"Detecting this concentration of microbes is within the ability of state-of-the-art instruments, if they could be flown to Mars and if the lander could drop down at a place where Mars orbiters have found the methane concentration highest," Price said. "There are oodles of craters on Mars from meteorites and small asteroids colliding with Mars and churning up material from a suitable depth, so if you looked around the rim of a crater and scooped up some dirt, you might find them if you land where the methane oozing out of the interior is highest."
Sorry for the preponderance of Mars stuff on this blog. But I'm absolutely convinced there's life on the Red Planet.
I don't pretend to know what sort of life, although I think we'll find it to have surprising breadth and tenacity. Nor do I know how alien it will be; it could have originated on Earth long ago, just as life on this planet may have been spawned or accelerated by Martian contamination.
But whatever its origin, it's there. And it's waiting.
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Just for the record: No, I really don't *know" there's life on Mars. But I'd bet a lot of money on it...
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