Sep 19, 2013 03:14 PM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Scientists who theorize there is active life active life present on Mars may have just received evidence to suggest the exact opposite, BBC News reported.

Recent data from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover turned up no traces of methane in the Red Planet's atmosphere, which was believed to be a signal of active life. On Earth, microorganisms produce 95 percent of the atmosphere's methane.

Some researchers have hoped to find presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere to suggest there could be life present on Mars. Curiosity's unsuccessful search all but puts an end to such theories.

"Based on previous measurements, we were expecting to go there and find ten parts per billion or more, and we were excited about finding it," said Dr. Chris Webster, the principal investigator on Curiosity's Tuneable Laser spectrometer (TLS). "So when you go to search for something and you don't find it, there's a sense of disappointment."

The recent search by the rover was reported in a paper published in the current edition of Science Magazine.

"This observation doesn't rule out the possibility of current microbial activity, [but] it lowers the probability certainly that methanogens are the source of that activity," Webster said.

Sushil Atreya, from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, agreed and said it may lessen the probability, but does not rule it out entirely.

"There could still be other types of microbes on Mars. This just makes it harder for there to be microbes that kick out methane," he said.

Dr. Geronimo Villanueva, of the Catholic University of America, studies the Red Planet through telescopes at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. He said he wants more data before making up his mind on the matter.

"This is an evolving story as we get more numbers," he said. "If Curiosity's statistics hold, it's important because it sets a new bound. Methane should last a long time in the atmosphere and the fact that the rover doesn't see it puts a big constraint on possible releases. But I would like to see more and better Curiosity results, and more orbiter results as well."

See Now: Covert Team Inside Newsweek Revealed as Key Players in False Human Trafficking Lawsuit