NASA's rover discovered elements on Mars that may indicate the existence of life on the Red Planet

Scientists, using data from the Curiosity rover, have discovered a type of iron carbonate on Mars, which could be one of the biggest pieces of evidence that life could have existed on the Red Planet. There is also a version of what could have destroyed this life, writes UNN with reference to Space.com.

Details

Scientists made an unexpected discovery on Mars when they analyzed data sent to Earth by NASA's Curiosity rover. When it drilled into the surface of Gale Crater and took rock samples, it detected the mineral siderite, an iron carbonate, using its instruments. Its presence shows that a carbon cycle existed on Mars billions of years ago, indicating that Mars was once habitable. Perhaps life once existed on the Red Planet.

For the past four billion years, the carbon cycle on Earth has created the necessary conditions for life to exist on our planet. The circulation of carbon between the atmosphere, land, and ocean provides key material for all living things.

All data indicate that Mars had rivers, lakes, and seas of liquid water on its surface in the past. For this water to exist in liquid form, Mars must have been warm. Thus, it can be concluded that there must have been a lot of carbon dioxide or carbon dioxide in the atmosphere of the Red Planet, which was emitted by volcanoes. Much of this carbon dioxide could have gone into space, but enough would have remained to warm Mars and leave traces of this carbon in the minerals found on the surface.

NASA аппарат обнаружил крупнейшие органические молекулы на Марсе01.04.25, 03:52 • 12123 views

Along with siderite, other minerals were found in the rocks, including highly water-soluble magnesium sulfate salts, which scientists believe conceal the siderite signal. This is why it could not be detected earlier.

If there was life on Mars, why did it disappear?

Scientists believe that if the samples are representative of the entire Red Planet, it likely indicates that Mars had an imbalanced carbon cycle more than 3 billion years ago. In other words, significantly more carbon dioxide was isolated in rocks than was subsequently released back into the atmosphere.

In the long term, this reduced Mars' ability to support the necessary conditions for life to thrive, and all this potential life was destroyed. Perhaps this happened 3.5 billion years ago, when life was just beginning to flourish on Earth.

Supplement

Airbus SE won a $194 million contract to develop a landing platform that will deliver a UK-built rover to Mars for a mission to search for signs of life.