On February 18, 2021, NASA created history by landing its Perseverance Rover on Mars. The ultimate aim of this mission is to find signs of ancient alien life on the Red Planet which is now barren, as we know it. Several previous studies had suggested that Mars was once home to a healthy water system on its surface, which means life could have easily survived and evolved.
What if NASA finds living aliens on Mars?
However, several other studies had detected traces of unusual methane emissions on the Martian atmosphere, and it has raised hopes of finding living aliens, at least in its microbial forms on Mars. The possibility of such an event was predicted a few years ago by NASA chief scientist Jim Green.
Green predicted that NASA will most probably discover alien life on Mars in 2021. However, he also made it clear that humanity is not prepared enough to accept the realities surrounding extraterrestrial existence.
"It will be revolutionary. It's like when Copernicus stated 'no we go around the Sun.' Completely revolutionary. It will start a whole new line of thinking. I don't think we're prepared for the results. We're not. I've been worried about that because I think we're close to finding it, and making some announcements," said Green.
Aliens are also prone to evolution
According to biologists, life on earth started in unicellular form, and in the course of millions of years, life evolved and resulted in the creation of advanced living forms. If microbial alien life gets discovered on Mars, this life might also be prone to evolution, and if it happens, Mars may harbor advanced life forms in the future. But several experts believe that human intervention on Mars may contaminate the planet, and sometimes, it might even destroy the existing life forms on the Red Planet.
Discovery of algae and fungi on Red Planet
A few months back, a team of scientists has claimed to have discovered alien algae and fungi on the Martian surface. The research team apparently spotted mysterious figures on images taken by NASA's Curiosity Rover, and upon initial analysis, they claimed that it could be living algae and fungi.
"There are no geological or other abiogenic forces on Earth which can produce sedimentary structures, by the hundreds, which have mushroom shapes, stems, stalks, and shed what looks like spores on the surrounding surface. In fact, fifteen specimens were photographed by NASA growing out of the ground in just three days," said Regina Dass of the Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences, India, and the lead author of the study.
Conspiracy theories and alien life on Mars
Conspiracy theorists have long been claiming that aliens have been living on Mars for hundreds of thousands of years. Some of these conspiracy theorists believe that advanced extraterrestrials might have existed on Mars years ago, but they had gone extinct due to some natural causes.
Adding up the heat to these rumors, Haim Eshed, a former Israeli space security chief had recently claimed that world powers including the United States and Israel are working closely with aliens on Mars, and he added that there is even a fully functional underground base on the Red Planet.
