is there life on mars essay

Essay on Life on Mars for Students and Children

500 words essay on life on mars.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun in our solar system. Also, it is the second smallest planet in our solar system. The possibility of life on mars has aroused the interest of scientists for many years. A major reason for this interest is due to the similarity and proximity of the planet to Earth. Mars certainly gives some indications of the possibility of life.

Possibilities of Life on Mars

In the past, Mars used to look quite similar to Earth. Billions of years ago, there were certainly similarities between Mars and Earth. Furthermore, scientists believe that Mars once had a huge ocean. This ocean, experts believe, covered more of the planet’s surface than Earth’s own oceans do so currently.

Moreover, Mars was much warmer in the past that it is currently. Most noteworthy, warm temperature and water are two major requirements for life to exist. So, there is a high probability that previously there was life on Mars.

Life on Earth can exist in the harshest of circumstances. Furthermore, life exists in the most extreme places on Earth. Moreover, life on Earth is available in the extremely hot and dry deserts. Also, life exists in the extremely cold Antarctica continent. Most noteworthy, this resilience of life gives plenty of hope about life on Mars.

There are some ingredients for life that already exist on Mars. Bio signatures refer to current and past life markers. Furthermore, scientists are scouring the surface for them. Moreover, there has been an emergence of a few promising leads. One notable example is the presence of methane in Mars’s atmosphere. Most noteworthy, scientists have no idea where the methane is coming from. Therefore, a possibility arises that methane presence is due to microbes existing deep below the planet’s surface.

One important point to note is that no scratching of Mars’s surface has taken place. Furthermore, a couple of inches of scratching has taken place until now. Scientists have undertaken analysis of small pinches of soil. There may also have been a failure to detect signs of life due to the use of faulty techniques. Most noteworthy, there may be “refugee life” deep below the planet’s surface.

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Challenges to Life on Mars

First of all, almost all plants and animals cannot survive the conditions on the surface of Mars. This is due to the extremely harsh conditions on the surface of Mars.

Another major problem is the gravity of Mars. Most noteworthy, the gravity on Mars is 38% to that of Earth. Furthermore, low gravity can cause health problems like muscle loss and bone demineralization.

The climate of Mars poses another significant problem. The temperature at Mars is much colder than Earth. Most noteworthy, the mean surface temperatures of Mars range between −87 and −5 °C. Also, the coldest temperature on Earth has been −89.2 °C in Antarctica.

Mars suffers from a great scarcity of water. Most noteworthy, water discovered on Mars is less than that on Earth’s driest desert.

Other problems include the high penetration of harmful solar radiation due to the lack of ozone layer. Furthermore, global dust storms are common throughout Mars. Also, the soil of Mars is toxic due to the high concentration of chlorine.

To sum it up, life on Mars is a topic that has generated a lot of curiosity among scientists and experts. Furthermore, establishing life on Mars involves a lot of challenges. However, the hope and ambition for this purpose are well alive and present. Most noteworthy, humanity must make serious efforts for establishing life on Mars.

FAQs on Life on Mars

Q1 State any one possibility of life on Mars?

A1 One possibility of life on Mars is the resilience of life. Most noteworthy, life exists in the most extreme places on Earth.

Q2 State anyone challenge to life on Mars?

A2 One challenge to life on Mars is a great scarcity of water.

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“Is there life on Mars?” is a question people have asked for more than a century. But in order to finally get the answer, we have to know what to look for and where to go on the planet to look for evidence of past life. With the Perseverance rover set to land on Mars on February 18, 2021, we are finally in a position to know where to go, what to look for, and knowing whether there is, or ever was, life on the Red Planet.

Science fiction aside, we know that there were not ancient civilizations or a population of little green people on Mars. So, what sort of things do we need to look for to know whether there was ever life on Mars? Fortunately, a robust Mars exploration program, including orbiters, landers, and rovers, has enabled detailed mapping of the planet and constrained important information about the environment.

We now know that there were times in the ancient past on Mars when conditions were wetter and at least a little warmer than the fairly inhospitable conditions that are present today. And there were once habitable environments that existed on the surface. For example, the Curiosity rover has shown that more than three billion years ago, Gale crater was the location of a lake  that held water likely suitable for sustaining life. Armed with information about the conditions and chemical environments on the surface, the Perseverance rover is outfitted with a science payload of instruments finely tuned for extracting information related to any biosignatures that might be present and signal the occurrence of life .

Panoramic view of the interior and rim of Gale crater. Image generated from pictures captured by the Curiosity rover.

But where should we go on Mars to maximize the chances of accessing the rocks most likely to have held and preserve any evidence of past life? To get at that answer, I co-led a series of workshops attended by the Mars science community to consider various candidate landing sites and help determine which one had the highest potential for preserving evidence of past life. Using data from Mars orbiters coupled with more detailed information from landers and rovers, we started with around thirty candidate sites and narrowed the list over the course of four workshops and five years. Some sites were clearly less viable than others and were weeded out fairly quickly. But once the discussion focused on a couple of different types of potentially viable sites, the process became much tougher. In the end, the science community felt—and the Perseverance mission and NASA agreed—that Jezero crater was the best place to look for evidence of past life on Mars.

This image shows the remains of an ancient delta in Mars' Jezero Crater, which NASA's Perseverance Mars rover will explore for signs of fossilized microbial life. The image was taken by the High Resolution Stereo Camera aboard the ESA (European Space Agency) Mars Express orbiter. The European Space Operations Centre in Darmstadt, Germany, operates the ESA mission. The High Resolution Stereo Camera was developed by a group with leadership at the Freie Universitat Berlin.

What is so special about Jezero crater and where is it? Jezero crater is ~30 miles (~49 km) across, was formed by the impact of a large meteorite, and is located in the northern hemisphere of Mars (18.38°N 77.58°E) on the western margin of the ancient and much larger Isidis impact basin. But what makes it special relates to events that happened 3.5 billion years ago when water was more active on the surface of Mars than it is today. Ancient rivers on the western side of Jezero breached the crater rim and drained into the crater, forming a river delta and filling the crater with a lake. From the study of river deltas on the Earth, we know that they typically build outwards into lakes as sediment carried by the associated river enters the lake, slows down, and is deposited. As this process continues, the delta builds out over the top of lake beds and can bury and preserve delicate and subtle signatures of past life. These “biosignatures” are what Perseverance will be looking for when it lands on the floor of the crater and explores the ancient lake beds and nearby delta deposits.

Perseverance will use its instruments to look for signs of ancient life in the delta and lake deposits in Jezero crater and will hopefully allow us to finally answer the question of whether there was ever life on Mars. In addition, Perseverance will begin the process of collecting samples that could one day be returned to Earth. The importance of sample return cannot be overstated. Whether or not evidence of past life is found by Perseverance’s instruments, the legacy enabled by samples the rover collects will be the “scientific gift that keeps on giving”. Once returned to Earth by a future mission, these Mars samples can be subjected to more detailed analysis by a much wider set of instruments than can be carried by Perseverance . Moreover, sample archiving can preserve material for future analysis here on Earth by new and/or more detailed instruments that may not yet exist. So even if Perseverance does not find evidence of past life, it will collect samples that, once returned to Earth, could provide new insight into the evolution of Mars and whether there was ever life on the Red Planet.

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Was There Life on Mars?

Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Universe, and searching for life on Mars is a major goal of the Mars 2020 mission. While humans have long wondered whether there are others like us, it’s only been a few decades since we’ve developed the technologies to search for life beyond Earth in earnest. With space-based telescopes like James Webb , astronomers look up for planetary-scale chemical signs of life on exoplanets; with ground-based radio astronomy , astrophysicists listen for signals or communications transmitted by intelligent species from galaxies faraway; and with landed missions to Mars and other Solar System bodies, planetary scientists and geologists look down for physical and chemical signs of life preserved in rock and ice. Finding extraterrestrial life is a central aspect of astrobiology, but finding no life on a once-habitably rocky planet like Mars would be equally important, because it would help us look back into our own origins to query what makes Earth biologically unique, and would also help us prepare to search for life elsewhere.

Jezero Crater was selected as the Mars 2020 landing site because of its astrobiological potential. Billions of years ago it hosted a lake , back when Mars was warm and wet, more hospitable and Earth-like. Water is essential for life as we know it, and sedimentary rocks that form through aqueous activity can be excellent physical preservers of biological materials. Perseverance has also found evidence for igneous minerals, and these lithologies can be important for life as well: on Earth, volcanic rocks provide energy-rich substrates for microbes to feed upon and inhabit. If ancient life existed in or around Jezero, fossilized remnants of those ancient organisms could still remain as morphological, elemental, or molecular biosignatures preserved in rock today. To aid in this search, Perseverance carries a suite of on-board instruments to select astrobiologically-interesting samples to send back to Earth. 23 cores have been collected thus far! Robotic rover tools can reveal a lot about potential for habitability, but returning physical samples is absolutely critical for determining whether these rocks do contain evidence of life. For example, billion-year-old cells and fossilized biomolecules preserved in geologic samples on Earth are studied with large, complex analytical instruments housed in laboratories. Returning cores from Jezero will allow scientists to apply the same techniques to extraterrestrial samples too! Regardless of what we find, searching for life in these little Martian rocks represents an astronomical leap towards determining whether there was life on Mars, which will in turn give us a better understanding of who we are, where we came from, and where we’re going.

Written by Denise Buckner, Student Collaborator at University of Florida

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Life on Mars: A Definite Possibility

Was Mars once a living world? Does life continue, even today, in a holding pattern, waiting until the next global warming event comes along? Many people would like to believe so. Scientists are no exception. But so far no evidence has been found that convinces even a sizable minority of the scientific community that the red planet was ever home to life. What the evidence does indicate, though, is that Mars was once a habitable world . Life, as we know it, could have taken hold there.

The discoveries made by NASA ’s Opportunity rover at Eagle Crater earlier this year (and being extended now at Endurance Crater) leave no doubt that the area was once ‘drenched’ in water . It might have been shallow water. It might not have stuck around for long. And billions of years might have passed since it dried up. But liquid water was there, at the martian surface, and that means that living organisms might have been there, too.

So suppose that Eagle Crater – or rather, whatever land formation existed in its location when water was still around – was once alive. What type of organism might have been happy living there?

Probably something like bacteria. Even if life did gain a foothold on Mars, it’s unlikely that it ever evolved beyond the martian equivalent of terrestrial single-celled bacteria. No dinosaurs; no redwoods; no mosquitoes – not even sponges, or tiny worms. But that’s not much of a limitation, really. It took life on Earth billions of years to evolve beyond single-celled organisms. And bacteria are a hardy lot. They are amazingly diverse, various species occupying extreme niches of temperature from sub-freezing to above-boiling; floating about in sulfuric acid; getting along fine with or without oxygen. In fact, there are few habitats on Earth where one or another species of bacterium can’t survive.

What kind of microbe, then, would have been well adapted to the conditions that existed when Eagle Crater was soggy? Benton Clark III , a Mars Exploration Rover ( MER ) science team member, says his “general favorite” candidates are the sulfate-reducing bacteria of the genus Desulfovibrio . Microbiologists have identified more than 40 distinct species of this bacterium.

Eating Rocks

We tend to think of photosynthesis as the engine of life on Earth. After all, we see green plants nearly everywhere we look and virtually the entire animal kingdom is dependent on photosynthetic organisms as a source of food. Not only plants, but many microbes as well, are capable of carrying out photosynthesis. They’re photoautotrophs: they make their own food by capturing energy directly from sunlight.

But Desulfovibrio is not a photoautotroph; it’s a chemoautotroph. Chemoautotrophs also make their own food, but they don’t use photosynthesis to do it. In fact, photosynthesis came relatively late in the game of life on Earth. Early life had to get its energy from chemical interactions between rocks and dirt, water, and gases in the atmosphere. If life ever emerged on Mars, it might never have evolved beyond this primitive stage.

Desulfovibrio makes its home in a variety of habitats. Many species live in soggy soils, such as marshes and swamps. One species was discovered all snug and cozy in the intestines of a termite. All of these habitats have two things in common: there’s no oxygen present; and there’s plenty of sulfate available.

Sulfate reducers, like all chemoautotrophs, get their energy by inducing chemical reactions that transfer electrons between one molecule and another. In the case of Desulfovibrio, hydrogen donates electrons, which are accepted by sulfate compounds. Desulfovibrio, says Clark, uses “the energy that it gets by combining the hydrogen with the sulfate to make the organic compounds” it needs to grow and to reproduce.

The bedrock outcrop in Eagle Crater is chock full of sulfate salts. But finding a suitable electron donor for all that sulfate is a bit more troublesome. “My calculations indicate [that the amount of hydrogen available is] probably too low to utilize it under present conditions,” says Clark. “But if you had a little bit wetter Mars, then there [would] be more water in the atmosphere, and the hydrogen gas comes from the water” being broken down by sunlight.

So water was present; sulfate and hydrogen could have as an energy source. But to survive, life as we know it needs one more ingredient carbon. Many living things obtain their carbon by breaking down the decayed remains of other dead organisms. But some, including several species of Desulfovibrio, are capable of creating organic material from scratch, as it were, drawing this critical ingredient of life directly from carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) gas. There’s plenty of that available on Mars.

All this gives reason to hope that life that found a way to exist on Mars back in the day when water was present. No one knows how long ago that was. Or whether such a time will come again. It may be that Mars dried up billions of years ago and has remained dry ever since. If that is the case, life is unlikely to have found a way to survive until the present.

