Chemical found 'not bad for life'

Los Angeles: Traces of a rocket fuel ingredient found in the Martian soil would not necessarily hinder potential life, mission scientists said on Tuesday.

Nasa's Phoenix spacecraft earlier this month detected the chemical perchlorate, a highly oxidising salt, in soil samples dug up from near the Martian surface. On Earth, it can be found naturally in the arid Atacama Desert in Chile where some extreme organisms use it as a source of energy.

"We know that microbes can exist quite happily in oxidising conditions," said Phoenix scientist Richard Quinn of the Nasa Ames Research Center.

The surprising find comes less than two months after scientists reported that the soil near Mars' north pole was Earth-like where plants such as asparagus, green beans and turnips could thrive. The presence of perchlorate, if confirmed, would appear to make the soil more exotic than previously believed. But scientists insisted that has no bearing on the red planet's habitability. "In itself, it is neither good nor bad for life," chief scientist Peter Smith of the University of Arizona in Tucson said of the chemical.