Chlorophyll Detected in the Red Planet, New Evidence of Life Existence

BBC News reported on April 5 that a research team of the U.S. space agency (NASA) found new evidence suggesting the existence of organism in nearby landing areas of the Pathfinder, which landed in the Red Planet in 1997.

BBC News relayed that Dr Carol Stoker, from NASA`s Ames Research Center, detected minuscule organism that can be viewed as chlorophyll in surrounding soils at the landing site. However the researcher team emphasized, ` This study is in a preliminary stage, and it is not enough to reach a definite conclusion.`

The research team started scrutinizing process on each region since the spectral signature of chlorophyll have been found in six regions as spectrum of `super pan` have been investigated, which are a series of precise superimposed images taken by cameras in the Path Finder.

According to the research team, the spectral signature of chlorophyll in four regions have been determined to be coming from the Path Finder itself, but the remaining two regions have been confirmed to coming from the surrounding soils nearby the Path Finder.

Jei-Gyoon Park phark@donga.com