Tilting toward Life

But Mars goes through cycles of obliquity, or changes in its orbital tilt. Currently, Mars is wobbling back and forth between 15 and 35 degrees’ obliquity, on a timescale of about 100,000 years. But every million years or so, it leans over as much as 60 degrees. Along with these changes in obliquity come changes in climate and atmosphere. Some scientists speculate that during the extremes of these obliquity cycles, Mars may develop an atmosphere as thick as Earth’s, and could warm up considerably. Enough for dormant life to reawaken.

“Because the climate can change on long terms,” says Clark, ice in some regions on Mars periodically could “become liquid enough that you would be able to actually come to life and do some things – grow, multiply, and so forth – and then go back to sleep again” when the thaw cycle ended. There are organisms on Earth that, when conditions become unfavorable, can form “spores which are so resistant that they can last for a very long time. Some people think millions of years, but that’s a little controversial.”

Desulfovibrio is not such an organism. It doesn’t form spores. But its bacterial cousin, Desulfotomaculum, does. “Usually the spores form because there’s something missing, like, for example, if hydrogen’s not available, or if there’s too much [oxygen], or if there’s not sulfate. The bacteria senses that the food source is going away, and it says, ‘I’ve got to hibernate,’ and will form the spores. The spores will stay dormant for extremely long periods of time. But they still have enough machinery operative that they can actually sense that nutrients are available. And then they’ll reconvert again in just a matter of hours, if necessary, to a living, breathing bacterium, so to speak. It’s pretty amazing,” says Clark.

That is not to say that future Mars landers should arrive with life-detection equipment tuned to zero in on species of Desulfovibrio or Desulfotomaculum. There is no reason to believe that life on Mars, if it ever emerged, evolved along the same lines as life on Earth, let alone that identical species appeared on the two planets. Still, the capabilities of various organisms on Earth indicate that life on Mars – including dormant organisms that could spring to life again in another few hundred thousand years – is certainly possible.

Clark says that he doesn’t “know that there’s any organism on Earth that could really operate on Mars, but over a long period of time, as the martian environment kept changing, what you would expect is that whatever life had started out there would keep adapting to the environment as it changed.”

Detecting such organisms is another matter. Don’t look for it to happen any time soon. Spirit and Opportunity were not designed to search for signs of life, but rather to search for signs of habitability. They could be rolling over fields littered with microscopic organisms in deep sleep and they’d never know it. Even future rovers will have a tough time identifying the martian equivalent of dormant bacterial spores.

“The spores themselves are so inert,” Clark says, “it’s a question, if you find a spore, and you’re trying to detect life, how do you know it’s a spore, [and not] just a little particle of sand? And the answer is: You don’t. Unless you can find a way to make the spore do what’s called germinating, going back to the normal bacterial form.” That, however, is a challenge for another day.

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Essay on Life on Mars

Things to Know About Mars!

Mars, in the solar system, is the fourth planet from the sun. This planet is the second smallest planet in our entire solar system. The possibility of life on mars has aroused the interest of our scientists, now for many years. A reason for this curiosity is the similarity and for the proximity of the planet to the Earth. Mars, of course, gives some indications of the possibility of life existing on this planet.

In our essay, we will detail the possibility of life on this planet, Mars.

Scientists and researchers have spent their years researching for evidence or any trace of life on the Red Planet, Mars. All these researches till now indicated that there is no previous trace of life on this planet. But the evidence of some elements like the frozen water, the liquid water, which traces the past, and the methane in the atmosphere of Mars have provided some lead in the research to find the existence of life on this Red deserted planet, Mars.

If I ever get a chance to go to Mars and have a life there, then I would definitely explore around. I would only wish that the planet changes its conditions to make itself fit for humans to live and survive. Also, this gives an insight for us. Humans should learn not to further pollute another planet the way they have polluted Earth.

Bio Signatures

Some research data from Mars Global Surveyor indicates that liquid water may exist just below the surface in rare places on Mars. Water ice is present at the Martian poles, and these areas will be good zones to search for proof of the existence of life as well. Spach and Research Organizations will also look for life on Mars by searching for indicative markers, or biosignatures, of current and past life. The element carbon is an essential building block of life and comprehending where carbon is present and in what form would explain a lot about the type of existence that Mars had or has.

Most of the current Martian atmosphere consists of carbon dioxide and if carbonate minerals were created on Mars' surface by chemical reactions between water and the atmosphere, the existence of these minerals would be a giant clue that water had been present for a long time. One of the top needed explorations for Mars is the understanding of its present climate. Its climate is like in the distant past that drives climate change over time.

Biosignatures are the morphological, chemical which is organic, elemental, or mineral, and the isotopic traces of the organisms that are preserved in minerals, sediments, and rocks. They represent the physical presence of the organisms as well as the proof of their metabolic activities and their metabolites. A biosignature is also called a chemical or molecular fossil and is any given substance – such as an element, isotope, molecule, or phenomenon – that supplies scientific evidence of past or present life.

Measurable features of life contain the complex physical structures and chemical structures and also the utilisation of free energy and the production of biomass and wastes. It has unique characteristics, a biosignature can be interpreted as having been created by living organisms. However, it is important that they not be considered absolute because there is no way of knowing in advance which ones are omnipresent to life and which ones are personal to the strange occasions of life on Earth.

In conclusion, scientists are still spending time to find evidence of life on Mars. The presence of frozen water, liquid water, and methane in the atmosphere has given some hope that some day life may exist there. There are quite many theories and fiction that are connected to the solar system’s fourth planet, Mars. Other controversies that are connected with life on Mars have come up in the late 20th and the 21st century. The possibility of life which is already existing on Mars or in the future that the humans inhabiting Mars is an excellent topic to discuss. One can find all the relevant material on Vedantu’s Site. You can refer to it for exams or for gaining general knowledge. You can also download PDFs and read it at your dispersal. 

FAQs on Essay on Life on Mars

1. What are the Challenges to Life on Mars?

All animals and plants cannot survive on Mars in extremely harsh weather conditions. The other major problem is the gravity of Mars. The gravity is 38% to that of Earth, low gravity can cause health problems. Another problem is, the temperature of Mars is much cooler than Earth. 

The sun in our solar system and different stars are fusion reactors that spew great amounts of electromagnetic energy, including X-ray and ultraviolet radiation. The sun and other intensively energetic objects like the centre of galaxies, also emit high-energy protons, atomic nuclei, and other particles that can induce radiation illness, adversely influence one's central nervous system, increase one’s lifetime risk for cancer and cause degenerative diseases. One of the most important characteristics a planet needs to sustain human life is the atmosphere. On Mars, there exists a very thin one that clings to Mars and it’s made up of all the wrong gases for humans. Mars' atmosphere looks like-

Primarily composed of carbon dioxide (95.3% compared to less than 1% on Earth).

Scarcely any oxygen (0.13% compared to 21% on Earth)

Little nitrogen (2.7% compared to 78% on Earth)

2. Does Mars have Oxygen?

Mars has oxygen which is only 0.13% of the atmosphere, which is compared to 21% of the Earth's atmosphere. The MOXIE system is responsible for producing oxygen like a tree, pulling in the Martian air with a pump, and using an electrochemical process to separate a single oxygen atom from another molecule of carbon dioxide. Mars' atmosphere is 95% carbon dioxide, 3% nitrogen, 1.6% argon, and it has hints of oxygen, water, etc along with a lot of dust. Dust turning in the air colours Mars’ sky tan in photos when taken from the surface. The density of the oxygen on Mars is approximately 1/10,000th of what Earth experiences. Mars' atmosphere does have a lot of carbon dioxide as it has about 500 times more CO 2 than oxygen. If one wants to harvest oxygen on Mars for use by future adventurers or launch systems, a better way might be to remove some of it out of the CO 2 and use that instead. That's where MOXIE technology plays a role.

3. What are we looking out for from Mars missions?

Life needs water on Earth to survive. If life had ever developed on Mars, it did so in the existence of a long-standing supply of water on the planet. On Mars, the search for evidence of life in areas is running where liquid water was once stable, and beneath the surface where it still might exist today. There might also be some current hot spots on Mars where hydrothermal pools furnish places for life. 

4. What does the climate look like on Mars?

The current Martian climate is controlled by seasonal transformations of the carbon dioxide ice caps and the direction of large amounts of dust by the atmosphere. The exchange of water vapour between the surface and the atmosphere also plays a crucial role in deciding the climate of that planet. One of the most involved weather patterns on Mars is the generation of dust storms that typically occur in the southbound and summer. These storms can grow to enclose the whole planet. Humans still don't understand how these storms develop and grow but this is one goal of future climatic studies.

A better understanding of Mars' current climate will assist the scientists in more effectively modelling its past climatic behaviour. Humans are working towards the detailed weather maps of Mars and information about how much dust and water vapour are present in its atmosphere.

Observing the planet for this information over 1 full Martian year which is 687 Earth days, will help to understand how Mars behaves over its seasonal cycle and navigate us toward comprehending how the planet changes over millions of years.

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Is mars habitable we asked a nasa scientist: episode 2.

Tricia Talbert

Is Mars habitable? Could ancient life once have existed on the Red Planet? Is there potential for life today deep beneath the Martian crust?  Ell Bogat from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center is here to dig into some of the details.

Is Mars habitable? Well, maybe.  

The question is, “Is it habitable and for whom?”

Mars is hundreds of degrees colder than Earth; it has a hundred times less atmosphere and that atmosphere has hardly any oxygen. But there may be other forms of life that could have evolved that aren’t very much like us but are very much like the early forms of life that evolved on Earth. 

Mars has evidence of being warmer in the past and of having stable liquid surface water for potentially hundreds of thousands of years. So, it’s possible that in Mars’ past there was a time where life could have evolved in that particular environment.

We have been trying to definitively answer whether or not Mars is habitable, and as of yet, the answer is still definitely maybe.

Learn more about the NASA’s search for life beyond Earth:  https://www.nasa.gov/astrobiology

[END VIDEO TRANSCRIPT]

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Signs of Life on Mars? NASA’s Perseverance Rover Begins the Hunt

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The robotic arm on NASA’s Perseverance rover reached out to examine rocks in an area on Mars nicknamed the “Cratered Floor Fractured Rough” area in this image captured on July 10, 2021 (the 138th sol, or Martian day, of its mission).

After testing a bristling array of instruments on its robotic arm, NASA’s latest Mars rover gets down to business: probing rocks and dust for evidence of past life.

NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has begun its search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet. Flexing its 7-foot (2-meter) mechanical arm, the rover is testing the sensitive detectors it carries, capturing their first science readings. Along with analyzing rocks using X-rays and ultraviolet light, the six-wheeled scientist will zoom in for closeups of tiny segments of rock surfaces that might show evidence of past microbial activity.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took this close-up of a rock target nicknamed “Foux” using its WATSON camera on the end of the rover’s robotic arm. The image was taken July 11, 2021, the 139th Martian day, or sol, of the mission.

Called PIXL , or Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry, the rover’s X-ray instrument delivered unexpectedly strong science results while it was still being tested, said Abigail Allwood, PIXL’s principal investigator at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. Located at the end of the arm, the lunchbox-size instrument fired its X-rays at a small calibration target – used to test instrument settings – aboard Perseverance and was able to determine the composition of Martian dust clinging to the target.

“We got our best-ever composition analysis of Martian dust before it even looked at rock,” Allwood said.

That’s just a small taste of what PIXL, combined with the arm’s other instruments, is expected to reveal as it zeroes in on promising geological features over the weeks and months ahead.

Scientists say Jezero Crater was a crater lake billions of years ago, making it a choice landing site for Perseverance. The crater has long since dried out, and the rover is now picking its way across its red, broken floor .

“If life was there in Jezero Crater, the evidence of that life could be there,” said Allwood, a key member of the Perseverance “arm science” team.

PIXL, one of seven instruments aboard NASA's Perseverance Mars rover, is equipped with light diodes circling its opening to take pictures of rock targets in the dark. Using artificial intelligence, PIXL relies on the images to determine how far away it is from a target to be scanned.

To get a detailed profile of rock textures, contours, and composition, PIXL’s maps of the chemicals throughout a rock can be combined with mineral maps produced by the SHERLOC instrument and its partner, WATSON. SHERLOC – short for Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman & Luminescence for Organics & Chemicals – uses an ultraviolet laser to identify some of the minerals in the rock, while WATSON takes closeup images that scientists can use to determine grain size, roundness, and texture, all of which can help determine how the rock was formed.

Early WATSON closeups have already yielded a trove of data from Martian rocks, the scientists said, such as a variety of colors, sizes of grains in the sediment, and even the presence of “cement” between the grains. Such details can provide important clues about formation history, water flow, and ancient, potentially habitable Martian environments. And combined with those from PIXL, they can provide a broader environmental and even historical snapshot of Jezero Crater.

“What is the crater floor made out of? What were the conditions like on the crater floor?” asks Luther Beegle of JPL, SHERLOC’s principal investigator. “That does tell us a lot about the early days of Mars, and potentially how Mars formed. If we have an idea of what the history of Mars is like, we’ll be able to understand the potential for finding evidence of life.”

This data shows chemicals detected within a single rock on Mars by PIXL, one of the instruments on the end of the robotic arm aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover. PIXL allows scientists to study where specific chemicals can be found within an area as small as a postage stamp.

The Science Team

While the rover has significant autonomous capabilities, such as driving itself across the Martian landscape, hundreds of earthbound scientists are still involved in analyzing results and planning further investigations.

“There are almost 500 people on the science team,” Beegle said. “The number of participants in any given action by the rover is on the order of 100. It’s great to see these scientists come to agreement in analyzing the clues, prioritizing each step, and putting together the pieces of the Jezero science puzzle.”

