NASA Lander's Actions May Have Ended Martian Life, Scientist Claims
Astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch suggests that NASA's Viking landers may have accidentally killed potential Martian life in the 1970s by using water-based experiments, which could have been harmful to life forms adapted to Mars' arid conditions. He argues that Martian life might rely on salt deposits to draw moisture, similar to organisms in Earth's driest regions, and proposes focusing on salts in future life-detection missions on Mars.