Scientists have made a discovery about Mars that could lead to uncovering alien life. They identified an 1,800-mile-wide plain in the northern hemisphere that has the right subsurface conditions to support living organisms.

The region - called Acidalia Planitia - contains just the right levels of water, heat and energy in its soil for alien bacteria to thrive. The next step is to drill into the Martian surface to see if life truly has sprung there. '[It is] a promising target area for future missions in the search for extant life in Mars' subsurface,' the researchers, led Andrea Butturini of the University of Barcelona, wrote. But researchers would have to dig miles below the Red Planet. This would require major crewed missions and technologies that are not likely to be achievable for years to come.

This study, however, brings scientists one step closer to finding definitive proof of live beyond Earth by zeroing-in on a location where microbial life could exist. What's more, it lays the groundwork for future studies that could settle an 'intense debate' about the presence of methane in the Red Planet's atmosphere.

That's because the alien life forms that the researchers believe could live beneath Acidalia Planitia are methanogens, or methane-producing bacteria. Methanogens are extremophiles - bacteria that thrive in extreme environmental conditions such as very high temperatures, ultra-salty water or even high levels of radiation.

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