Chandra Wickramasinghe of the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology and colleagues have revealed that microbial life may exist on the comet 67/P Churyumov-Gerasimenko, which is currently home to the Philae lander.

Although no scientific scrutiny was organized for data from Rosetta, the European Space Agency probe orbiting the comet, the researchers still claimed in a presentation before the Royal Astronomical Society (RAS) that microorganisms could eke out life beneath the comet's black crust.

However, many black surfaces like a lava field, don't point towards existence of life on the comet. But, the researchers are of the firm belief that chances of life existence on the planet are high because viral particles provide a great evidence of life on the comet.

With the help of either electron microscopy or RNA analysis, it is possible to detect both entire viruses and mere molecular bits of them. However, it is not possible to perform this task by putting Rosetta into use, simply because it doesn't have the necessary hardware and it never goes close enough to the comet to provide significant information about it.

The researchers said it would be wrong to deny the possibility of life existence on asteroids and comets. Amino acids and other building blocks of life have already been found on meteors. However, the presentation has not been able to convince the majority of the scientific community about likelihood of life existence on the comet.

The researchers presented their theory during a meeting of the RAS in Llandudno, Wales, on Monday.