THE Martians are not coming - they've probably already arrived on earth. And we could be their descendants.Two Australian scientists have developed new technology to confirm claims by NASA that a meteorite from Mars found in Antarctica in 1984 contained microscopic fossils from the red planet. Scientists have fiercely debated whether the ancient, microscopic compounds were deposited by ancient bacteria or natural chemical reactions - and whether such bacteria was Martian or moved in after the meteorite fell to earth. But biophysicist Dr Tony Taylor from the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) in Sydney and the University of Queensland's Professor John Barry devised a new technique which they say affirms the Martian microbe theory "beyond reasonable doubt". Dr Taylor said the research raised intriguing questions about the origins of life on Mars and its planetary neighbour, Earth, and whether meteorites could have seeded living organisms through space. Dr Taylor said the ancient fossil fragments were dated to 3.95 billion years old. The meteorite was found on top of the polar ice, but Dr Taylor said the bacteria could not have formed on earth in such sub-zero temperatures. "The carbonate (residue from bacteria) and obviously all of the materials of the fossils inside it were all formed on Mars and definitely could not have been produced here on Earth," Dr Taylor said. "The fossils pre-date any fossil evidence of life on this planet. "So it demonstrates quite clearly that there was life on Mars before there was life on Earth.