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Story of Possible Life on Mars Overstated, NASA Says
By Robert Roy Britt
Senior Science Writer
posted: 04:30 pm ET
05 April 2002
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A story published by the BBC today reported that NASA researchers "have found 'intriguing' new evidence that may indicate there is life on Mars, but a NASA spokesperson told SPACE
A story published by the BBC today reported that NASA researchers "have found 'intriguing' new evidence that may indicate there is life on Mars," but a NASA spokesperson told SPACE.com that the claim is overstated.
The article, posted on the BBC's Web site, said researcher Carol Stoker, from NASA's Ames Research Center, worked with a team that used photos from the 1997 Mars Pathfinder mission to determine that there could be chlorophyll on Mars. The molecule is used by plants to produce energy from sunlight and would be considered a monumental find on the Red Planet. A NASA spokesperson said, however, that Stoker's study involved a test of a new computer algorithm designed to search images for signs of biomarkers like chlorophyll. The ongoing tests have generated some interesting results, the spokesperson said, but nothing firm. "Stoker has said they did not find evidence of chlorophyll or any evidence of life on Mars," the spokesperson said. "There's really nothing to report. I think they [the BBC] read more into the abstract than is really there." An abstract of the study has already been made available on the Web. Scientists typically make such summaries of scientific papers available for other scientists to peruse. Journalists and the public can often access the documents. Yet when research yields groundbreaking discoveries, abstracts are often not made available in this fashion until a grand announcement has been made. NASA in particular is known for keeping important discoveries quiet and announcing the findings to the entire public at once. The BBC story said Stoker was scheduled to present her findings next week at an astrobiology meeting. The NASA spokesperson said Stoker was not taking calls from reporters. The abstract, reviewed by SPACE.com, discusses the study in technical terms and makes no extraordinary claims. After an automated search of images, in which signs of chlorophyll were sought, six images were studied further. Of those, four cases appeared to involve the spacecraft itself, according to the abstract. "Two intriguing cases occur in small areas on the ground near the spacecraft," the researchers stated. More Mars News | Astronomy News Briefs
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