That will be critical when the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover collects its first samples for eventual return to Earth. They’ll be sealed in superclean metallic tubes on the Martian surface so that a future mission could collect them and send back to the home planet for further analysis.

Despite decades of investigation on the question of potential life, the Red Planet has stubbornly kept its secrets.

“Mars 2020, in my view, is the best opportunity we will have in our lifetime to address that question,” said Kenneth Williford, the deputy project scientist for Perseverance.

The geological details are critical, Allwood said, to place any indication of possible life in context, and to check scientists’ ideas about how a second example of life’s origin could come about.

Combined with other instruments on the rover, the detectors on the arm, including SHERLOC and WATSON, could make humanity’s first discovery of life beyond Earth.

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverance’s mission on Mars is astrobiology , including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet’s geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASA’s Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

nasa.gov/perseverance

News Media Contact

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

818-393-9011

[email protected]

Life on Mars: Exploration & Evidence

When imagining locations where extraterrestrial life could potentially dwell, few places inspire the imagination like one of Earth's closest neighbors. For centuries, man has looked to Mars and imagined it as a home for other beings. Over the last fifty years, various missions to the red planet have sought to determine the probability of such an evolution. But how likely is life on Mars?

A habitable environment

When searching for life, most astrobiologists agree that water is key . All forms of terrestrial life require water, and while it is possible that life could evolve without the precious liquid, it is easier to search for conditions that are known to be optimal, rather than conditions we suppose could be." [ 5 Bold Claims of Alien Life  ]

This raises a problem on Mars. The planet today is dry and barren, with most of its water locked up in the polar ice caps . The planet's thin atmosphere allows radiation from the sun to irradiate the surface of the planet, adding to the environment's challenges. Evidence for water first showed up in 2000, when images from NASA's Mars Global Surveyor found gullies that appeared to have formed from flowing water.

But Mars wasn't always a desolate wasteland . Scientists think that, in the past, water may have flowed across the surface in rivers and streams, and that vast oceans covered the planet. Over time, the water was lost into space, but early conditions on the wetter planet could have been right for life to evolve. One estimate suggests that an ancient ocean could have covered as much as 19 percent of the planet's surface, compared to the 17 percent covered by Earth's Atlantic Ocean.

"With Mars losing that much water, the planet was very likely wet for a longer period of time than was previously thought, suggesting it might have been habitable for longer," said Michael Mumma, a senior scientist at Goddard, said in a statement .

It's also possible that liquid water flows on a modern Mars, either on the surface or beneath. The debate continues today on whether features known as recurring slope lineae (RSLs) form from ongoing water flows or running sand. "We've thought of RSL as possible liquid water flows, but the slopes are more like what we expect for dry sand," Colin Dundas of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, said in a statement . "This new understanding of RSL supports other evidence that shows that Mars today is very dry.

Water beneath the surface may be even better for life. Underground water could shield potential life from harsh radiation. There's evidence for an ice deposit the size of Lake Superior. "This deposit is probably more accessible than most water ice on Mars, because it is at a relatively low latitude and it lies in a flat, smooth area where landing a spacecraft would be easier than at some of the other areas with buried ice," researcher Jack Holt of the University of Texas said in a statement .

Over the last four billion years, Earth has received a number of visitors from Mars . Our planet has been bombarded by rocks blown from the surface of the red planet, one of the few bodies in the solar system scientists have samples from. Of the 34 Martian meteorites, scientists have determined that three have the potential to carry evidence of past life on Mars.

A meteorite found in Antarctica made headlines in 1996 when scientists claimed that it could contain evidence of traces of life on Mars. Known as ALH 84001 , the Martian rock contained structures resembled the fossilized remains of bacteria-like lifeforms. Follow-up tests revealed organic material, though the debate over whether or not the material was caused by biological processes wasn't settled until 2012, when it was determined that these vital ingredients had been formed on Mars without the involvement of life .

"Mars apparently has had organic carbon chemistry for a long time," study lead author Andrew Steele, a microbiologist at the Carnegie Institution of Washington, told SPACE.com .

However, these organic molecules formed not from biology but from volcanism. Despite the rocky origin for the molecules, their organic nature may prove a positive in the hunt for life.

"We now find that Mars has organic chemistry, and on Earth, organic chemistry led to life, so what is the fate of this material on Mars, the raw material that the building blocks of life are put together from?" Steele said.

Scientists also found structures resembling fossilized nanobacteria on the Nakhla meteorite , a chunk of Mars that landed in Egypt. They determined that as much as three-fourths of the organic material found on the meteorite may not stem from contamination by Earth. However, further examination of the spherical structure, called an ovoid, revealed that it most likely formed through processes other than life.

"The consideration of possible biotic scenarios for the origin of the ovoid structure in Nakhla currently lacks any sort of compelling evidence," the scientists wrote in a study in the journal Astrobiology . "Therefore, based on the available data that we have obtained on the nature of this conspicuous ovoid structure in Nakhla, we conclude that the most reasonable explanation for its origin is that it formed through abiotic [physical, not biological] processes."

A third meteorite, the Shergotty, contains features suggestive of biofilm remnants and microbial communities.

"Biofilms provide major evidence for bacterial colonies in ancient Earth," researchers said in a 1999 conference abstract . "It is possible that some of the clusters of microfossil-like features might be colonies, although that interpretation depends on whether the individual features are truly fossilized microbes."

All of these samples provide tantalizing hints of the possibility of life in the early history of the red planet. But a fresh examination of the surface has the potential to reveal even more insights into the evolution of life on Mars.

Searching for life

When NASA set the first lander down on the Martian surface, one of the experiments performed sought traces for life. Though Viking's results were deemed inconclusive, they paved the way for other probes into the planet's environment. [ Mars Explored: Landers and Rovers Since 1971 (Infographic) ]

Exploration of Mars was put on hold for more than two decades. When examination of the planet resumed, scientists focused more on the search for habitable environments than for life, and specifically on the search for water. The slew of rovers, orbiters, and landers revealed evidence of water beneath the crust, hot springs — considered an excellent potential environment for life to evolve — and occasional rare precipitation. Although the Curiosity rover isn't a life-finding mission, there are hopes that it could pinpoint locations that later visitors might explore and analyze.

Future mission to Mars could include sample returns , bringing pieces of the Martian crust back to Earth to study. More experiments could be run by hand on Earth than can be performed by a remote robot explorer, and would be more controlled than meteorites that have lain on Earth.

"Mars 2020 will gather samples for potential return to Earth in the future. It's time for the sample-analysis community to get serious about defining and prioritizing Mars sample science, and in helping to make the case for the future missions that would get those samples home," David Beaty, co-leader of NASA's Returned Sample Science Board and chief scientist for the Mars Exploration Directorate at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, said at a 2017 workshop .

But the hunt for Martian life may be stymied by concerns over how to prevent infecting the Red Planet with Earth life. Current international policies impose heavy financial burdens that make exploring potentially habitable regions of Mars an extra challenge.

"Bottom line is that a thorough cleaning of a spacecraft aimed to in situ search for life on a special region of Mars today would easily cost around $500 million," Dirk Schulze-Makuch told SPACE.com via email. Schulze-Makuch, a researcher at Washington State University, and his colleague Alberto Fairen of Cornell University authored a commentary article published in the journal Nature Geoscience arguing for less-strict protection measures for Mars.

"With that amount of money, you can entirely finance a 'Discovery-type' mission to Mars, similar to Pathfinder or InSight," he added. "Therefore, if we'd relax planetary protection concerns in a Viking-like mission today, we could add another low-budget mission to the space program."

Are we the Martians?

The transfer of material from Mars to Earth and presumably back again has sparked some debate about the possibility of contamination early in the history of life. Some scientists argue that a meteorite from Earth could have traveled to Mars — or vice versa. Debates rage over whether or not tiny organisms would be hardy enough to survive the voyage through a freezing, airless, radiation-filled vacuum and kick off life at its new home.

The idea of such seeding is not limited to interactions with Mars. Some have proposed that debris from outside the solar system could even be responsible for spawning life on Earth. But in terms of the Red Planet, it is possible that scientists might one day find life on Mars — and it could be a close relation.

"If we find life on another planet, will it be truly alien or will it be related to us? And if so, did it spawn us or did we spawn it?" researcher Dina Pasini, of the University of Kent, questioned in a statement . "We cannot answer these questions just now, but the questions are not as farfetched as one might assume."

Follow Nola Taylor Redd at @NolaTRedd , Facebook , or Google+ . Follow us at @Spacedotcom , Facebook or Google+ .

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Nola Taylor Tillman is a contributing writer for Space.com. She loves all things space and astronomy-related, and enjoys the opportunity to learn more. She has a Bachelor’s degree in English and Astrophysics from Agnes Scott college and served as an intern at Sky & Telescope magazine. In her free time, she homeschools her four children. Follow her on Twitter at @NolaTRedd

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Why we explore Mars—and what decades of missions have revealed

In the 1960s, humans set out to discover what the red planet has to teach us. Now, NASA is hoping to land the first humans on Mars by the 2030s.

Mars has captivated humans since we first set eyes on it as a star-like object in the night sky. Early on, its reddish hue set the planet apart from its shimmering siblings, each compelling in its own way, but none other tracing a ruddy arc through Earth’s heavens. Then, in the late 1800s, telescopes first revealed a surface full of intriguing features—patterns and landforms that scientists at first wrongly ascribed to a bustling Martian civilization. Now, we know there are no artificial constructions on Mars. But we’ve also learned that, until 3.5 billion years ago, the dry, toxic planet we see today might have once been as habitable as Earth.

Since the 1960s, humans have set out to discover what Mars can teach us about how planets grow and evolve, and whether it has ever hosted alien life. So far, only uncrewed spacecraft have made the trip to the red planet, but that could soon change. NASA is hoping to land the first humans on Mars by the 2030s—and several new missions are launching before then to push exploration forward. Here’s a look at why these journeys are so important—and what humans have learned about Mars through decades of exploration.

Why explore Mars

Over the last century, everything we’ve learned about Mars suggests that the planet was once quite capable of hosting ecosystems—and that it might still be an incubator for microbial life today.

Mars is the fourth rock from the sun, just after Earth. It is just a smidge more than half of Earth’s size , with gravity only 38 percent that of Earth’s. It takes longer than Earth to complete a full orbit around the sun—but it rotates around its axis at roughly the same speed. That’s why one year on Mars lasts for 687 Earth days , while a day on Mars is just 40 minutes longer than on Earth.

Despite its smaller size, the planet’s land area is also roughly equivalent to the surface area of Earth’s continents —meaning that, at least in theory, Mars has the same amount of habitable real estate. Unfortunately, the planet is now wrapped in a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and cannot support earthly life-forms. Methane gas also periodically appears in the atmosphere of this desiccated world, and the soil contains compounds that would be toxic to life as we know it. Although water does exist on Mars, it’s locked into the planet’s icy polar caps and buried, perhaps in abundance, beneath the Martian surface .

Today, when scientists scrutinize the Martian surface, they see features that are unquestionably the work of ancient, flowing liquids : branching streams, river valleys, basins, and deltas. Those observations suggest that the planet may have once had a vast ocean covering its northern hemisphere. Elsewhere, rainstorms soaked the landscape, lakes pooled, and rivers gushed, carving troughs into the terrain. It was also likely wrapped in a thick atmosphere capable of maintaining liquid water at Martian temperatures and pressures.

For Hungry Minds

Somewhere during Martian evolution, the planet went through a dramatic transformation, and a world that was once rather Earthlike became the dusty, dry husk we see today. The question now is, what happened? Where did those liquids go, and what happened to the Martian atmosphere ?

Exploring Mars helps scientists learn about momentous shifts in climate that can fundamentally alter planets. It also lets us look for biosignatures, signs that might reveal whether life was abundant in the planet’s past—and if it still exists on Mars today. And, the more we learn about Mars, the better equipped we’ll be to try to make a living there, someday in the future.

Past missions, major discoveries

Since the 1960s, humans have sent dozens of spacecraft to study Mars . Early missions were flybys, with spacecraft furiously snapping photos as they zoomed past. Later, probes pulled into orbit around Mars; more recently, landers and rovers have touched down on the surface.

But sending a spacecraft to Mars is hard , and landing on the planet is even harder. The thin Martian atmosphere makes descent tricky, and more than 60 percent of landing attempts have failed. So far, four space agencies—NASA, Russia’s Roscosmos, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO)—have put spacecraft in Martian orbit. With eight successful landings, the United States is the only country that has operated a craft on the planet’s surface. The United Arab Emirates and China might join that club if their recently launched Hope and Tianwen-1 missions reach the red planet safely in February 2021.

Early highlights of Mars missions include NASA's Mariner 4 spacecraft , which swung by Mars in July 1965 and captured the first close-up images of this foreign world. In 1971, the Soviet space program sent the first spacecraft into Martian orbit. Called Mars 3 , it returned roughly eight months of observations about the planet's topography, atmosphere, weather, and geology. The mission also sent a lander to the surface, but it returned data for only about 20 seconds before going quiet.

Over the subsequent decades, orbiters returned far more detailed data on the planet's atmosphere and surface, and finally dispelled the notion, widely held by scientists since the late 1800s, that Martian canals were built by an alien civilization. They also revealed some truly dramatic features: the small world boasts the largest volcanoes in the solar system, and one of the largest canyons yet discovered—a chasm as long as the continental United States. Dust storms regularly sweep over its plains, and winds whip up localized dust devils.

