Sep 17, 2014 11:46 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

The case for life on Mars, past or present, just got a bit stronger, as scientists have found a 1.3 billion year old meteorite that likely once held water.

According to a University of Manchester news release, researchers dubbed the meteorite "Nakhla" and published a study on their work in the journal Astrobiology. The scientists discovered something deep within the space rock, a "cell-like" structure that prompted the study.

Like the meteorite, the scientists now believe Mars has the elements necessary to sustain life buried beneath its surface. The new study strong evidence NASA's Curiosity rover has already turned up.

"In many ways it resembled a fossilised biological cell from Earth but it was intriguing because it was undoubtedly from Mars," Ian Lyon, a professor in Manchester's School of Earth, Atmospheric and Environmental Sciences, said in the release. "Our research found that it probably wasn't a cell but that it did once hold water - water that had been heated, probably as a result of an asteroid impact."

Mars' atmosphere is too thin for humans to live on its surface and therefore scientists have only been able to uncover evidence of microbial life that once existed on the planet. The next step for the researchers will be to analyze Nakhla for specific biological signatures that definitively point to life on Mars.

"We have been able to show the setting is there to provide life. It's not too cold, it's not too harsh," Lyon said. "Life as we know it, in the form of bacteria, for example, could be there, although we haven't found it yet. It's about piecing together the case for life on Mars - it may have existed and in some form could exist still.

"Before we return samples from Mars, we must examine them further, but in more delicate ways.  We must carefully search for further evidence."

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