In 1976, the American space agency launched the famous “Viking” program, which sent two space probes “Viking-1” and “Viking-2” to the surface of Mars. And one of their main goals was to discover possible microbial life forms that could exist there.

Strange Stories S2 | Episode 3Photo: Elvele Images / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia (edited)

In case you didn’t know, this was the only mission that looked for extraterrestrial life forms.

Other missions, which included sending probes to Mars rovers, aimed to discover compounds necessary for life. Which is completely different.

The two probes, compared to today’s much more advanced rovers, did not have wheels. This meant that they would investigate strictly the point from which the shots were fired. One is near the equator, and the other is a little further north.

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Each of them conducted four tests on Martian soil samples. And here begins the really interesting part. The results of the first three tests were inconclusive. But because the results were quite confusing, it was assumed that there was no evidence for the existence of microbial life forms.

In fact, they didn’t even find organic compounds, which seems unusual today since the missions that followed the Viking program showed that they exist on Mars. And they all are. Well, in the fourth experiment, the results were positive. And not only on one of the probes. For both.

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But since the first three tests did not show anything, most experts concluded that the explanation of the result of the fourth experiment must be related to non-biological processes. In fact, the bottom line was that the tests did not give definitive results. That is, it does not disprove or confirm the existence of life on Mars.

Time has passed since then, but no controversy. In fact, there are many researchers, including NASA, who claim that this is when life was discovered on Mars. Only by mistake would it be destroyed.

For more on this topic, listen to the third episode of Season 2 of the Bizarre Histories podcast.

Plot: Adrian Nicolae | Sound design: Ovidiu Popica | Music: Epidemic Sound

photo: Elvele Images / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia (dept

Also listen to the first 2 episodes of “Strange Stories” / season 2:

  • Weird Stories: The Controversial Experiment “Universe 25” and Its Consequences for the Future of Humanity
  • Strange stories: How an African slave 1000 years ago created the rules we live by today