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In 1976, NASA’s Viking 1 and 2 became the first spacecraft to successfully operate on the planet’s surface, returning photos until 1982. They also conducted biological experiments on Martian soil that were designed to uncover signs of life in space—but their results were inconclusive , and scientists still disagree over how to interpret the data.

NASA’s Mars Pathfinder mission , launched in 1996, put the first free-moving rover—called Sojourner—on the planet. Its successors include the rovers Spirit and Opportunity , which explored the planet for far longer than expected and returned more than 100,000 images before dust storms obliterated their solar panels in the 2010s.

Now, two NASA spacecraft are active on the Martian surface: InSight is probing the planet’s interior and it has already revealed that “ marsquakes” routinely rattle its surface . The Curiosity rover , launched in 2012, is also still wheeling around in Gale Crater, taking otherworldly selfies, and studying the rocks and sediments deposited in the crater’s ancient lakebed.

Several spacecraft are transmitting data from orbit: NASA’s MAVEN orbiter , Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter , and Mars Odyssey ; ESA’s Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter ; and India’s Mars Orbiter Mission .

Together, these missions have shown scientists that Mars is an active planet that is rich in the ingredients needed for life as we know it—water, organic carbon , and an energy source. Now, the question is: Did life ever evolve on Mars , and is it still around?

Future of Mars exploration

Once every 26 months , Earth and Mars are aligned in a way that minimizes travel times and expense , enabling spacecraft to make the interplanetary journey in roughly half a year. Earth’s space agencies tend to launch probes during these conjunctions, the most recent of which happens in the summer of 2020. Three countries are sending spacecraft to Mars during this window: The United Arab Emirates, which launched its Hope spacecraft on July 20 and will orbit Mars to study its atmosphere and weather patterns; China, which launched its Tianwen-1 on July 23 , and the United States, currently targeting July 30 for the launch of its Perseverance rover .

Perseverance is a large, six-wheeled rover equipped with a suite of sophisticated instruments. Its target is Jezero Crater, site of an ancient river delta , and a likely location for ancient life-forms to have thrived. Once on the surface, Perseverance will study Martian climate and weather, test technologies that could help humans survive on Mars, and collect samples from dozens of rocks that will eventually be brought to Earth. Among its goals is helping to determine whether Mars was—or is—inhabited, making it a true life-finding Mars mission.

All of the robotic activity is, of course, laying the groundwork for sending humans to the next world over. NASA is targeting the 2030s as a reasonable timeframe for setting the first boots on Mars, and is developing a space capsule, Orion , that will be able to ferry humans to the moon and beyond.

Private spaceflight companies such as SpaceX are also getting into the Mars game. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has repeatedly said that humanity must become “ a multiplanetary species ” if we are to survive, and he is working on a plan that could see a million people living on Mars before the end of this century.

Soon, in one way or another, humanity may finally know whether our neighboring planet ever hosted life—and whether there’s a future for our species on another world.

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April 5, 2023

NASA’s Perseverance Rover May Already Have Evidence of Ancient Martian Life

A half-kilogram’s worth of samples gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover for eventual return to Earth holds weighty implications for life on Mars

By Jonathan O'Callaghan

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover took a selfie with several of the 10 sample tubes it deposited at a sample depot it is creating within an area of Jezero Crater nicknamed Three Forks.

NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

If life ever existed on Mars, we may already have the answer at hand. In January NASA’s Perseverance rover deposited 10 tubes on the surface of Mars. Each contains a sample of Martian rock that was carefully selected for its potential to clarify chapters of the planet’s still-murky history. Those tubes “are capable of telling us whether Mars was habitable,” says Mitch Schulte, Perseverance’s program scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. “We see evidence of particular minerals that tell us there was water. Some of these minerals indicate there was organic material.”

But to know for sure, scientists need to bring these tubes back to Earth for closer study—an audacious endeavor known as Mars Sample Return (MSR), which is slated for the early 2030s via a follow-up robotic mission . These 10 tubes are only the opening course in a bigger awaiting feast, a backup cache in case Perseverance breaks down before it can fill and deliver the 33 additional tubes that it carries. These tubes will hold samples sourced from the area in and around Jezero Crater, the site of a four-billion-year-old river delta and the locale where the rover landed on February 18, 2021. Although many of the samples are yet to be gathered for a journey to Earth that remains years in the future, those already collected have whetted researchers’ appetite for their return home.

Scientists targeted Jezero for Perseverance because, on our planet, sprawling river systems like that found in the Martian crater build up enormous deposits of sediments. Washed in from a sizable swath of the surrounding landscape, these deposits contain various minerals that can be used to chart the Red Planet’s past geology. Also most anywhere water is found on Earth, life accompanies it. The same might hold true for Mars, meaning Jezero’s sediments could conceivably harbor biological remains. “We’re looking for signs of habitability—liquid water and the raw materials of life,” says Mark Sephton of Imperial College London, a member of the rover’s sampling team.

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A close-up of one of the Perseverance Mars rover’s 43 sample tubes, deposited for future retrieval on the surface of Mars. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS

Perseverance collects most of its samples using a small drill, producing chalk-stick-sized specimens that each fit within cigarlike tubes measuring less than 15 centimeters long. Of the 43 sample tubes, 38 are slated for samples from the surface, with the remaining five being “witness tubes” to catch whiffs of Martian air and check for any contaminating gases that might vent from the rover. Collected in September 2021 , the rover’s first sample is thought to be igneous rock from an ancient lava flow. Studying this material should allow scientists to date the crater more precisely. Since then, the rover has filled nearly half of its remaining tubes as it journeys several kilometers further up the ancient river’s channels toward Jezero Crater’s rim.

As a contingency, 10 of the samples are duplicates, each paired with another sample taken from the same location. These are the tubes Perseverance dropped on the surface as backup for potential future retrieval. In December 2022, in one of the last decisions he’d make at the space agency before reentering the private sector, NASA’s then science chief Thomas Zurbuchen made the call to drop that cache at a location called Three Forks. The surface drop-off was completed at the end of January, around the same time Perseverance officially began the “extended” phase of its mission—and after the science team agreed that those 10 samples alone could answer the question of past habitability if needed. MSR’s optimal plan calls for the rover to carry its remaining tubes to a yet-to-be-built lander slated to touch down in Jezero’s vicinity around 2030. Once the lander has secured those samples, it will launch them on a rocket back to Earth .

“We want the ones on the rover to come back,” Zurbuchen says. “But even the ones on the surface check all the boxes.” That includes igneous rock to date the crater and sedimentary rock and clays that may contain biosignatures, perhaps even fossilized evidence of microbial life. “They’re already worth the $10-billion investment,” Zurbuchen says, citing the MSR program’s estimated total cost. Some of the most promising samples are from a location called Wildcat Ridge, a meter-wide rock that contains evidence of sulfates. “Those are the ones we’re most excited about in terms of potential biosignatures,” says Kathleen Benison of West Virginia University, who is part of Perseverance’s sampling team. “Sulfate minerals can grow from groundwater. On Earth, those kinds of waters tend to have a lot of microbial life,” which can be entombed and preserved in sulfate minerals.

Besides sulfates, life-seeking scientists are particularly eager to grab samples from mudstones—fine-grained sedimentary rocks that the Curiosity rover has seen in Gale Crater but that Perseverance has not yet spotted. “Microbe cells are tiny,” says Tanja Bosak of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, who is also part of the sampling team. “The mineral grain size should be even finer to preserve the [fossil] shape instead of destroying it. If you roll a boulder over a person, you will smush that person into something unrecognizable. For a microbe, everything is a boulder—unless you’re talking about mudstones.” The team members are also keen to sample carbonates, similar to things like chalk and limestone on Earth, which could preserve biosignatures as well. “If there had been microbial life in the lake, [the carbonates] could have trapped microbial matter in it,” says Sanjeev Gupta of Imperial College London, who is one of the “long-term planners” who plot out the rover’s path. On March 30, Perseverance collected its first carbonate sample, from a rock named “Berea” thought to have formed from material washed into Jezero by the ancient river.

Taken on March 30, 2023, this image shows the rocky outcrop the Perseverance science team calls “Berea” after the NASA Mars rover extracted a carbonate rock core ( right ) and abraded a circular patch ( left ). Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

While Perseverance has been hard at work collecting samples on Mars, the return phase of the mission remains in flux. Originally, NASA had planned for a European-built “fetch” rover to land on Mars around 2030, collect the samples from Perseverance and return them to a capsule on the lander for launch. Once in orbit, the sample capsule would rendezvous with a European orbiter, which would ferry the samples back to Earth for a landing in 2033. These plans were complicated, however, by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. In response to Russia’s aggression, European Space Agency (ESA) officials chose to step back from a partnership with the nation on another long-simmering Mars mission, the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover. Russia had been due to provide the rover’s nuclear power source, as well as the launch vehicle and landing platform. NASA has now agreed to supply such missing pieces and has sought funding to do so in its budgetary request to Congress last month. But this unanticipated assistance comes at the cost of the fetch rover. “We couldn’t do both,” Zurbuchen says. “We could not individually land the fetch rover and do ExoMars.”

The ExoMars mission, most everyone agrees, is eminently worth saving. The Rosalind Franklin rover will carry a drill that can augur two meters beneath the Martian surface, accessing a subterranean habitat for past and present life that is considerably less hostile than the surface. “Nobody has ever done that on Mars,” Zurbuchen says. “Our science community thinks it’s really important.”

Jorge Vago, ESA’s ExoMars project scientist in the Netherlands, was glad that NASA stepped in. To hit a target launch date of 2028, set forth by European member states in order to save the mission, “we need the American contributions,” Vago says. “It’s an amazing mission. If we find super interesting stuff that’s suggestive of a possible biological origin, I would expect we may want to have another sample return mission and bring back samples from the subsurface.”

NASA’s current MSR plan faces its own challenges. In a mid-March town hall hosted by NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Jeff Gramling, MSR program director at NASA Headquarters, said that some aspects of the mission may need to be “descoped.” This would be a preventative measure to keep budgets under control. NASA’s annual request of nearly $1 billion for MSR is expected to grow in the next few years, raising fears that unchecked increases could force the space agency to siphon funds from unrelated missions. Descoping options include removing one of two “Marscopters” planned for MSR, which had been included to build on the wildly successful Ingenuity rotorcraft that is now approaching 50 flights on Mars . Among other tasks, MSR’s helicopters were added as a backup option for collecting the 10-tube sample cache at Three Forks. “The mission remains complex,” Gramling said during the town hall. “We’re working to our earliest possible launch date.”

Despite the overwhelmingly intricate logistics of seeking life on Mars, the scientific riches on offer have lost none of their luster. Perseverance’s returned samples will cumulatively be only about half a kilogram, but the weight of their implications is immeasurable. Will they reveal that a second genesis of life in the universe has unfolded on the surface of Mars? For that matter, will Rosalind Franklin, once it arrives, validate the long-held suspicion that Mars’s subsurface was—or still is—habitable, too? In our winding quest to determine if we are alone in the universe, the answer may be practically within our grasp, merely waiting for us to reach out to claim it. “We won’t know until we get the samples back,” Bosak says.

Life on Mars?

It’s hard enough to identify fossilized microbes on Earth. How would we ever recognize them on Mars?

Carl Zimmer

On August 7, 1996, reporters, photographers and television camera operators surged into NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The crowd focused not on the row of seated scientists in NASA’s auditorium but on a small, clear plastic box on the table in front of them. Inside the box was a velvet pillow, and nestled on it like a crown jewel was a rock—from Mars. The scientists announced that they’d found signs of life inside the meteorite. NASA administrator Daniel Goldin gleefully said it was an “unbelievable” day. He was more accurate than he knew.

The rock, the researchers explained, had formed 4.5 billion years ago on Mars, where it remained until 16 million years ago, when it was launched into space, probably by the impact of an asteroid. The rock wandered the inner solar system until 13,000 years ago, when it fell to Antarctica. It sat on the ice near AllanHills until 1984, when snowmobiling geologists scooped it up.

Scientists headed by David McKay of the JohnsonSpaceCenter in Houston found that the rock, called ALH84001, had a peculiar chemical makeup. It contained a combination of minerals and carbon compounds that on Earth are created by microbes. It also had crystals of magnetic iron oxide, called magnetite, which some bacteria produce. Moreover, McKay presented to the crowd an electron microscope view of the rock showing chains of globules that bore a striking resemblance to chains that some bacteria form on Earth. “We believe that these are indeed microfossils from Mars,” McKay said, adding that the evidence wasn’t “absolute proof” of past Martian life but rather “pointers in that direction.”

Among the last to speak that day was J. William Schopf, a University of California at Los Angeles paleobiologist, who specializes in early Earth fossils. “I’ll show you the oldest evidence of life on this planet,” Schopf said to the audience, and displayed a slide of a 3.465 billion-year-old fossilized chain of microscopic globules that he had found in Australia. “These are demonstrably fossils,” Schopf said, implying that NASA’s Martian pictures were not. He closed by quoting the astronomer Carl Sagan: “Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.”

Despite Schopf’s note of skepticism, the NASA announcement was trumpeted worldwide. “Mars lived, rock shows Meteorite holds evidence of life on another world,” said the New York Times. “Fossil from the red planet may prove that we are not alone,” declared The Independent of London .

Over the past nine years, scientists have taken Sagan’s words very much to heart. They’ve scrutinized the Martian meteorite (which is now on view at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History), and today few believe that it harbored Martian microbes.

