doubts that the rocks really came from Mars.
Tiny bubbles of air trapped inside exactly match the air on Mars. Scientists know that because of detailed information about Mars' air that was sent back from two spacecraft called Viking that landed on Mars in 1976. The rocks must have been blasted to Earth when a huge asteroid or comet hit Mars long ago. Many scientists are still not quite convinced about the evidence for life in those rocks. But some experiments that will be sent to Mars in the new round of exploration might help to answer some of the remaining questions.