USA: According to a new study, the robots currently probing Mars may not be able to find signs of life on the Red Planet. The findings of the investigation emphasise the importance of bringing Martian samples back to Earth to be tested with advanced equipment to determine if life ever existed on the now-abandoned planet.

Given the study's claims, it's worth noting that NASA, in collaboration with ESA, plans to return Martian samples collected by the Perseverance Rover for in-depth analysis via the Mars Sample Return (MSR) campaign. If everything goes as planned, samples from Mars could be returned as early as 2033.

Practically everywhere there is water on Earth, life exists. Mars might also be like that. NASA's two Viking orbiters, which were launched to the Red Planet in 1975, discovered that Mars once had liquid water on its surface, roughly three to four billion years ago.

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These results were supported by subsequent missions, suggesting that life may have flourished on the planet.

However, "robust evidence" for organic compounds in Martian soil was not discovered by the twin Viking landers. Even the most recent missions, the Curiosity and Perseverance rovers, have only discovered traces of basic organic molecules in the lakebeds and deltas of long-gone rivers on Mars. These compounds may have been created by geological processes, so they are not necessarily indicative of anything, say scientists.

Because the probes were not sensitive enough to detect signs of life on the ground or because Mars has always been lifeless, the search for life on the Red Planet may have been ineffective. Researchers made the decision to put to the test instruments that are currently in use or that could be sent to Mars in the future missions to address these shortcomings.

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One of the oldest and driest deserts on Earth, the Atacama Desert in Chile, is home to Red Stone, where the team examined samples. Red Stone, which resembles Jezero Crater on Mars, is a former river delta that formed under extremely dry conditions between 100 and 160 million years ago. Additionally, the Perseverance Rover is exploring the Jezero Crater.

As the primary source of water for the microbial life at this site, the Red Stone region frequently experiences fog. Some of the experimental instruments had very high sensitivity levels compared to those currently employed on some NASA missions in the testbed versions that were used for the experiments. Organic life in the Red Stone samples was incredibly difficult to identify even with these tools.

According to a study that was recently published in the journal Nature Communications, "the limited or non-detection by rover testbed instruments of a number of biosignatures of the unique previously existing and extinct microbes in Red Stone samples also highlight the critical importance of a Mars Return mission, so samples can be thoroughly studied for signs of life in laboratories on Earth."

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These results suggest that, if microbial life ever existed on Mars, Mars probes may have difficulty locating low concentrations of organic matter that are predicted to be there. The study also stresses the significance of returning samples to Earth for testing with cutting-edge machinery in order to shed light on the question of whether life has ever existed on Mars.