http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2133475.ece

ALIEN microbes living just below the Martian soil are responsible for a haze of methane around the Red Planet, Nasa scientists believe.

The gas, belched in vast quantities in our world by cows, was detected by orbiting spacecraft and from Earth using giant telescopes.

Nasa are today expected to confirm its presence during a briefing at their Washington HQ.

And the find is seen as exciting new evidence that Martian microbes are still alive today.

Some scientists reckon methane is also produced by volcanic processes. But there are NO known active volcanoes on Mars.

Furthermore, Nasa has found the gas in the same regions as clouds of water vapour, the vital “drink” needed to support life.

Experts speculate that the methane is being emitted as a waste product by organisms called methanogens living in water beneath underground ice.

And they would have to be alive today because the methane would otherwise have been lost from the Martian atmosphere.

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.

Today’s briefing will feature a star panel of Mars experts headed by Michael Meyer, chief scientist for Nasa’s Mars programme.

UK Mars expert Professor Colin Pillinger believes the methane can only point to the presence of life on the planet.

His ill-fated Beagle 2 probe was carrying a laboratory that would have looked directly for such signs of life when it crashed on Christmas Day 2003.

Prof Pillinger told The Sun last night: “Methane is a product of biology. For methane to be in Mars’ atmosphere, there has to be a replenishable source.

“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.”

Nasa’s findings confirm studies by Europe’s Mars Express probe, which has been orbiting the planet for five years and also reported signs of methane in 2004.

Britain’s top space expert Nick Pope last night 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?

"We’ve really only scratched the surface — it’s an absolute certainty that there is life out there and we are not alone.

“If there is life on Mars then the logical conclusion is that there must be life elsewhere too.

“If it’s happened here on Earth, then why shouldn’t it happen anywhere? The implication is this is a universal law.

“Mars is very similar to Earth. It’s about the same size, it’s a rocky inner planet.

“Most scientists believe it probably has liquid water which is almost universally agreed as the pre-requisite for life. I am certain there is other life in the Universe and, most likely, intelligent life.”

The Red Planet has gripped the public imagination for more than a century as a possible home for aliens.

But life could not survive on its surface because, unlike the Earth, Mars has no magnetic shield to protect it against deadly sun radiation.

The planet resembles our own in many ways. It is made of rock, it has an atmosphere and weather systems.

Although much smaller with a diameter of around 4,222 miles, Mars’ day is just 40 minutes longer than ours and its tilted axis gives it seasons.

Water has been found in the form of buried ice and scientists believe that two billion years ago, Mars was covered with liquid oceans.

Proof that water is still on Mars came in 2007 when 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.

Nasa have controversially hit the headlines before for claiming evidence for Martians.

In 1996, they said they had discovered fossilised organisms in a meteorite from the planet.

But other scientists were sceptical.

Today’s conference will be broadcast live online by NASA TV (www.nasa.gov/ntv) at 7pm.

Awesome. Now we need the Obama administration to release all classified UFO documents so we know the truth about intelligent life.

So Mars's atmosphere is made from farts???

neat.

I hope there's something TERRIBLE beneath that ice that rapes us silly before obliterating us.

atmosphart.

No shit. After my first excitement over this I remembered how insignificant this probably is compared to everything they're not telling us haha. Still sweet though.

i read this funny post somewhere recently that said

"it would be nice to see intelligent life, at least we'll know there is intelligence somewhere".

Kadoogan: there's actually a huge petition and a few other things that are demanding the new administration to declassify all UFO documents in america and have full disclosure. I can't remember the webpage, but Obama set something up where people can propose issues to be handled. the UFO disclosure has now made it in the top 15 (of hundreds) and maybe even the top 10 by now. some people go as far as saying it's a crime against the american people for hiding such information from us for over 60 years.

mars is a dying planet, much later in it's life cycle than earth is. we already know that there is evidence of massive canyons and water trails that line a great portion of the surface of mars.

when the earth's core cools, at some point later down the geological timeline, earth will look much like mars does today. these microbes that are there are most likely the hearty remnants of past life. any evidence of this would probably be deep under the surface of mars, and alive or dead, there's got to be something there and we must find it.

Send all under-120 IQ people to Mars, stat!

Aril Check this site out, its a great source for declassified information. http://www.theblackvault.com/ I spend hours on this site.