On March 12th, 2013, an announcement was made from scientists that Mars was once capable of supporting microbial life. This news came to the scientists from the Curiosity rover which launched last year and is currently canvasing the Martian surface. The rover has instruments on-board it's main unit that allows it to analyze different specimens of rock and other materials that the rover collects. When analyzing samples taken from a rock NASA named John Klein, the found traces of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon. In addition to these, the sample also had clay minerals mixed in with those elements, which proves that the rock was once in an environment which once contained water. Due to the pH levels that must of have been present in order for these clay minerals to form, the water in question would have been perfectly safe for humans to drink, today.
Although scientists speculated that water has flowed on Mars in the past, the evidence in these findings suggest that the water was much more habitable to life as we know it than what was previously thought.
This could mean, that once upon a time, billions of years ago, Mars once inhabited life of all sorts, maybe even human life. And to them, at the time, it was Earth which was the uninhabitable planet. Only time will tell what will come out of this new discovery, however there is no doubt that this has been a huge step in the search for extraterrestrial life.
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