The controversy has prompted scientists to ask how they can know whether some blob, crystal or chemical oddity is a sign of life—even on Earth. Adebate has flared up over some of the oldest evidence for life on Earth, including the fossils that Schopf proudly displayed in 1996. Major questions are at stake in this debate, including how life first evolved on Earth. Some scientists propose that for the first few hundred million years that life existed, it bore little resemblance to life as we know it today.

NASA researchers are taking lessons from the debate about life on Earth to Mars. If all goes as planned, a new generation of rovers will arrive on Mars within the next decade. These missions will incorporate cutting-edge biotechnology designed to detect individual molecules made by Martian organisms, either living or long dead.

The search for life on Mars has become more urgent thanks in part to probes by the two rovers now roaming Mars’ surface and another spaceship that is orbiting the planet. In recent months, they’ve made a series of astonishing discoveries that, once again, tempt scientists to believe that Mars harbors life—or did so in the past. At a February conference in the Netherlands, an audience of Mars experts was surveyed about Martian life. Some 75 percent of the scientists said they thought life once existed there, and of them, 25 percent think that Mars harbors life today.

The search for the fossil remains of primitive single- celled organisms like bacteria took off in 1953, when Stanley Tyler, an economic geologist at the University of Wisconsin, puzzled over some 2.1 billion-year-old rocks he’d gathered in Ontario, Canada. His glassy black rocks known as cherts were loaded with strange, microscopic filaments and hollow balls. Working with Harvard paleobotonist Elso Barghoorn, Tyler proposed that the shapes were actually fossils, left behind by ancient life-forms such as algae. Before Tyler and Barghoorn’s work, few fossils had been found that predated the Cambrian Period, which began about 540 million years ago. Now the two scientists were positing that life was present much earlier in the 4.55 billion-year history of our planet. How much further back it went remained for later scientists to discover.

In the next decades, paleontologists in Africa found 3 billion- year-old fossil traces of microscopic bacteria that had lived in massive marine reefs. Bacteria can also form what are called biofilms, colonies that grow in thin layers over surfaces such as rocks and the ocean floor, and scientists have found solid evidence for biofilms dating back 3.2 billion years.

But at the time of the NASA press conference, the oldest fossil claim belonged to UCLA’s William Schopf, the man who spoke skeptically about NASA’s finds at the same conference. During the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, Schopf had become a leading expert on early life-forms, discovering fossils around the world, including 3 billion-year-old fossilized bacteria in South Africa. Then, in 1987, he and some colleagues reported that they had found the 3.465 billion-yearold microscopic fossils at a site called Warrawoona in the Western Australia outback—the ones he would display at the NASA press conference. The bacteria in the fossils were so sophisticated, Schopf says, that they indicate “life was flourishing at that time, and thus, life originated appreciably earlier than 3.5 billion years ago.”

Since then, scientists have developed other methods for detecting signs of early life on Earth. One involves measuring different isotopes, or atomic forms, of carbon; the ratio of the isotopes indicates that the carbon was once part of a living thing. In 1996, a team of researchers reported that they had found life’s signature in rocks from Greenland dating back 3.83 billion years.

The signs of life in Australia and Greenland were remarkably old, especially considering that life probably could not have persisted on Earth for the planet’s first few hundreds of millions of years. That’s because asteroids were bombarding it, boiling the oceans and likely sterilizing the planet’s surface before about 3.8 billion years ago. The fossil evidence suggested that life emerged soon after our world cooled down. As Schopf wrote in his book Cradle of Life, his 1987 discovery “tells us that early evolution proceeded very far very fast.”

A quick start to life on Earth could mean that life could also emerge quickly on other worlds—either Earth-like planets circling other stars, or perhaps even other planets or moons in our own solar system. Of these, Mars has long looked the most promising.

The surface of Mars today doesn’t seem like the sort of place hospitable to life. It is dry and cold, plunging down as far as -220 degrees Fahrenheit. Its thin atmosphere cannot block ultraviolet radiation from space, which would devastate any known living thing on the surface of the planet. But Mars, which is as old as Earth, might have been more hospitable in the past. The gullies and dry lake beds that mark the planet indicate that water once flowed there. There’s also reason to believe, astronomers say, that Mars’ early atmosphere was rich enough in heat-trapping carbon dioxide to create a greenhouse effect, warming the surface. In other words, early Mars was a lot like early Earth. If Mars had been warm and wet for millions or even billions of years, life might have had enough time to emerge. When conditions on the surface of Mars turned nasty, life may have become extinct there. But fossils may have been left behind. It’s even possible that life could have survived on Mars below the surface, judging from some microbes on Earth that thrive miles underground.

When Nasa’s Mckay presented his pictures of Martian fossils to the press that day in 1996, one of the millions of people who saw them on television was a young British environmental microbiologist named Andrew Steele. He had just earned a PhD at the University of Portsmouth, where he was studying bacterial biofilms that can absorb radioactivity from contaminated steel in nuclear facilities. An expert at microscopic images of microbes, Steele got McKay’s telephone number from directory assistance and called him. “I can get you a better picture than that,” he said, and convinced McKay to send him pieces of the meteorite. Steele’s analyses were so good that soon he was working for NASA.

Ironically, though, his work undercut NASA’s evidence: Steele discovered that Earthly bacteria had contaminated the Mars meteorite. Biofilms had formed and spread through cracks into its interior. Steele’s results didn’t disprove the Martian fossils outright—it’s possible that the meteorite contains both Martian fossils and Antarctic contaminants— but, he says, “The problem is, how do you tell the difference?” At the same time, other scientists pointed out that nonliving processes on Mars also could have created the globules and magnetite clumps that NASA scientists had held up as fossil evidence.

But McKay stands by the hypothesis that his microfossils are from Mars, saying it is “consistent as a package with a possible biological origin.” Any alternative explanation must account for all of the evidence, he says, not just one piece at a time.

The controversy has raised a profound question in the minds of many scientists: What does it take to prove the presence of life billions of years ago? in 2000, oxford paleontologistMartin Brasier borrowed the original Warrawoona fossils from the NaturalHistoryMuseum in London, and he and Steele and their colleagues have studied the chemistry and structure of the rocks. In 2002, they concluded that it was impossible to say whether the fossils were real, essentially subjecting Schopf’s work to the same skepticism that Schopf had expressed about the fossils from Mars. “The irony was not lost on me,” says Steele.

In particular, Schopf had proposed that his fossils were photosynthetic bacteria that captured sunlight in a shallow lagoon. But Brasier and Steele and co-workers concluded that the rocks had formed in hot water loaded with metals, perhaps around a superheated vent at the bottom of the ocean—hardly the sort of place where a sun-loving microbe could thrive. And microscopic analysis of the rock, Steele says, was ambiguous, as he demonstrated one day in his lab by popping a slide from the Warrawoona chert under a microscope rigged to his computer. “What are we looking at there?” he asks, picking a squiggle at random on his screen. “Some ancient dirt that’s been caught in a rock? Are we looking at life? Maybe, maybe. You can see how easily you can fool yourself. There’s nothing to say that bacteria can’t live in this, but there’s nothing to say that you are looking at bacteria.”

Schopf has responded to Steele’s criticism with new research of his own. Analyzing his samples further, he found that they were made of a form of carbon known as kerogen, which would be expected in the remains of bacteria. Of his critics, Schopf says, “they would like to keep the debate alive, but the evidence is overwhelming.”

The disagreement is typical of the fast-moving field. Geologist Christopher Fedo of George Washington University and geochronologist Martin Whitehouse of the Swedish Museum of Natural History have challenged the 3.83 billionyear- old molecular trace of light carbon from Greenland, saying the rock had formed from volcanic lava, which is much too hot for microbes to withstand. Other recent claims also are under assault. Ayear ago, a team of scientists made headlines with their report of tiny tunnels in 3.5 billion-year-old African rocks. The scientists argued that the tunnels were made by ancient bacteria around the time the rock formed. But Steele points out that bacteria might have dug those tunnels billions of years later. “If you dated the London Underground that way,” says Steele, “you’d say it was 50 million years old, because that’s how old the rocks are around it.”

Such debates may seem indecorous, but most scientists are happy to see them unfold. “What this will do is get a lot of people to roll up their sleeves and look for more stuff,” says MIT geologist John Grotzinger. To be sure, the debates are about subtleties in the fossil record, not about the existence of microbes long, long ago. Even a skeptic like Steele remains fairly confident that microbial biofilms lived 3.2 billion years ago. “You can’t miss them,” Steele says of their distinctive weblike filaments visible under a microscope. And not even critics have challenged the latest from Minik Rosing, of the University of Copenhagen’s Geological Museum, who has found the carbon isotope life signature in a sample of 3.7 billion-year-old rock from Greenland—the oldest undisputed evidence of life on Earth.

At stake in these debates is not just the timing of life’s early evolution, but the path it took. This past September, for example, Michael Tice and Donald Lowe of StanfordUniversity reported on 3.416 billion-year-old mats of microbes preserved in rocks from South Africa. The microbes, they say, carried out photosynthesis but didn’t produce oxygen in the process. A small number of bacterial species today do the same—anoxygenic photosynthesis it’s called—and Tice and Lowe suggest that such microbes, rather than the conventionally photosynthetic ones studied by Schopf and others, flourished during the early evolution of life. Figuring out life’s early chapters will tell scientists not only a great deal about the history of our planet. It will also guide their search for signs of life elsewhere in the universe—starting with Mars.

In January 2004, the NASA rovers Spirit and Opportunity began rolling across the Martian landscape. Within a few weeks, Opportunity had found the best evidence yet that water once flowed on the planet’s surface. The chemistry of rock it sampled from a plain called Meridiani Planum indicated that it had formed billions of years ago in a shallow, long-vanished sea. One of the most important results of the rover mission, says Grotzinger, a member of the rover science team, was the robot’s observation that rocks on Meridiani Planum don’t seem to have been crushed or cooked to the degree that Earth rocks of the same age have been— their crystal structure and layering remain intact. A paleontologist couldn’t ask for a better place to preserve a fossil for billions of years.

The past year has brought a flurry of tantalizing reports. An orbiting probe and ground-based telescopes detected methane in the atmosphere of Mars. On Earth, microbes produce copious amounts of methane, although it can also be produced by volcanic activity or chemical reactions in the planet’s crust. In February, reports raced through the media about a NASA study allegedly concluding that the Martian methane might have been produced by underground microbes. NASA headquarters quickly swooped in—perhaps worried about a repeat of the media frenzy surrounding the Martian meteorite—and declared that it had no direct data supporting claims for life on Mars.

But just a few days later, European scientists announced that they had detected formaldehyde in the Martian atmosphere, another compound that, on Earth, is produced by living things. Shortly thereafter, researchers at the European Space Agency released images of the Elysium Plains, a region along Mars’ equator. The texture of the landscape, they argued, shows that the area was a frozen ocean just a few million years ago—not long, in geological time. Afrozen sea may still be there today, buried under a layer of volcanic dust. While water has yet to be found on Mars’ surface, some researchers studying Martian gullies say that the features may have been produced by underground aquifers, suggesting that water, and the life-forms that require water, might be hidden below the surface.

Andrew Steele is one of the scientists designing the next generation of equipment to probe for life on Mars. One tool he plans to export to Mars is called a microarray, a glass slide onto which different antibodies are attached. Each antibody recognizes and latches onto a specific molecule, and each dot of a particular antibody has been rigged to glow when it finds its molecular partner. Steele has preliminary evidence that the microarray can recognize fossil hopanes, molecules found in the cell walls of bacteria, in the remains of a 25 million- year-old biofilm.

This past September, Steele and his colleagues traveled to the rugged Arctic island of Svalbard, where they tested the tool in the area’s extreme environment as a prelude to deploying it on Mars. As armed Norwegian guards kept a lookout for polar bears, the scientists spent hours sitting on chilly rocks, analyzing fragments of stone. The trip was a success: the microarray antibodies detected proteins made by hardy bacteria in the rock samples, and the scientists avoided becoming food for the bears.

Steele is also working on a device called MASSE (Modular Assays for Solar System Exploration), which is tentatively slated to fly on a 2011 European Space Agency expedition to Mars. He envisions the rover crushing rocks into powder, which can be placed into MASSE, which will analyze the molecules with a microarray, searching for biological molecules.

Sooner, in 2009, NASA will launch the Mars Science Laboratory Rover. It’s designed to inspect the surface of rocks for peculiar textures left by biofilms. The Mars lab may also look for amino acids, the building blocks of proteins, or other organic compounds. Finding such compounds wouldn’t prove the existence of life on Mars, but it would bolster the case for it and spur NASA scientists to look more closely.

Difficult as the Mars analyses will be, they’re made even more complex by the threat of contamination. Mars has been visited by nine spacecraft, from Mars 2, a Soviet probe that crashed into the planet in 1971, to NASA’s Opportunity and Spirit. Any one of them might have carried hitchhiking Earth microbes. “It might be that they crash-landed and liked it there, and then the wind could blow them all over the place,” says Jan Toporski, a geologist at the University of Kiel, in Germany. And the same interplanetary game of bumper cars that hurtled a piece of Mars to Earth might have showered pieces of Earth on Mars. If one of those terrestrial rocks was contaminated with microbes, the organisms might have survived on Mars—for a time, at least—and left traces in the geology there. Still, scientists are confident they can develop tools to distinguish between imported Earth microbes and Martian ones.

Finding signs of life on Mars is by no means the only goal. “If you find a habitable environment and don’t find it inhabited, then that tells you something,” says Steele. “If there is no life, then why is there no life? The answer leads to more questions.” The first would be what makes life-abounding Earth so special. In the end, the effort being poured into detecting primitive life on Mars may prove its greatest worth right here at home.

