"From Discovery to Extinction: The Short-lived Life on Mars"

A scientist suggests that life on Mars may have been discovered and inadvertently eradicated nearly 50 years ago during NASA's Viking program. The landers conducted experiments that initially hinted at the presence of metabolic processes, but subsequent tests failed to detect organic substances. One theory proposes that the inclusion of water in the experiments may have led to the demise of potential Martian bacteria. Another theory suggests that Martian life may have evolved to incorporate hydrogen peroxide into their cells, which could have reacted with the experiments' equipment, generating false positive results. While speculative, this notion raises the possibility that life on Mars was encountered and terminated shortly after its discovery.