guardianangel42 , 'extremophiles' have been found all over, under and
in the planet. Wherever we look, if there's water, we find life. Some organisms
have bio mechanisms utterly unrelated to what we're familiar with, eg. they
exploit mineral products from radioactive decay. Nothing to do with the sun
or standard oxygen cycles. Some have such slow metabolic rates that they
live for tens of millions of yeard, indeed so slow that normal reproduction as
we think of it would be so energy intensive that it'd kill them.
Check recent issues of New Scientist, you'll find numerous articles about
the extreme conditions in which we continue to find life. I'll be surprised if
we don't find something akin to these organisms on Mars, perhaps in comets
too, and almost certainly on Europa.
As Malcom once said, life will find a way... (2 points if you get that reference.
)
Ian.