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.

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

NASA's Viking missions to Mars may have inadvertently eliminated Martian life. The missions used water in experiments to detect life. Astrobiologist D

Dirk Schulze-Makuch is a scientist who thinks NASA's Viking landers could have inadvertently destroyed the life they were searching for. In this Q&A, we ask why.

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.

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