As the surface of Mars is apparently a very radiation-heavy and oxidizing environment, researchers argue that one should look beneath it in order to discover the traces of life that may or may not exist on the planet.
As mankind continues to improve its knowledge of Mars, scientists continue to ponder whether the enigmatic Red Planet actually harbors life, and if it does, then where exactly one should look for it.
According to space.com, this issue was thoroughly explored by “astrobiologists and other experts” during a conference at the National Cave and Karst Research Institute in Carlsbad, New Mexico, that was held in November.
The media outlet also notes that researchers who attended the conference pointed at the “numerous potential cave entrances” spotted on Mars by orbiting spacecraft, wondering whether lava tubes could be “prime microbial real estate” on the planet.
Penny Boston, senior advisor for science integration at NASA’s Ames Research Center, noted, however, that “there’s much to be done to seek extant life, and certainly extinct life, in a variety of environments on Mars”, adding that “we all recognize that there’s not just a single way to go” in this quest.
Meanwhile, Monica Grady, a professor of planetary and space science who was recently installed as chancellor at Liverpool Hope University, argued that “it’s almost a racing certainty” that life exists beneath the ice in the oceans of Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons.
She also agreed that if life actually exists on Mars, then it’s located beneath the planet’s surface where “you’re protected from solar radiation” and therefore “there’s the possibility of ice remaining in the pores of the rocks, which could act as a source of water”.
Sourse: sputniknews.com
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