Life on Mars? Perhaps she is here!

Life on Mars? Perhaps she is here!

During an exploration of the Gusev crater in 2007, the NASA Spirit Rover (Spirit) discovered a curious silica deposit. Maybe it was formed by the ancient Martian forms of life?

Could the NASA Spirit Mars Rover have already found evidence of life on Mars before being stuck in a sand trap and named lost in 2010? There are chances. This is stated by two geologists who have found a place on Earth with forms of microbes, strongly resembling a specific area on the Red Planet, which the rover carefully checked in 2007.

Special attention was attracted by the accumulation of finger-like silica nodules, which were examined by the Spirit in the “Home Plateau” - the Colombian Hills area in the Gusev crater in April 2007. Rover worked in this place for more than 5 years, studying Martian geology and atmospheric phenomena. The sister of the rover Opportunity (Opportunity) continues to explore the planet for almost 13 years after landing.

Steve Ruff and Jack Farmer of the School of Earth and Space Research at the University of Arizona compared the Home Plateau with formations on the El Tatio Chilean hot springs, where microbes are known to affect the structure of silicate deposits.

The Atacama desert is often referred to as one of the best “analogues of Mars” on earth. El Tatio hot springs are located at an altitude of over 14,000 feet (4,200 meters), making them one of the highest hydrothermal locations on the planet. At these heights, the atmosphere is thinner, so the place receives intense exposure to violet light and is often exposed to temperature freezing even in summer. These characteristics make El Tatio an exciting area of ​​research that combines the inhospitable climate of Mars with hydrothermal activity, probably existing on the Red Planet in the distant past. But the question remains as to whether life existed and whether it could have received support as Martian hot springs, as happened in El Tatio? “We went to El Tatio to compare the signs found by Spirit in the Home Plateau,” said Raff. “The results show that the conditions in El Tatio create silica deposits with properties that are the most marshom of all quartz deposits on Earth.”

The home plateau is a famous volcanic ash deposit that has been destroyed for a long time. In 2007, Spirit discovered silica-rich nodules, which showed that this place was a hydrothermal vent. Now Raff and Farmer suggest that if these ancient Martian silica deposits had the same mechanisms as in El Tatio, then the nodules may be of biological origin.

Life on Mars? Perhaps she is here!

Comparison between the silicate structures of Mars taken by Spirit (left) and the El Tatio structures produced due to microbial processes (right). NASA / JPL-Caltech, Steve Ruff

“The fact that microbes play an important role in creating the characteristic silica structures of El-Tatio increases the likelihood that Martian silica structures are formed in comparable form. That is, with the help of organisms that were alive at the time, ”added Raff.

But the fact that the feature on Mars resembles the terrestrial function does not mean that they had similar processes of formation. And this is not the first time that the rover has noticed the potential fossilized “biosignures” of ancient biology. For example, in 2015, the Curiosity rover captured rocks that seemed to have petrified features that resemble algae mats. Although researchers are still unable to determine exactly, but, most likely, these are just curious geological structures left over from the “wet times” of the planet. And it is possible that some ancient Martian life form has left its mark.

And now the Gusev crater remains on the list of possible landing zones for the NASA rover in 2020, so that scientists investigate the potential silica biosignature. So you have to be patient before making any comparisons between the structures of El Tatio and the ancient hydrothermal places on Mars.

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