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Essay on Life On Mars

Students are often asked to write an essay on Life On Mars in their schools and colleges. And if you’re also looking for the same, we have created 100-word, 250-word, and 500-word essays on the topic.

Let’s take a look…

100 Words Essay on Life On Mars

Introduction.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun. It is also our neighbor in space. For a long time, scientists have been curious to know if life exists on Mars.

What is Mars Like?

Mars is a cold, dry, and rocky planet. It has mountains, valleys, and deserts, much like Earth. But, Mars has no liquid water on its surface, which is crucial for life.

Searching for Life

Scientists use rovers and satellites to explore Mars. These machines look for signs of past or present life. They also study the soil, rocks, and atmosphere of Mars.

Can Humans Live on Mars?

Living on Mars would be hard for humans. The air is thin and cold, and there’s no food or water. But, scientists are studying ways to make Mars more livable in the future.

So, is there life on Mars? We don’t know yet. But, the search for life on Mars continues. It’s a fascinating topic that sparks our imagination and curiosity about the universe.

250 Words Essay on Life On Mars

Is there life on mars.

The idea of life on Mars has always been a topic of interest. Mars is the fourth planet from the sun in our solar system. It is often called the “Red Planet” because of its reddish appearance.

Mars has similarities with Earth which makes scientists think that life could exist there. It has seasons, polar ice caps and weather. It also has signs of water, which is vital for life.

Signs of Life

Scientists have found signs of ancient rivers, lakes, and possibly even an ocean. This suggests that Mars may have once had conditions suitable for life. They have also found chemicals in the Martian soil that are needed for life.

Scientists use rovers to search for signs of life on Mars. These rovers can take pictures, dig into the soil, and perform experiments. They are looking for signs of past or present life.

Future of Life on Mars

Many space agencies plan to send humans to Mars in the future. These missions will help us learn more about the planet and possibly find evidence of life.

In conclusion, the question of life on Mars is still unanswered. But with ongoing research and future missions, we may soon find the answer. The discovery of life on Mars would be a major breakthrough. It would change our understanding of the universe and our place in it.

500 Words Essay on Life On Mars

Mars, the fourth planet from the sun, has always been a topic of interest for scientists and space lovers. This red planet, named after the Roman god of war, is often seen as a potential place for life outside Earth.

What Makes Mars Special?

Mars is special because it shares some similarities with Earth. It has a day and night cycle nearly the same as Earth, with a day on Mars being just over 24 hours. Mars also has seasons like Earth, due to the tilt of its axis. It’s these similarities that make scientists think that Mars could, in theory, support life.

Searching for Signs of Life

Scientists have been looking for signs of life on Mars for many years. They use space probes and rovers, like the famous Mars Rover, to explore the Martian surface. They are looking for signs of water, as life as we know it needs water to survive. Recent discoveries have shown that there was once liquid water on Mars, and there is still ice today. This is a promising sign for the possibility of life.

Could Humans Live on Mars?

The idea of humans living on Mars may seem like something out of a science fiction movie, but it’s something that scientists are seriously considering. Living on Mars would be tough. The atmosphere is very thin, so we would need to wear space suits all the time. The temperature is also much colder than on Earth. Despite these challenges, scientists are researching ways to make Mars more habitable for humans. This includes ideas like building habitats that can protect us from the harsh Martian environment and finding ways to grow food on Mars.

Future of Mars Exploration

The future of Mars exploration looks exciting. NASA plans to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. SpaceX, a private space company, also has plans to send people to Mars. These missions will help us learn more about Mars and could be the first steps towards establishing a human colony on the red planet.

While we still have a lot to learn about Mars, the possibility of life on this red planet is an exciting prospect. Whether it’s finding microscopic life forms or establishing human colonies, the exploration of Mars will continue to be a key focus for scientists in the future. The question, “Is there life on Mars?” is still open, and the answer could change our understanding of life in the universe.

(Word count: 400)

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Essay on Life on Mars

Table of Contents

Scientists and Astronomers from around the world have collated evidences about the possibility of life on Mars. The study about this planet is going on since decades and there is still a long way to go. Many spacecrafts have been sent on Mars in an attempt to understand whether life exists on this planet or is there any scope of inhabiting this planet in future. This is an interesting subject of exploration and has caught the fancy of astronomers since long time.

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Target Exam ---

The environment of Mars is similar to that of earth in more than one way and this has been a reason for scientific explorations looking for signs of life on the planet. However, mere similarity of environmental factors between earth and mars doesn’t prove that there is life on mars, a claim which needed to be backed by concrete scientific evidences. Beginning in the 19 th century, the quest for life on mars continues even today.

Long and Short Essay on Life on Mars in English

We are providing below essay on Life on Mars in English, to help you with the topic in your exams/school assignments.

These Life on Mars essay will give you an elaborate but simple explanation of the previous explorations and researches for life on mars; why is it more likely to support life etc.

You can select any Life on Mars essay as per your interest and need and present during your class assignment, debate competition, speech, essay writing etc.

Short Essay on Life on Mars 200 words

The existence of life on Mars has been a subject of study since more than a century. Scientists have been trying to collate evidences to figure out whether life has ever existed on this planet or is it inhabited with people presently or if there is any possibility of life on Mars in the future. The research done until now hints that there has never been any life on Mars nor is it inhabited with people currently. However, the possibility of life on the red planet cannot be ruled out completely.

Research shows that surface liquid water was present on Mars during the ancient Noachian period. This made for a habitable atmosphere for microorganisms. However, whether microorganisms ever penetrated on the planet is still a question. Research on the subject is still going on. Today, water on Mars exists in its solid state that is in the form of ice. Some of it also exists as vapour in the planet’s atmosphere.

Scientists have been trying to conduct research on Mars by way of telescopes, spacecrafts and rovers that are helpful in collecting evidences about the condition and nature of this planet. It is interesting and exciting to learn that life on this planet may be possible as its atmosphere is quite similar to Earth.

Essay on If I were on Mars 300 words

Mars is the fourth planet in the solar system. It is positioned just next to Earth and thus scientists and astronomers believe that there could be a possibility of life on this planet just as our planet. The evidences about the presence of water and oxygen on Mars have raised hopes about the probability of life on Mars.

If I Get a Chance to Live on Mars

While the scientists keep sending spacecrafts and rovers on Mars to conduct their research, I often dream about going to the planet to understand if there are any people living there and whether life is actually possible on this planet or not.

I wish I get some special powers to visit Mars and see how the planet really is. If I were on Mars, I would explore every bit of it to learn about it. I would live at different places on the planet to experience the variation in climate. I really wish I could transform Mars into a place which is fit for human civilization if it isn’t already. I want this planet to stay as pure as our Earth was during the beginning of the times.

If I ever got a chance to be on Mars and manage things there, I would grow several plants and make sure the people who eventually come to live on the planet lead a simple life like that of a villager devoid of the high-tech gadgets that are ruining our planet, Earth. I will ensure that there is no pollution on the planet and urge the people living there to contribute in keeping the atmosphere clean.

I want people to learn from the mistakes made on Earth and avoid the same on Mars. We have almost destroyed our beautiful Earth. I wish we do not do the same with the planet which is yet in its pure form.

Essay on My Trip to Mars 400 words

I have been reading news about the possibility of life on Mars since years and have always fancied how it would be like if life can actually be possible on this planet. How many of us will shift to this uninhabited planet and start our life there, how our relatives and friends living on Earth will plan trips to visit Mars, how would life on Mars actually be – will it be like that on Earth or different from it? All these questions come across my mind quite often and I get lost in the dreams of this far-away place. I have even made full-fledged plans of how I would visit the red planet if ever life is possible there.

My Trip to Mars

My trip to Mars is very much on my bucket list. However, I would certainly not rush to the planet as soon as it is declared habitable. I would wait for it to develop for a few years before I plan my visit. I would go to Mars with my friends. I would plan a trip for at least 15 days as I assume I would not get a chance to visit the planet often enough because of the distance and expenses involved. So, I would like to explore each and every corner of this planet on this trip.

We humans are known for demarcating the land and labelling it. I am sure just as Earth; Mars will also be divided into several countries within few years. While some of these countries would be worth spending time in others may be worthy of just a glance. I would talk to the local people on the planet and gather information about how and where all to visit to make the most of the trip. I will visit as many places as I can and try all sorts of cuisines available on Mars. I will shop a lot and take back sovereigns for my dear ones. I will also take a lot of pictures to cherish the memories of the days spent there.

I know my trip to mars is a far-fetched dream. However, I do hope I will get a chance to visit this planet once in my lifetime. I believe our new-age astronomers, scientists and technicians and know they will soon find a way to make this planet fit for human civilization. Until then, I shall visit some places on our planet Earth to seek adventure and gratify the travel enthusiast in me.

Essay on If I were to be the First Human to Visit the Mars 500 words

I aspire to be an astronomer. The celestial bodies fascinate me. My school conducts space workshop every year and I make sure I participate in the same each year. During these sessions, we are told about the Sun, Moon, planets and stars in detail. Besides getting theoretical knowledge about these, we also get a chance to view some of these via telescope which is my favourite part. It is all mesmerizing and my interest in astronomy is increasing with every workshop I attend.

It is the planet Mars that has caught my interest more than any other celestial body. I would definitely plan a manned mission to the red planet when I become an astronomer.

The Fame of Being the First Human to Visit Mars

As keen as I am on going to Mars, I am as much scared to visit the planet alone. I would like to visit the planet with a team of fellow astronomers and technicians. However, I dream of becoming the first person to land on Mars. After all, people only remember the first person to accomplish a mission. The names of the rest are forgotten soon. Just as we all remember Neil Armstrong who was the first to step on the moon. He was accompanied by other astronomers who too stepped on this astronomical body however no one remembers them. Likewise, being the first human to visit Mars will bring me a lot of fame.

My name would be published in every newspaper and flashed on every news channel. It would be a proud moment for me, my family as well as the entire nation. I would receive numerous awards for excellence in my field and for achieving what many could only dream of. I would be remembered for years and years to come. Students across the globe will read about my achievements as a part of their curriculum.

Experience Life on Mars as the First Human on the Planet

I would not just like to visit mars and come back. I would like to live there for few weeks to experience how life on Mars really is. Mars is known to be rich in minerals. I would like to explore the kind of minerals available there and also collect some to bring back home in order to conduct further research on them. I would like to experience and understand how life on Mars would actually be and that can only happen if I stay there for long. I would also carry few seeds to the planet and see if they grow there in a couple of weeks. I would explore different parts of the planet to experience the kind of climate it has.

If I would be the first person to visit Mars, the expectation from my research on the planet would be extremely high. I will spend most of my time studying the atmosphere and condition of the planet to see if it is fit for human civilization.

My interest in exploring Mars is increasing by the day. I aim to work hard and become an astronomer as I grow up to further my mission of being the first human to visit Mars.

Long Essay on Life on Mars 600 words

Mars, the fourth planet from the Sun, is said to have certain similarities with Earth when it comes to its atmosphere. This may be because of its proximity to our planet. This planet has been studied more than any other in the solar system. Every now and then there is news about new evidence indicating the probability of life on the red planet.

Possibility of Life on Mars

The first evidence of life on Mars was found as early as the 19 th century. Since then the planet has caught the interest of the scientists and astronomers around the world. Numerous research operations have been conducted to find out whether life exists on Mars or if it ever did or can. Researchers claim that Mars is quite like our planet Earth when it comes to its atmosphere although it gets much colder.

Though oxygen is present on the planet its environment is not considered fit for human inhabitation. While there have been evidences of liquid water on Mars in the past, today most of the water on the planet is locked in its polar ice caps. This has resulted in the planet’s land becoming barren. The curiosity rover that was sent to the red planet recently helped in exploring the planet further. The rover dug some land on Mars and discovered three different kinds of organic molecules on the planet which indicates the possibility of some kind of life form on the planet.

If there was Life on Mars

I often wonder how interesting it would be if there was life on Mars and the concept of aliens which is shown in various Hollywood and Bollywood movies was actually true. I really wish, the researchers soon find some aliens on Mars and are able to bring them to Earth for research. It would be super exciting. We will learn so much about the planet with the help of those aliens. We will understand the kind of hardships faced on the planet and the joys of living there. I wish we soon find out that Mars supports life and we can inhabit it.

I wish after this discovery, we humans are given a choice about whether we wish to live on Earth or Mars or take a trip to Mars just as we visit other cities and countries. Special aircrafts would be made to take people from Earth to Mars. We would be able to explore a whole new world and meet people who are completely different from us or may be have some similarities.

I really wish that if people actually exist on Mars they are not as selfish as those living on Earth. I would like to leave Earth and live on this newly explored planet. I would like to experience life on that planet at least for few years. It would be so exciting to meet new people, learn new languages, and eat new kinds of cuisines and pet different types of animals. Due to the difference in the climatic conditions of Earth and Mars, the flora and fauna of the two planets is not likely to match. We will thus get a chance to witness newer varieties of plants and animals on Mars. I really wish Mars is not yet perturbed with technology and that people on that planet live in harmony with nature. It would be blissful living in such a place.

Whether Mars is or will ever be fit for inhabiting is a question which is still likely to take several decades to answer. Numerous researches have already taken place in this regard and many others are going on. I really wish we get some crucial evidence on life on Mars soon.

Essay on Life on Mars FAQs

What is the life on mars.

There is no confirmed life on Mars yet; scientists are still exploring.

