NASA's new head has made a strong statement on extraterrestrial life, suggesting that Mars could hold evidence that we are not alone in the universe.
Jared Isaacman said that if humans manage to bring samples from Mars to Earth, there is a very high probability - up to 90% - of proving the existence of microbial life on the red planet.
He argued that, given that the universe contains about two trillion galaxies with billions of stars and planets, it is unlikely that Earth is the only place where life exists.
"There could be life anywhere. It doesn't mean it looks like humans or what we see in movies," he said.
These statements come on the eve of the historic launch of the Artemis II mission, which marks NASA's return to the Moon after more than 50 years.
The mission will send four astronauts on a journey around the moon for about 10 days. They will travel in the Orion capsule, mounted on the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, which generates incredible thrust to take humans further into space than ever before.
The crew consists of American astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch, as well as Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
The mission will launch into low Earth orbit and then continue toward the Moon. After a maneuver that takes the spacecraft beyond lunar orbit, the Moon's gravity will help it return to Earth, where it will land in the Pacific Ocean in about 10 days.
This mission is seen as a preparatory step for Artemis III, planned for 2027, and Artemis IV, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface in 2028.
Meanwhile, although Isaacman believes that life outside Earth is possible, he stressed that he has not seen concrete evidence or secret documents proving visits by extraterrestrial beings to our planet.
In recent years, interest in life on Mars has grown significantly. In 2025, NASA announced that a sample collected by the Perseverance rover contained the clearest signs yet of possible microbial life.
Scientists have identified unusual structures in ancient rocks on Mars, which could be traces of very small organisms that existed billions of years ago.
These structures, called "poppy seeds" and "leopard spots", were found in the Neretva Vallis area, part of the Jezero crater - a region where water once flowed.
However, experts emphasize that more data and verifications are needed before the existence of life on Mars can be definitively confirmed.
Despite this, researchers describe this as a very promising development that could change the way we understand life in the universe. /GazetaExpress/
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