Life on Mars may be a reality, researchers are saying, after discovering new evidence that rocks on the Red Planet may contain traces of living organisms.
A region of ancient rocks on Mars could hold the fossilized remains of early life on the planet, according to a research team led by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) in California.
The region, known as Nili Fossae, is made up of rocks that are nearly identical to rock formations found in Australia in the Pilbara region.
The researchers, who published their report in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters on Friday, say this is significant because life was found to be contained in mineral form in the northwest Australian region.
The Nili Fossae rocks have likely existed for three-quarters of the Red Planet’s history, and in 2008 were discovered to contain carbonates, which scientists say are a sign the planet was habitable. Carbonates are formed when water and carbon dioxide mix with calcium, iron or magnesium, and are found in shells and bones.
The researchers used instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine the up to 4 billion-year-old rocks using infrared light. The scientists told the BBC that a similar “hydrothermal” process that preserved life in northwest Australia could have taken place at Nili Fossae.
The Pilbara rocks contain dome-like features called stromatolites, which are made by films of algae trapping sediments, and living ones can still be seen today in Shark Bay in Western Australia.
“Life made these features,” Adrian Brown of SETI told the BBC. “We can tell that by the fact that only life could make those shapes. No geological process could.”
While the researchers have so far only found mineral similarities between the two regions, they are hopeful stromatolite-like forms could also be found on Mars in the future.
“If there was enough life to make layers, to make corals or some sort of microbial homes, and if it was buried on Mars, the same physics that took place on Earth could have happened there,” Brown told the BBC.
Nili Fossae had been put forward as a landing site for the NASA rover Mars Science Laboratory, to be launched in 2011, but it was considered too rocky and dangerous.
“It will be visiting another interesting site when it lands, but this is the place that we should be checking out for life on early Mars,” Brown told the BBC.
A region of ancient rocks on Mars could hold the fossilized remains of early life on the planet, according to a research team led by the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute (SETI) in California.
The region, known as Nili Fossae, is made up of rocks that are nearly identical to rock formations found in Australia in the Pilbara region.
The researchers, who published their report in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters on Friday, say this is significant because life was found to be contained in mineral form in the northwest Australian region.
The Nili Fossae rocks have likely existed for three-quarters of the Red Planet’s history, and in 2008 were discovered to contain carbonates, which scientists say are a sign the planet was habitable. Carbonates are formed when water and carbon dioxide mix with calcium, iron or magnesium, and are found in shells and bones.
The researchers used instruments on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to examine the up to 4 billion-year-old rocks using infrared light. The scientists told the BBC that a similar “hydrothermal” process that preserved life in northwest Australia could have taken place at Nili Fossae.
The Pilbara rocks contain dome-like features called stromatolites, which are made by films of algae trapping sediments, and living ones can still be seen today in Shark Bay in Western Australia.
“Life made these features,” Adrian Brown of SETI told the BBC. “We can tell that by the fact that only life could make those shapes. No geological process could.”
While the researchers have so far only found mineral similarities between the two regions, they are hopeful stromatolite-like forms could also be found on Mars in the future.
“If there was enough life to make layers, to make corals or some sort of microbial homes, and if it was buried on Mars, the same physics that took place on Earth could have happened there,” Brown told the BBC.
Nili Fossae had been put forward as a landing site for the NASA rover Mars Science Laboratory, to be launched in 2011, but it was considered too rocky and dangerous.
“It will be visiting another interesting site when it lands, but this is the place that we should be checking out for life on early Mars,” Brown told the BBC.
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