NASA scientists found evidence that billions on Mars years ago there was a freshwater lake potentially capable maintain life in its simplest form. Research team Martian Science Laboratory (MSL), Rover Mission Leader Curiosity, analyzed a set of sedimentary rocks in the location of the bay Yellowknife located inside Gale Crater. The presence of clay rocks of mudstones inside the impact crater indicated that about 3.6 billion years ago, there was a freshwater lake. Scientists suggest that it did not dry for tens or even hundreds thousand years. The water in the lake contained elements such as carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen and sulfur. These are ideal conditions for prosperity of simple forms of microbial life, for example, for chemolithotrophs – stone-splitting bacteria that often found in caves and around hydrothermal springs on Earth. Similar organisms could well exist on Mars billions years ago.
A photo from open sources
A snapshot of one of the clay mudstones analyzed Curiosity (photo Science / AAAS). “For us it was a big surprise the fact that clay rocks were much younger than we expected. The age of mudstones approximately coincides with the age of the oldest terrestrial rocks containing traces of the biosphere of the young Earth, ” – says the lead author of the new study and the main Mission Leader John Grotzinger of California Institute of Technology. Presence on the planet mudstones – quite convincing evidence of the presence of freshwater lake. The fact is that these breeds are usually form in calm conditions. They are made from very small sedimentary grains that accumulate layer by layer until form an integral large breed. Still water is ideal for stimulation of this process. “It’s important to note that we didn’t find signs of ancient life on Mars. We just found evidence that there was a lake on young Mars, perfect for maintaining the simplest forms of life in the form in which we we know. This is a huge step for all explorers of Mars, “says MSL Mission Team Leader Sanjeev Gupta), Professor, Department of Earth Sciences, Imperial College Of London. Perhaps in the calm fresh waters of a Martian lake microorganisms that turned chemical elements into energy.
A photo from open sources
A picture of Yellowknife Bay taken by the Curiosity rover (photo NASA / JPL-Caltech). In the next phase of the study mission leaders plan to explore rocky nude rocks on the surface of the crater. An analysis of these stones will help give more the exact answer to such an exciting question – was there life on Mars? “If our previous studies proved that in various rocks, for example, in conglomerates, there was water, now we are already more confident about the suitability of the young Red Planet to sustain life, “says Gupta, whose co-authored article with Grötzinger and other colleagues came out in the journal Science. Mission Rovers “Curiosity” at this discovery does not end. He will keep looking for evidence of the presence of life on ancient Mars, traces of rivers, lakes and the oxygen atmosphere – in a word, everything of what unites the Red Planet with the Blue.
Water Life Stones Mars Mars Rover Curiosity
