NASA employees have taken a fresh look at the possibility of microbial life on Mars. Simulations have shown that photosynthesis on Mars can operate up to three meters beneath the water ice on the Red Planet’s surface. Similar ecosystems are common in glaciers on Earth. Why wouldn’t they arise on Mars?
Image source: NASA
Scientists have long discovered signs of water ice on Mars (ice made from frozen carbon dioxide has also been found there). Orbiters have recorded many ravines and folds of terrain on Mars, the edges of which are covered with a layer of ice. This led to the assumption that glaciers have remained on Mars since ancient times, and their melting and erosion leads to the appearance of ravines.
There is no pure water ice on Mars. It is usually a mixture of dust and water ice. Dust and other inclusions tend to heat up under the sun and melt the ice, sinking deeper and deeper over the years. On Earth, such formations are called cryoconite holes. They are found in abundance in glaciers, and if you study them more closely, it turns out that microbial life and even algae grow there, which exist in under-ice caverns like in greenhouses.
Cryoconite holes in Earth’s glaciers
NASA scientists conducted simulations to determine the possibility of cryoconite holes forming in dusty water ice on Mars. The model not only allowed for the appearance of such formations, but also left the possibility of maintaining the work of photosynthesis on Mars to a depth of three meters in the ice thickness. In this case, the ice should play the role of a radiation shield for microbial life at depth. Mars is not protected by a magnetic field, and solar radiation literally sterilizes its surface.
The work done is not speculative. Thus, scientists are looking for the most promising places to detect traces of microbial life on Mars in future missions. The study authors argue that the water ice that would most likely form underground pools would exist in the tropics of Mars, between 30 and 60 degrees latitude, in both the northern and southern hemispheres. The search will begin from there.