Is life on Mars a possibility? This great phenomenon puzzles humans for centuries with its divine uncertainty. According to Space.com, the Martian surface was supposedly able to support life four billion years ago, with strong evidence of rivers, lakes, and even deep oceans being present. Matter of fact, some astrobiologists believe that ancient Mars was a better origin for life than Earth. Mars ended up losing its barrier protection magnetic field about 3 billion years ago. Solar radiation eliminated away the majority of the planet's atmosphere, the liquid water possibly once present evaporated, and Mars became the cold, dry desert it is today.
"If Mars had life 4 billion years ago, Mars still has life. Nothing has happened on Mars that would've wiped out life," said Michael Finney, co-founder of The Genome Partnership, a nonprofit organization that runs the Advances in Genome Biology and Technology conferences. Space missions such as NASA's Curiosity rover have established that some areas of Mars were suitable for life for at least some time in the past. However, just because something could live there did not imply that anything did. We don't know if Mars was ever inhabited because there is no significant evidence of past life.
A new revolutionary experiment has increased our odds of obtaining life on Mars. Scientists demonstrated that certain simple organisms found on Earth can survive the harsh conditions of Mars for months on end. They attached a microbe-filled canister to the outside of the International Space Station for 18 months, exposing them to cosmic radiation and the vacuum of space. Some of the tiny creatures survived, indicating that similar life may exist on Mars.
Men have sent more spacecraft to Mars than to any other planet other than Earth. There is no concrete evidence of life on Mars today, but the search continues. Just as life itself evolves, so do our methods of searching for it. Today, the planet Mars remains a top priority in the search for life.
Image: twinkl.com
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