Oops? Life on Mars may have been found — before it was accidentally destroyed during a NASA mission nearly 50 years ago, one scientist has suggested. In 1975, just six years after Apollo 11 touched down on the moon,

According to astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch of the Technical University Berlin in Germany, an experiment to detect the signs of microbial life on Mars could have been deadly.

Astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch believes Nasa's Viking missions have inadvertently 'eliminated' Martian life. He also mentioned that Martian life may have adapted to the planet's dry environment

Astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch from the Technische Universität Berlin in Germany believes that humans may have unintentionally killed all life on Mars in the 1970s. NASA's Viking 1 mission in 1975 saw two spacecraft land on the Red Planet's surface and conduct an experiment involving mixing water and nutrients with collected soil samples.

A scientist has said NASA may have accidentally killed life on Mars during a research mission to find it. For decades, scientists have been trying to find any signs of life on the Red Planet with no conclusive evidence as of yet.

For decades, scientists have posited that to find life on Mars they first need to find water. And in the absence of water, they have tried to see what happens when they introduce it onto the planet.

NASAs Viking missions sought life on Mars in the 1970s, but new insights suggest their methods might have unintentionally destroyed potential Martian microbes.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch believes NASA's Viking 1 may have harmed potential Martian life through its water-based detection methods.