2024-10-17 15:00:00
The hypothesis is intriguing. Perhaps one of the most fascinating raised in recent years. A team of scientists from the American agency NASA claims to have found corners where, at least on paper, life could sprout on Mars. As announced by experts in an article published Thursday in the journal ‘Communications Earth & Environment’, ice deposits located in the mid-latitudes of the red planet could satisfy the conditions necessary for the emergence of photosynthetic life forms. “We believe having located potentially habitable areas“says the team led by researcher Aditya Khuller, from the famous Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena.
The work is based on a sophisticated simulation that studied how sunlight interacts with different types of Martian ice and dust in different areas of the red planet. From this analysis, which takes as reference the studies carried out on the Greenland glaciers, the experts were able to identify a series of regions in the middle latitudes of Mars where the ice could exert some sort of protective effect so that life sprouts. Almost as if it were a greenhouse. According to the models, in these specific areas, the mixture of ice and dust on the one hand, reduce radiation levels hitting the Martian surface and, on the other hand, it would allow the entry of the light necessary to nourish any photosynthetic organisms such as bacteria, plants or even algae.
The models point to the existence of “microenvironments potentially suitable for life” hidden beneath the ice of Mars
Experts are already talking about the possibility that they exist.”microenvironments suitable for life”on Mars. It would be about small hidden corners under the ice, a few centimeters from the surface and often protected by the shield of the Martian regoliths. Most of these would be found in depth between 5 and 38 centimetresalthough there are also areas where they could form up to three meters deep. Scientists believe that in these areas, in addition to acting as a shield against radiation, Martian rocks could help melt small areas of ice and create small reservoirs of liquid water to encourage the development of simple life forms.
Search for extraterrestrial life
The conclusions of this analysis are purely theoretical. That is, no traces of extraterrestrial life have been found (yet) either on Mars or anywhere beyond the borders of Earth. Nor have any new clues been found to guide the search for past or present life outside Earth. Of course, the work published this Thursday suggests that, from now on, we could focus research on these regions of the red planet where, theoretically, there could be microenvironments suitable for life. And this in itself is excellent news for the search for extraterrestrial life on an extremely hostile planet like Mars.
So far the vast majority of robotic missions on the red planet have focused on searching for traces of past life at times when, for example, Mars was a world full of lakes and a thin atmosphere. Now, however, we know that the red planet is a place extremely hostile to life, with an extremely thin atmosphere, exposed to very intense ultraviolet radiation, with extreme temperatures that They go down to -125 degrees and with large dust storms covering the planet for months on end. Taking these conditions into account, it is difficult to imagine the existence of extraterrestrial life on the red planet. Although, according to this study, the situation could change.
“This study opens new perspectives on the possibility of finding habitable zones on Mars”
“This study opens new perspectives to possibility of finding habitable zones on Mars“says the planetary geologist and astrobiologist Jesus Martinez Friasmember of IGEO (CSIC-UCM) and president of the Spanish Planetology and Astrobiology Network. As this expert explains in statements to the Science Media Center Spain, the conclusions of this study should be taken as reference future missions to the red planet looking for signs of extraterrestrial life.
Sign up to continue reading
#Ice #Mars #meet #conditions #needed #support #life