Ever since the invention of science fiction, humanity has wondered if there is life on worlds other than our own. As of today, the results are inconclusive, despite many advanced missions from NASA and the ESA, costing billions of dollars. While the attempts at discovery are still relatively new, it’s outrageous that missions are done incorrectly.

Mars has repeatedly been the topic of discussion when contemplating the possibility of alternate life. We know that there are no tiny green men plotting to take humanity over, but we are still unsure of whether life has ever existed on Mars. One of NASA’s biggest foibles was the Viking missions of the 1970s. The Viking landers were part of a billiondollar project designed to research Mars and the history of its supposed life.

The Viking landers tested soil samples for evidence of dormant molecules. By adding water to the soil sample and allowing exposure to sunlight, the lander allowed any possible life in the soil a chance at photosynthesis. The basic principle of the experiment was that if there was activity detected, there was some kind of life on Mars. The results were negative.

Scientists have recently reviewed the Earth-centric design of this Martian experiment. Since the conditions of Mars differ dramatically from Earth’s, any life may be based on a chemical other than water. It is believed that peroxide, a chemical similar to water, is what Martian life could be based upon. The irony of the experiment is that it would have killed the very life it was trying to detect.

I am not proclaiming the existence of life on other celestial bodies, but we do need to change the way such research is performed. Human beings must realize that the universe is far too infinite to have only one type of life. As the Greek philosopher, Metrodorus of Chios, said in the fourth century BC, “It is unnatural in a large field to have only one shaft of wheat and in the infinite universe, only one living world.”

We may not find evidence of life during our lifetime, but searching for the wrong kind certainly doesn’t help.