The new study significantly raises the chances that life on Mars is still possible. This is supported by the fact that scientists have managed to identify an incredible abundance of living organisms living in volcanic rocks on the seabed of the Earth.
The results of a study by Yohe Suzuki and colleagues at the University of Tokyo were published in the article 'Communication of Microorganisms'. Scientists are currently working on plans to collaborate with NASA's Johnson Space Center, which will test rocks on Mars for similar processes in the future.
When active submarine volcanoes erupt, they eject huge amounts of lava, which cools, turning into rocks laced with tiny cracks, often less than a millimeter in size.
Over the millennia, they have been filled with clay minerals – and huge numbers of tiny, rapidly growing bacteria, numbering roughly 10 billion bacterial cells per cubic centimeter.
The revealed results are of great importance for determining the possibility of the existence of life on other planets. This is supported by the fact that the nearest neighbor of the Earth has methane, liquid water under the surface, and the presence of biosignatures of the past. Here is what the author of the article, Professor Yohe Suzuki notes:
'Now I'm pretty sure we can find life on Mars. If this does not happen, then it will indicate that life depends on some other process that Mars does not, for example, plate tectonics. '
The team of scientists collected samples, the age of which is estimated at 13.5 million, 33.5 million and 104 million years. The study was conducted as part of the ongoing Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) in late 2010 and has been in-depth sample analysis since then.
'I thought it was a dream when I saw such a variety of microbial life in the rocks. These cracks are a very friendly place to live. Clay minerals are like magical material on Earth; if you can find clay minerals, you can almost always find microbes living in them. '
“To be honest, it was a very unexpected discovery. I am very lucky because I almost gave up. Minerals are like 'fingerprints', they speak of conditions that existed during the formation of the clay.'
The discovery of life in solid rock on the seabed could change the whole picture of the search for life in space. The point is that neutral or slightly alkaline levels, low temperatures, moderate salinity, iron-rich environments, basaltic rocks on the seabed are essentially the same as conditions on the surface of Mars.
