opportunity Alien life on Mars a topic that has fascinated astronomers for decades.
Despite the best efforts of the scientific community, no evidence of past or present life has been found on Mars.
Still, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not there, as many experts have concluded.
Evidence of alien life on Mars could have eluded us in several ways.
Life may be lurking beneath the surface
One of the latest studies has shown that we need to look deeper below the surface of Mars to find traces of life.
That’s because any evidence of amino acids from a potentially habitable period on Mars is buried at least 6.6 feet deep.
Scientists search for amino acids because of their role in the formation of life as we know it The Scripps Research Institute.
Amino acids, which can be created by life and non-biological chemistry, are key components in building proteins essential to life.
Because Mars has no magnetic field, its surface is exposed to a lot of cosmic radiation that destroys amino acids.
“Our results show that amino acids in rocks and regolith on the Martian surface are destroyed by cosmic rays faster than previously thought,” said Alexander Pavlov of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
“Current Mars rover missions dig about two inches (about five centimeters). It would take only 20 million years to completely destroy amino acids at these depths.”
In light of this new research, a new strategy is required when drilling shallow surfaces with rovers like Perseverance or Curiosity.
Life may exist in ways we don’t yet know
NASA scientist Dr. Moogega discussed with Cooper Google speaks about life on Mars in April.
Asked if he thought there was life on Mars, Cooper said yes.
He said: “Was there water on Mars before? Yes. Does Mars have interesting chemistry that could potentially support or sustain life? Yes.”
For these reasons alone, Cooper says, we cannot rule out that life once existed on the Red Planet.
NASA has also not completely ruled out the existence of life on Mars or other planets.
It could be life we don’t understand yet.
Cooper notes that microbes on Earth can exist in extremely harsh environments, and the same can be said for Mars.
If we find life, Cooper’s next job will be to make sure a sample of Earth is safe when it’s returned here.
He explained to Google Talks: “One day we hope to bring the samples back to our planet, and you should too.
“When you bring something back, you don’t want to bring something that could be harmful to people.
This story appeared first In the sun. and reproduced here with permission
