In an effort to help determine the chances of survival of life on Mars, scientists have proposed that techniques that are used to drill for oil could prove useful in estimating the odds of survival on the Red Planet. Professor John Parnell from the University of Aberdeen and his team of researchers have proposed this method. The team has just returned from the Arctic where they were involved in studying a meteorite crater using methods for detecting oil and gas. The site that they were studying happens to be the 23-million-year-old Haughton meteorite impact site in the Arctic. This site is located in the Canadian High Arctic and is a project undertaken by NASA via Ames Research Center and the Mars Institute.