Space & Astronomy

Is there life beneath the surface of Mars ?

By T.K. Randall
November 12, 2016

Image: OSIRIS Mars True Color
Credit: ESA and MPS for OSIRIS Team MPS/UPD/LAM/IAA/RSSD/INTA/UPM/DASP/IDA / CC BY-SA 3.0 (adapted) It might have been an Earth-like paradise billions of years ago, but these days the surface of Mars is so ridiculously dry that it is thought to be 10,000 times drier than even the driest deserts on Earth.

One previous study had suggested that extremely salty water might condense on the surface at times, but now an international team of researchers has put the dampener on this possibility by determining that only a very tiny amount of water is ever likely to be produced this way.Their findings were based on an analysis of the amount of rust present in Martian meteorites.

"This latest research reaffirms just how dry the environment is today," said Dr Christian Schroder.

"As our data show, this moisture is much less than the moisture present even in the driest places on Earth. For life to exist in the areas we investigated, it would need to find pockets far beneath the surface, located away from the dryness and radiation present on the ground."

Source: Independent

Tags: Mars, Life