"The experiments performed by NASA's Viking landers may have accidentally killed Martian life by applying too much water," scientist Dirk Schulze-Makuch said.

One researcher raises the possibility that life existed in a sample of Martian soil. And then, in our quest to sniff it, we snuffed it out. Just like that. According to astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch of the Technical University Berlin in Germany,

Oops? Life on Mars may have been found — before it was accidentally destroyed during a NASA mission nearly 50 years ago, one scientist has suggested. In 1975, just six years after Apollo 11 touched down on the moon,

A scientist has said NASA may have accidentally killed life on Mars during a research mission to find it. For decades, scientists have been trying to find any signs of life on the Red Planet with no conclusive evidence as of yet.

For decades, scientists have posited that to find life on Mars they first need to find water. And in the absence of water, they have tried to see what happens when they introduce it onto the planet.

NASAs Viking missions sought life on Mars in the 1970s, but new insights suggest their methods might have unintentionally destroyed potential Martian microbes.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch believes NASA's Viking 1 may have harmed potential Martian life through its water-based detection methods.