Scientists have discovered evidence for possible life on Mars in a chunk of Martian meteorite that crashed into Earth after hurtling through space for 700,000 years.

A team of researchers from China, Germany, Switzerland and Japan found pieces of coal-like carbon particles thinner than one-tenth of the width of a strand of hair within a thumb-sized piece of a meteorite.

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"We used advanced equipment to determine the carbon particles are organic matter, and to rule out the possibility of graphite, which is inorganic," said Lin Yangting, a lead scientist of the research team from the Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences told state news agency Xinhua.

"Furthermore, we found an enrichment of the light carbon isotope in the organic matter," said Lin. "It's so exciting. This could be a promising indicator of life on Mars."

Lin explained that the lighter the carbon isotope is, the more likely it is that there was biological activity. That's how paleontologists determine the date of Earth's earliest life forms when analyzing ancient rocks - by their carbon isotope ratio.

Lin's research team published their results in the December 2014 issued of Meteoritics & Planetary Science.

While NASA has a rover investigating the surface of Mars, the Earthbound research team figured that if they couldn't get to Mars, they would bring Mars to them - so to speak.

"Another approach is to analyze Martian meteorites, the only available rocks from Mars," the team said in its paper.

But this is easier said than done as there are two main problems that make this kind of research extremely difficult; Martian meteorites are rare, and the ones that have been found have been sitting around for so long that they have become contaminated.

"There have been only four witnessed Martian meteorite falls, and they have also experienced ambient terrestrial conditions for more than 52 years," said the report.

Fortunately for the researchers their answer came falling out of the sky - literally - in the form of the Tissint meteorite, which crashed into the Moroccan desert in the summer of 2011.

"Tissint is a new Martian meteorite fall supplying us with uniquely fresh samples."

The team used used the NanoSIMS, an ion microprobe that can analyze particles smaller than one-millionth of a meter, to look at their elemental and isotopic composition. "No one has ever seen the organic carbon components in the stone with such clarity," Lin said.

"At first we were looking for traces of water in it, and accidentally found carbon particles. That's a rare case," Lin said.

Because the Martian meteorite was so new, Lin's team was able to rule out that the organic material came from Earth. "It has a Martian fingerprint, different from the one on Earth," said Lin. "So we say the organic compounds come from Mars."

Scientists say the surface of Mars has not been suitable for life for the past three billion years. "If life existed after that, it might have been living underground," Lin said.

Lin says his team's findings still need more testing, and he can't say 100 percent that there was life on Mars until the team can analyze samples collected from the Red Planet. Neverthekess, "If I were to make a bet," says Lin, "I would wager that there was once life on that planet." 

TagsScientists Find Evidence of Possible Life on Mars, Martian meteorite, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Lin Yangting, Meteoritics & Planetary Science, NanoSIMS