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PIA00283: Mars Life? - Microscopic Structures
Target Name: Mars
Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun)
Mission: Antarctic Meteorite Location and Mapping Project (AMLAMP)
Product Size: 720 samples x 545 lines
Produced By:
Producer ID: S96-12301
Addition Date: 1996-08-09
Other Information: NASA Announcement
Primary Data Set: AMLAMP_PAGE
Full-Res TIFF: PIA00283.tif (295.6 kB)
Full-Res JPEG: PIA00283.jpg (52.82 kB)

Click on the image to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original).

Original Caption Released with Image:
In the center of this electron microscope image of a small chip from a meteorite are several tiny structures that are possible microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms that may have lived on Mars more than 3.6 billion years ago. A two-year investigation by a NASA research team found organic molecules, mineral features characteristic of biological activity and possible microscopic fossils such as these inside of an ancient Martian rock that fell to Earth as a meteorite. The largest possible fossils are less than 1/100th the diameter of a human hair in size while most are ten times smaller.


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