What is a short paragraph about Mars?

Mars is a planet in our solar system, often called the 'Red Planet' due to its rusty appearance.

Can people live on Mars essay?

People can't live on Mars without advanced technology and life support systems.

How do humans live on Mars?

Humans could live on Mars with life support and creating habitats.

There is no known life on Mars; it's a focus of scientific research.

What is the Mars essay?

An essay about Mars would talk about its features, exploration, and potential for human colonization.

What is the conclusion of life on Mars?

The conclusion about life on Mars is that it's a challenging environment, and more research is needed to understand its potential for life and human settlement.

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Is There Life on Mars? A New Study Offers Tantalizing Clues

M ars is both a wonderful and a terrible place to go looking for life. On the one hand, the planet is a wasteland, where wintertime temperatures plunge to -153º C (-225º F), and the atmosphere—such as it is—is just 1% the density of Earth’s and composed principally of carbon dioxide. On the other hand, the Red Planet wasn’t always such a wreck. For the first billion or so years of its 4.5 billion year life span, it was awash in oceans and seas and protected by a thick blanket of air. Eventually, however, its magnetic field shut down, allowing the solar wind to claw away the atmosphere and the water to vanish into space.

But that first billion years offered Mars plenty of time to cook up at least microbial life, some of which may have died and left chemical traces on the surface—or even have retreated underground to continue thriving in deep, warm aquifers. Now, a new study, announced by NASA and published on Jan. 18 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , suggests that some of those lingering surface markers of ancient life may have been found—lying in plain sight, in fact.

The new research, led by geoscientist Christopher House of Pennsylvania State University, was based on work conducted by NASA’s Curiosity rover , which has spent the last nine and a half years in Mars’s Gale Crater, a one-time lake, studying its rocks and surface sediments in search of clues to the planet’s geologic—and biologic—history. In the first part of House’s study, the rover used its on-board drill to collect rock and soil samples at 24 different sites around Gale Crater. The samples were then transferred to a laboratory oven within the body of the rover and heated to about 850º C (1,500º F). A laser spectrometer then went to work, analyzing the chemistry of the vaporized samples—looking especially for carbon, the elemental backbone of all life as we know it. Plenty of carbon was indeed detected—which was pretty much as expected. The surprise was just which type.

Carbon comes in two principal isotopes: carbon-13, with six protons and seven neutrons; and carbon-12, with six protons and six neutrons. Carbon-13 doesn’t play well with biology; its heavier structure makes for tougher molecular bonds that don’t allow for the nimble coupling, decoupling and recombining that make biological processes possible, and that carbon-12 performs so easily. The more carbon-12 you find in a Martian sample, the greater the possibility that you’re looking at an artifact of early life. And Curiosity found plenty of it: Nearly half of the samples the rover studied had significantly higher levels of carbon-12 than scientists typically detect in Martian meteorites or in the Martian atmosphere.

More from TIME

House and his colleagues posit an intriguing biological explanation for their findings: Ancient Martian microbes growing in and under the soil would have preferentially grabbed the available carbon-12 over carbon-13, metabolizing the isotope and producing methane as a byproduct. The methane would have risen into the atmosphere, where it would have been broken down by ultraviolet light, and the carbon-12 would then have precipitated back down as a dusting on the surface. Adding support to that idea was that the samples were collected in the relative highlands and cliffs of Gale Crater—which would have been above the ancient water level and been particularly exposed to the precipitating carbon-12.

“The large carbon-12 amounts observed [on Mars] are found on Earth in biological methane or when biological methane is consumed by microbes,” wrote House in an email to TIME. “In some ways, the Martian samples resemble Earth rocks from Australia from 2.7 billion years ago, when our atmosphere was rich in biological methane.”

NASA is no less sanguine about the findings—even if cautiously so. “We’re finding things on Mars that are tantalizingly interesting,” said Paul Mahaffy, a recently-retired member of the Curiosity science team, in a statement. “But we would really need more evidence to say we’ve identified life.”

Mahaffy’s caution is well-placed, because even House admits there are other, non-biological phenomena that could explain the new findings. For one thing, ultraviolet energy from the sun might have caused changes in the molecular makeup of the Martian atmosphere, producing excess amounts of carbon dioxide and carbon-12, which would then have rained down on the surface just as it would in biological processes.

“There are papers that predict that UV could cause this type of fractionation,” said House in a statement released by Penn State. “However, we need more experimental results showing this … fractionation so we can rule in or rule out this explanation.”

Alternatively, and more dramatically, evidence from meteorites indicates that every 100 million years or so, the solar system passes through an interstellar cloud that is rich in multiple elements, including lighter carbon-12. In theory, that carbon could have rained down on Mars and could explain the new findings. The problem with that scenario is that the cloud would have led to global cooling that would in turn have resulted in glaciation in Gale Crater—signs of which have not been detected. “We have not seen significant evidence for a glacier at Gale Crater yet,” House says.

The Curiosity rover, meantime, will continue its explorations, not only analyzing more of the Martian surface, but also sniffing for methane plumes that are known to be released from beneath the surface of Mars periodically, and checking them for the telltale carbon. That would be something of a gold standard finding—possibly indicating not just ancient, but extant life.

“If we were to [discover a large enough plume],” House says, “the result might match the carbon on the ancient surface, suggesting that the same microbes still inhabit the subsurface.” Short of that case-closed discovery, House is reserving his judgment. “All three of the explanations proposed fit the data that we have,” he says. “We are being cautious with our interpretations here, but that is the right approach when studying another world such as Mars.”

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Essay on Life on Mars

List of essays on life on mars in english, essay on life on mars – essay 1 (150 words), essay on life on mars: with conclusion – essay 2 (250 words), essay on life on mars: future and past instances – essay 3 (300 words), essay on life on mars – essay 4 (400 words), essay on life on mars: popular expeditions – essay 5 (500 words), essay on life on mars: finding, future and conclusion – essay 6 (600 words), essay on life on mars: studies, experiments and missions – essay 7 (750 words), essay on life on mars: introduction, facts and investigations – essay 8 (1000 words).

Life on Mars is yet a matter of research for scientists. Mars is also known as the Red Planet and is right next to earth in the solar system. Surprisingly, images and evidence gathered in the past few years, confirm the existence of oxygen and water on the planet.

Even if, there is no life on Mars until now, scientists strongly hope for the possibility of it. The reason is the presence of oxygen and water in the form of snow. Both of these factors could play an essential role in the likelihood of life on Mars.

Over the decades, all kinds of spacecraft and satellites have been put to work for collecting as much information about life on Mars as possible. So far, whatever has been known to us, is not enough to give any solid conclusion about whether life on Mars has ever existed or not.

Introduction:

How will life on Mars be? If there was life on Mars, would it be possible for humans to live on it? These questions have aroused the curiosity of many. Therefore, it would only be proper to understand what Mars is all about.

Mars is the fourth planet from the sun and the second smallest after Mercury in the solar system. It is popularly referred to as the red planet. Let us now consider the intricate details of this planet.

Proof of Life on Mars:

There have been confirmations of water and magnetic fields previously protecting the planet. Other scientists believe that water stills exist on Mars but because of its topography and atmosphere it would be salty. As a result, it is believed that the planet Mars has the environmental conditions necessary to support life.

The atmosphere of air on Mars is mostly carbon dioxide. Also, air on the planet is a hundred times thinner than that on planet earth. Hence, it would be difficult for humans to breathe on Mars without a spacesuit filled with oxygen. Plants and animals can’t seem to survive on Mars due to the planet’s gravity which is 38% of Earth.

Exploration of Mars:

In spite of all our curiosities, no one has actually been able to venture into the planet. In the early ’70s, for the first time, mechanical objects were sent on an explorative mission to check for life on Mars. Two robots, known as Viking 1 and Viking 2 were sent to the planet to observe and gather intelligence. They lasted for 6 and 4 years respectively. Robots expeditions have continued till recent times and have grown to include orbiters, landers, and rovers.

Conclusion:

The possibility of life on Mars, till date, has continually captured the attention and interests of both scientists and non-scientists. Whether fantasy or not, it is the wish of many that one day man will be able to step on Mars comfortably.

Life on Mars is one of the debatable subjects that come up every now and then. Scientists are working day in and day out to confirm the presence of life on Mars; however, there is no concrete proof as of now. There are a lot of people who believe that there is a presence of intelligent life on Mars but all we can do is waiting till the rumours are turned true.

The Future:

If we happen to detect life on Mars, it will open up a world of new possibilities. Along with finding out what kind of life exists in Mars and the kind of atmosphere which is present, there are plenty of other things which will have to be examined as well.

The space is full of so many puzzling stories and it is imperative to pay heed to the specifics. Until and unless, the scientists manage to find concrete proof that life on Mars is not just an imaginary concept but a reality, things really can’t materialize a great deal.

The Past Instances:

There have been a few instances wherein some scientists have claimed that they spotted life on Mars. Of course, the precise signs can vary and when asked, they couldn’t come up with a concrete proof. It very much boils down to your belief and imagination. But given the massive size of the space and how endless it truly is, it surely is likely that there is intelligent life out there.

Whether we find life on Mars or on some other planet inside our galaxy or outside is a question which is put to debate. We truly need to wait for the scientists to come up with the best results.

The bottom-line remains the fact that if aliens exist they might also be in the quest to find someone like them. Life on Mars definitely sounds a very interesting topic to dig further on.

Life on Mars is one of the mysteries that all the scientists in our world have been researching for over decades. The existence of life on Mars or probably its possibility is being discussed and the studies are yet to go through a long way before a conclusion.

Mars is the red planet, closest to earth and the fourth among our planets in the solar system. Many types of research and studies have proved that Mars has a similar atmosphere to that of Earth. This triggered the concept of life on Mars in the minds of our genius scientists.

Many astronautic devices, space crafts, rovers, etc., are used to check whether any evidence or sign of life on Mars can be found to prove the theory. But every attempts to find the possibility has found negative results till date. But frequent efforts are being taken from the scientific side of our world to find life on Mars a possibility.

Similarities:

Studies and constant research have found oxygen content to be present on the surface of the red planet. However, it is not as habitat-able as on Earth for humans to survive or breathe. But this miraculous discovery has seeded the life on Mars theory further on.

Later on, water presence on the planet was also found, but in its solid form, ice. The latest update was given by the rover that three kinds of microbial organisms were found when the land sample was being examined by them. This has created a major spark in the research of life on Mars theory.

All these studies prove that there may be some kind of life on Mars but however, that may not be very similar to that of life on Earth. The living creature may be different form every species of flora and fauna living in our world.

Responsibility:

Even if life on Mars is found and the possibility is being proven, there are some ethics and responsibilities we should be following. We, humans, have almost destroyed the beauty and diversity of our mother Earth. The same mistake should not be done in case of life on Mars.

Instead of finding more technological advancements that eventually destroys the life on Mars, we should focus on more sustainable ways to exist in the new environment. Exploring new ways of life is not a bad thing, but instead of destructing the life on Mars we should find a mutual way to exist on the planet along with maintaining its natural beauty.

Mars is a planet which has the closest of similarities with the planet earth. Hence there has been most research on the chances of discovery of life on this planet. Mars, also known as the red planet remains a mystery for us for many reasons although as on today we know a lot of about than we did some fifty years ago.

Early Expeditions:

While space crafts equipped with robotics have given us magnificent perspectives, no people have ever endeavoured to adventure to Mars, and no such missions will endeavour for a long time. Meanwhile, NASA is buckling down now to find whether there is life on Mars. Different nations have been sending space crafts to orbit or land there since the 1960s, and every mission encourages us more about this entrancing planet. We have discovered that despite the fact that Mars is more like Earth than anyplace else in the close planetary system, and subsequently is the best place to search for life, it is as yet unique in relation to Earth from numerous points of view.

Why Mars may not be another Earth?

The earth and Mars have a lot of similarities between them. However, there are some critical differences which make them look so different. A compass focuses toward the north post on Earth in light of the fact that our entire planet acts like a giant magnet; however, Mars does not act along these lines. Other than turning a compass needle, Earth’s attractive field dismisses hazardous radiations coming from the space. Without an attractive field on Mars and with a whole lot less air than on Earth, more unsafe space radiation reaches its surface, making the possibility of life thin. However, there have been instances of polar ice found of Mars suggesting that water and even early forms of, life could have existed on this red planet.

Some Popular Expeditions:

In 1976, NASA landed spacecraft named Viking 1 and Viking 2 on Mars. One of these landers worked there for almost 4 years and the other kept orbiting it for over 6 years. Among their logical tests were the main ones so far explicitly intended to find whether there was something little for instance small microscopic organisms living on Mars? Most researchers are of the view that the outcomes don’t lead to any indications of life. The shuttle had cameras that returned a large number of pictures of the surface, demonstrating the changing seasons and delicacies of the stones and earth close to the stationary landers. However, the cameras did not show any signs of life on the planet.

Did Life ever exist on Mars?

Regardless of whether there was no life on Mars, it is energizing to realize whether there used to be lives there. So notwithstanding searching for living microscopic organisms, space agencies will look for small fossils that may show life did begin on Mars at some of the time may be hundreds or thousands of years ago. Maybe sometime in future we may have expeditions where man lands on Mars just as we landed on the Moon one day. But for now, there remains no evidence to support that life does exist on Mars today.

Life on Mars has been an idea in people’s minds since we discovered how the planet looks. Compared to the other ones in our solar system Mars is a planet that is most similar to our homeland. One can argue that life on Mars is just a part of our imagination and something that will never be achieved, a hypothetical idea far from realization. But there are others who wholeheartedly believe that life on Mars is possible and, some argue, there was life on this planet before.

