Bizarre polygons on Mars’ surface hint that alien life on Red Planet was possible

August 18, 2023

8

Hundreds of polygon-shaped crack in the Martian surface — An in depth-up of polygon-shaped cracks within the Martian floor. Researchers consider they have been formed by previous wet-dry cycles on Mars greater than 3 billion years in the past. (Picture credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/IRAP)

A “patchwork of well-preserved historic mud cracks” on the Martian floor hints that previous extraterrestrial life on Mars was attainable, a brand new examine reveals.

In 2021, NASA’s Curiosity rover snapped footage of the polygonal shapes on the slopes of Mount Sharp, a peak that stands 3 miles (5 kilometers) excessive in Gale Crater — the massive melancholy the place Curiosity first landed in 2012 and has spent the whole lot of its mission. The shapes, which primarily have 5 – 6 distinct sides, date to between 3.8 billion and three.6 billion years in the past.

Researchers initially recognized the shapes as mud cracks, which was additional proof that Mars was as soon as a a lot wetter planet. However in a brand new examine, printed Aug. 9 within the journal Nature, researchers reanalyzed the markings and located that they have been shaped throughout wet-dry cycles, much like the seasonal cycles on Earth, which, till now, had not been beforehand identified to happen on Mars.

“That is the primary tangible proof we have seen that the traditional local weather of Mars had such common, Earth-like wet-dry cycles,” examine lead creator William Rapin, a planetary scientist on the Nationwide Middle for Scientific Analysis (CNRS) in France, mentioned in a assertion. “However much more vital is that wet-dry cycles are useful — possibly even required — for the molecular evolution that might result in life.”

Associated: Curiosity rover discovers that proof of previous life on Mars might have been erased

A picture of Mars taken by the Curiosity rover with a red ring highlighting the polygons

A panorama picture of the polygons (highlighted) surrounded by the Martian panorama. (Picture credit score: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS/IRAP)

The mud cracks have been found in a area above a clay-rich redeposit, which was as soon as the mattress of an historic lake, and beneath an space wealthy with sulfates, that are left behind as water dries. This initially instructed the mud cracks have been created when the traditional lake dried up. Curiosity beforehand found comparable T-shaped mud cracks in 2017 at a web site nicknamed “Previous Soaker” near the place the brand new cracks have been found, based on NASA.

However the newer cracks have traces of sulfates, which means that that they had dried out a number of instances as they have been created, which means they have been made throughout a time the place the extent of water within the lake regularly rose and fell. This additionally explains why these cracks have a polygonal form in comparison with the T-shape of the Previous Soaker cracks. As the identical forms of cracks shaped repeatedly, they morphed right into a extra complicated form, the researchers wrote.

Comparable moist and dry cycles on Earth are one clarification for the way natural compounds — molecules containing carbon and different parts which are present in all dwelling organisms — first emerged, the researchers wrote within the assertion. Continually altering situations can regularly alter the accessible chemical substances within the setting, thereby encouraging chemical reactions wherein polymers, or chains of molecules, develop into natural compounds equivalent to nucleic acids, or the precursors to DNA, they added.

Mars rovers have already found natural compounds in a spread of various Martian rocks. Scientists have additionally discovered these compounds hiding inside Martian meteorites which have crashed to Earth. However pure geological processes also can create these compounds, and asteroids additionally carry them, which suggests they could have crash landed on the Pink Planet. All this makes it arduous for scientists to hyperlink the compounds to extraterrestrial life

However the discovery of wet-dry cycles has now revealed a pure course of that might not solely clarify how these natural compounds have been created but in addition how they could have “promoted the origin of life,” Ashwin Vasavada, a scientist on the Mars Science Laboratory at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California who was not concerned within the examine, mentioned within the assertion.

This isn’t the primary time that unusual polygons have been noticed on the Martian floor. In March 2022, a lot bigger polygons with white outlines have been photographed from above by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. These puzzling shapes have been created by hidden reservoirs of ice butting up towards the Martian floor.

Previous articleImproving D-backs chase another win over Padres

Next articleBrickbat: Sticks and Stones

Cookie	Duration	Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional	11 months	The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance	11 months	This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy	11 months	The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.

Bizarre polygons on Mars’ surface hint that alien life on Red Planet was possible

Landslide reveals 2,500-year-old ‘richly decorated’ gold necklaces in Spain

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx is poised to return bits of the asteroid Bennu to Earth

What is seasonal affective disorder (SAD), what causes it and how can it be treated?

Most Popular

AOC’s ‘Green New Deal’ will be death of working-class America

Sanya Richards-Ross Comes Thru With A Creative Gender Reveal!

EVE: Vanguard isn’t “just another generic shooter in an EVE skin,” promises CCP Games

Insurrectionists Who Think they are Upholding the Constitution are Still Insurrectionists

EDITOR PICKS

Colleges should tap alumni to help students with mental health issues

2023 MLB Hits leaders

Biden Administration Announces New Measures To Get Migrants to Work

POPULAR POSTS

“Kya baat hai miyan” – Anushka Sharma reacts to Mohammed Siraj’s 6/21 in IND vs SL Asia Cup 2023 final

‘Dancing With The Stars’ Wanted Kyle Richards, Morgan Wade to Join Mauricio

Starfield’s biggest mod site sticks it to the game’s most bigoted mod

POPULAR CATEGORY

ABOUT US

FOLLOW US