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Scientists have raised fresh hopes of finding evidence of life on Mars with the detection of 'plumes' of methane gas on the Red Planet, which has gripped the public imagination for more than a century as a possible home for aliens.
In the strongest indicator yet of life on Mars, the 'plumes' of methane gas belched in vast quantities in our world by cows, was detected by orbiting spacecraft and from Earth using giant telescopes, the Sun newspaper reported on Thursday.
According to the British tabloid, alien microbes living just below the Martian soil are responsible for a haze of methane around the Red Planet, NASA scientists believe.
Furthermore, NASA has found the gas in the same regions as clouds of water vapour, the vital "drink" needed to support life.
UK Mars expert Professor Colin Pillinger, who masterminded the unsuccessful Beagle 2 mission to Mars in 2003, believes the methane can only point to the presence of life on the planet.
"Methane is a product of biology. For methane to be in Mars's atmosphere, there has to be a replenishable source," he told the newspaper.
"The most obvious source of methane is organisms. So if you find methane in an atmosphere, you can suspect there is life. It's not proof, but it makes it worth a much closer look," he stressed.
John Murray, a member of the Mars Express European space probe team, believes the mini-Martians may be in a form of suspended animation and could even be revived.
He has found overwhelming evidence of a vast frozen ocean beneath the dust near the Martian equator where simple life could have thrived as microbes.
Brad Bebout, a NASA microbiologist, said if methane is present in the atmosphere of Mars, then something must be producing it on the planet now, because the gas is broken down by sunlight within 300 years.
Most methane on Earth is created by primitive microbes, although some is produced by reactions between water and hot, carbon-bearing rocks. It has not yet been established
if either of these is the cause for methane on the Red Planet.
Britain's top space expert Nick Pope hailed the new evidence of life as "the most important discovery of all time". He said: "What could be more profound than to know it's not just us out there?"
The Red Planet resembles Earth in many ways. It is made of rock, it has an atmosphere and weather systems.
Proof that water is still on Mars came in 2007 when the Mars Express used ground-piercing radar to study the region around the planet's South Pole.
NASA's latest lander Phoenix dug up chunks of Martian ice last year. It swiftly evaporated into the thin atmosphere.
"If there is life on Mars then the logical conclusion is that there must be life elsewhere too," Pope said.
An announcement is expected to confirm that NASA has found the strongest evidence yet of organisms just below the Martian soil.
Image: A cliff, up to 4,000 metres high, located in the eastern part of Echus Chasma, one of the largest water source regions on Mars, is seen in this image taken by the High-Resolution Stereo Camera on board ESA's Mars Express and made available July 14, 2008. Echus Chasma is the source region of Kasei Valles which extends 3,000 km to the north