Is there life on Mars?

Life on Mars
- The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to its proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no proof of past or present life has been found on Mars.
- Mars is of particular interest for the study of the origins of life because of its similarity to the early Earth.
- Currently, the surface of Mars is bathed with ionizing radiation, and Martian soil is rich in perchlorates toxic to microorganisms. So there is very little probability to have a life on Mars.
- NASA Mars 2020 rover Perseverance, having landed successfully, will cache dozens of drill samples for their potential transport to Earth laboratories in the late 2020s or 2030s.
- The surface of Mars today doesn’t seem like the sort of place hospitable to life. It is dry and cold.
So Is There Life on Mars?
- “Is there life on Mars?” is a question people have asked for more than a century.
- Perseverance will use its instruments to look for signs of ancient life in the delta and lake deposits on Mars.
- So Perseverance once returned to Earth, could provide new insight into the evolution of Mars and whether there was ever life on the Red Planet.
- Mars has very little air, no liquid water, and its surface is bathed in radiation. Its gravity is low and there is not much aerothermal heat to work with.
- That water is very salty and full of perchlorates, but there are bacteria here on Earth that can survive conditions of this kind.
- Deep underground, it might be quite warm and quite wet, just the kinds of conditions suitable for life.
- Billions of years ago Mars had a thick atmosphere and oceans just like Earth does today. However, over time the core of the planet cooled and froze solid, leaving the planet without a protective magnetic field.
- Without its magnetic field, the solar wind stripped away its atmosphere, carrying away 85% of the planet’s water and reducing the atmospheric pressure so low that liquid water could no longer exist on the surface.
- Deep below the surface, the pressure is high enough that liquid water still exists, meaning it is possible that life still exists deep in the soil.
The 5 Possibilities For Life On Mars
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