When those words were broadcast on the radio in 1938thousands of Americans ran from their homes. Roads were blocked by cars as people tried to escape from the Martians. In fact, it was only a play called THE WAR OF THE WORLDS. The play was based on a story that was written by H.G. Wells in 1898. In the story, Earth is attacked by spaceships that come from Mars. We now know that there are not any aliens on Mars. The Red Planet has been visited by several space probes, and photographs are taken by the Mars Orbital Surveyor every day. All the pictures show a cold, dead planet, and no signs of life have ever been found there. Has it always been a dead planet, however ?

Not everyone agrees that the fossils in the meteorite are bacteria. In the next ten or twenty years, we might find out, however , as there are plants to send astronauts to Mars. The Earth won´t be invaded by Martians, as H.G. Wells thought. Instead, Mars will be visited by people from Earth. It will be a difficult, dangerous and expensive journey. We might only find bacteria, but this will show that life can exist on other planets. At last, we will know for certain that we are not alone in the universe.

LIFE ON MARS
Americans scientists believe that they have signs of life on Mars. These signs were nor found on the Red Planet itself ; they were found in Antarctica in a small meteorite called ALH84001. The Earth is hit millions of meteorites every year. This particular meteorite came from Mars. It is billions of years old and contains fossils that look like bacteria.