A GLIMPSE of what Mars was like 4 billion years ago has added fuel to the fiery debate about whether the Red Planet once hosted life. By extracting gases from inside the famous Martian meteorite ALH84001, researchers have revealed tantalisingly mixed news for people who believe the meteorite contains alien fossils.
The new work suggests Mars once had a magnetic field about as strong as the Earth’s. It also had a much thicker atmosphere then, but has been in a deep freeze ever since. “The conclusions are supportive of our hypothesis, and certainly wouldn’t harm it,” says David McKay from…