Is life on Mars possible?

To answer the question of whether or not life on Mars is possible we first need to look at all the prerequisites for life to exist. Some scientists have made a list of nineteen factors that need to be present on a planet for it to sustain life as it is encountered on planet Earth.

Even though Mars is bigger as a planet the Earth and it has soil on it unlike some of the other planets that are orbiting the Sun, many of the key factors for life are missing. Life on Mars is impossible without water to sustain the growth of plant life that we need to feed ourselves. The other big problem with life on Mars is the lack of an ozone layer and therefore of air.

The Findings:

Over the past decades, human explorations of space has made us question the possibility of life on Mars. Such questioning naturally led to missions of exploration and different national space agencies investigated the planet the best they could.

One such exploration of life on Mars sent a probe to the planet to collect a soil sample, this happened in 1976. The scientists were searching for any evidence of life like bacteria but they found nothing that would indicate the existence of a life form on this planet

Then in 1996, the question of the prior existence of life on Mars was asked once more when a meteorite from the planet fell to Earth. The sample collected showed fossilized bacteria and other simple life forms that existed on the planet. After several years of research, the majority of scientist found that the meteorite actually had no evidence in support of life on Mars, the claim was disputed but some researchers still maintain that the evidence is present in the findings.

The future of life on Mars is not as bleak as the idea that there was life on the planet earlier. Many people are creating hypothetical programs that would support life on Mars and there is a general idea present that humanity could colonize the planet successfully and turn it into their new home. What remains is a real investment in the projects that would experiment with life on Mars and this can only be achieved with state funding. In the end, the future of life on Mars depends on our attempt to settle on the planet and on the individuals willing to fulfill such a goal.

Life on Mars is not just a childish dream but a real project that has many people excited. The great thing about this idea is that it opens up a whole new field of inquiry and a search for solutions to very specific and one could say planetary problems. Such problems offer a wide range of opportunities for us to imagine new technologies and to invent new machines to use for space exploration. People are doing the best they can to explore the possibility of life on Mars and once more resources get pushed towards this exploration of the planet, we will see incredible results.

Mars is a planet just like earth due to its similarity in life sustaining properties. Although there has been no evidence of life on mars previously and so there is no cumulative evidence of life in Mars. Mars is adjacent to earth and has environmental components that are similar to those on earth. Scientists have speculated that Mars has a possibility of sustaining life just like earth and the components of life sustainability have been analyzed.

Is Mars habitable?

According to scientists, there is possibility of habitation in Mars. However, the environmental parameters could be insufficient but scientists have not made a conclusive report on them. The availability of water on Mars has been confirmed because liquid water was found on the surface. The environmental chemicals that have been established to be present are essential metals and nutrients. The source of energy would be solar energy and geochemical energy. Physical conditions like temperature, atmospheric pressure and climate changes were also determined to be able to sustain life. In the past, microbes were suspected to have existed on Mars. Up to date, evidence of life on Mars has not been established. Ionizing radiations are present and coexist with cosmic radiation in Mars. There is no magnetic shields on Mars due to the loss of the protective magnetosphere and atmosphere. This results in deleterious effects of radiations to living things.

Conditions that enable survival of living things range from the temperatures, radiations, humidity, atmospheric components and pressure. Life on mars has been made to appear impossible but there are some survival strategies with limited functions of reproduction, ability to thrive and evolution of living organisms.

Studies, experiments and missions to Mars:

There have been studies, missions and experiments that have been done to determine life on Mars. The first journey to Mars began in 1962with the launching of a spacecraft. The mission was called Mars 1. This space craft lost communication on the way to mars. Although communication was lost, there were few findings that were recorded. There were temperature abnormalities on the surface of Mars. And no signs of life on Mars were detected.

Mars 4 was another mission that was successful in 1965, results showed that there was no evidence of water in Mars through photographs which showed lack of water bodies like rivers and oceans. Findings showed that there was no magnetic field in the globe. The atmospheric pressure was also established to be too low compared to that of earth. After determination of these harsh conditions that are threatening to life of multicellular organisms, scientists started speculating for microbial life. Thereafter, Viking orbiters continued to look for evidence of life. The experiment were focused on soil to determine life on Mars for microbes but the results were inconclusive for existence of life.

Perchlorates have been determined to be present on Mars. It is very destructive compound that cannot sustain living things.

Reasons for human colonization of Mars:

All the studies, experiments and missions to Mars have been termed human colonization of the planet. The main reason for this colonization is economical interest. People want to be established economically hence the quest to find evidence of life on mars. Also, there is curiosity that drives scientists into finding more about evidence of life on Mars. The colonization process requires a lot of resources e.g., robots and technologies that are advanced and therefore there are attempts to develop these resources to enable research to be continued. Astronomic adventures and scientists are ambitious in the colonization of Mars.

In conclusion, no matter how similar mars is to earth, the possibility of human life sustenance is limited. Through experiments, the conditions of life sustenance are adverse and unable to promote survival. In as much as survival is limited, the presence of deleterious components are more pronounced in Mars than on earth. These deleterious components include harmful chemicals like perchlorate, heavy metals like lead, ionizing and cosmic radiations which contribute to impossible habitation of Mars by humans. However, life on Mars has not been determined to be completely impossible because a larger scope of research has not been done. Life on Mars is still inconclusive and research is ongoing. The absence of a protective magnosphere and atmosphere give poor prognosis with matters of life sustenance even with adjustments of other parameters. In as much as we desire life on a different planet, earth is still the best place to be. Earth provides and sustain living things comfortably.

As we all know, Mars is the fourth planet in distance in our solar system from of course the sun. It is the second least planet when the sizes of the planets are considered, only mercury is smaller than mars. Mars has some similarities to the earth where we human beings live. Most especially, there are similarities in our atmospheres. These similarities may be as a result of the proximity of the planet mars to our own earth. The planet mars is popularly called the red planet because of the abundance of iron oxide that is reddish in colour on the surface of the planet and this gives the planet a very reddish and distinctive appearance that separates it from the other planets and can be seen clearly; it is probably the most studied planet in our solar system. The continuous study of the planet mars has indicated that there is the probability that life exists on the planet and it can support life.

The Possibility and Probability of Life on Mars:

The very first evidence indicating life on Mars is dated back to the early 19 th century. Astronomers and scientists have since then been interested in mars and have been trying and striving to learn more about the red planet. There have been numerous operations of research over the years that were conducted to discover whether mars support life (if there is currently life on mars, if there ever was life on mars or if it can support life in the future). A lot of these researchers involved have claimed that our planet here is very much similar to mars when we put the atmospheres into consideration. It is important to note that the atmosphere of mars is very much colder than that of earth.

The environment and surroundings of mars is not believed to be fit and safe for human beings to live even though there is oxygen available and present in the atmosphere and all over mars. In the past, there used to signs of the presence of water in its liquid state on Mars, the only form of water we have on mars today are the ice caps that we have on the planet. As a result of this, the land of the planet mars is largely barren. Scientists and researchers recently sent a curiosity rover to the mars that has greatly helped in the exploration of the planet a lot further. The land dug by the rover on mars has led to the discovery that there are three very different types of molecules that are organic on mars and this point to the possibility that there might be the existence of some sort of life or living organism on mars.

Some facts about the planet mars and the earth:

It has been discovered that seasonal cycles and period of rotation of the planet earth is very similar to that of the planet earth. The Olympus Mon which is the volcano that is largest and also the mountain that is second highest in all of the big solar system. There are two moons on the planet mars and they are named: deimos and phobos both of which are irregularly shaped and very small.

Investigations on the habitability of mars:

Investigations are ongoing on the assessment of the habitability of the mars in the past and also the possibility and probability of life on mars. There are plans of missions of future astrobiology like Exomars and Mars 2020 rovers. Because of the extremely low and little atmospheric pressure of mars, the existence of liquid water is impossible on mar’s surface. The atmospheric pressure of the planet mars is almost lower than 1% of the atmospheric pressure of the earth.

The planet mars has two ice caps at the poles that seem to be formed majorly from water. It is believed that the quantity and volume of iced water that is in the ice cap of the south pole is more than enough to immerse the entire surface of the planet mars to about 11 meters in depth if it is melted. Around 2016, it was reported by NASA that they found a large quantity of ice underground in some of the regions on mars including Utopia Planitia. The volume and quantity of water that has been detected on mars is estimated to equal to the quantity and amount of water that we have in the Lake Superior.

It is very possible to see the planet mars from the earth even with naked eyes; it red colouring is very conspicuous from the earth. The apparent magnitude of the planet mars reaches about -2.94 and is only exceeded by the apparent magnitudes of the sun, the moon, Venus and Jupiter. Optical telescopes that are ground based are primarily limited to only resolving features that are about 190 miles or 300 kilometres across when Mars and Earth are very close due to the atmosphere of the earth.

Some physical characteristics of the planet mars:

The planet mars is almost half of the earth’s diameter and the surface area of the mars is only a little bit lesser in size than the earth’s total dry land area. The earth is also denser than the planet mars and the volume of the planet mars is only about 15% of the volume of earth and the mass of the planet mars is only about 11% of the mass of the planet earth. This means that the surface gravity of the planet mars is only about 38% of the surface gravity of the planet earth.

There is still no solid assurance or certainty that the mars will be able to safely and fully support life like the planet earth. It is a serious question that might take several years to answer; we do not know for sure if the planet mars will one day be fit and safe for inhabiting. A lot of various researches are currently ongoing to discover and work on life on mars.

Imaginative Essay , Life , Mars

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Wish you were here? A composite picture taken by the Curiosity rover’s Navcams in both morning and afternoon light, 16 November 2021. Photo by NASA

Thriving on Mars

Dust storms, long distances and freezing temperatures make living on mars magnificently challenging. how will we do it.

by Simon Morden   + BIO

Can humans live on Mars? The answer is startlingly simple. Can humans live in Antarctica, where the temperatures regularly fall below -50ºC (-60ºF) and it’s dark for six months of the year? Can humans live below the ocean, where pressure rapidly increases with depth to crushing levels? Can humans live in space, where there’s no air at all?

As the limits of our ingenuity, our materials science and our chemistry have grown, we’ve gone from being able to tolerate only a narrow band of conditions to expanding our presence to almost every part of the globe, and now beyond it. Even the most hostile environment we’ve ever faced – the vacuum of space – has had a continuous human population for more than two decades.

So why not Mars? If we can live in Antarctica, if we can live in space, then surely it’s simply a question of logistics. If we can put enough materiel on the surface of the Red Planet, then perhaps we can survive – and even thrive – there.

But that ‘if’ is doing an awful lot of work. When we went to the Moon, the astronauts had to carry everything for their visit in their tiny, fragile landers. The Apollo missions spent between just one and three days on the surface – and it took only three days to get to the Moon itself. When a Mars-bound astronaut will spend months in space just getting to the landing spot, spending just a couple of days on the planet isn’t going to satisfy. Any mission, even the initial one, will necessarily be planned to be months-long, and that increases the complexity of the logistics enormously.

M ars is a particularly difficult planet to land on . It’s too far away from Earth to control any descent remotely – on average, a radio signal takes 12 minutes to cover the distance – so everything has to be preprogrammed in. A single error in either the computer or in its inputs will result in a new and expensive crater, of which there’ve been many. And once the command for landing has been given, there’s nothing that anyone back in Mission Control can do to intervene – the length of time it takes between that order, and a safe landing , is known as the ‘seven minutes of terror’.

The tenuous Martian atmosphere also complicates landing. It’s thick enough that any deorbiting spacecraft requires a heatshield to prevent it from burning up, but even the latest generation of vast, supersonic-rated parachutes struggles to provide significant purchase on the tenuous air on the way down. What remains of the orbit velocity has to be accounted for, or our landers will break against the frozen Martian surface.

A vast silver rocket with everything the astronauts need for their months-long stay simply isn’t practical

Various methods have been used, but the most consistently successful has been the ‘sky crane’, a disposable frame fitted with retro-rockets that burn until it’s hovering a few yards above the surface. It then winches the lander down gently, disengages its connecting cables, and then flies a safe distance away before its propellent runs out.

As expected, these calculations are very finely judged. Every pound of lander – the batteries, the solar panels, the scientific experiments – needs several kilogrammes of fuel in the sky crane. And every kilogramme of fuel in the sky crane requires several more kilogrammes of fuel on the rocket that takes it to Mars orbit. We’d send bigger, better landers to Mars if we could – but rocketry is at the very limits of our capabilities, getting a rover the size of a subcompact down to the ground. This has huge implications for conducting a successful crewed mission to Mars.

While we might dream of a vast silver rocket slowly descending to the dusty red surface, containing everything that the astronauts need for their months-long stay, we have to realise that it simply isn’t practical. That rocket, and the even-larger spaceship required to get it there, is beyond our projected launch capabilities for decades, if not centuries, to come. Planning for a successful Mars mission – for a permanent presence on Mars – requires us to work smarter , and use every advantage that we can. That includes those we can find on Mars itself.

M ars is a planet full of useful resources, and specific dangers. On the plus side, if we pick our landing site sensibly, we don’t need to take water. Water is heavy, and there’s nothing we can do to make it lighter. It takes up space, and there’s nothing we can do to make it smaller. And, even with the very best recycling facilities, the astronauts will still require a certain amount of spare water. Yet on Mars, there are many places where water, in the form of ice, is just part of the soil. Stick a shovel in the ground, and half of what gets picked up is water ice. And we can use that water for all sorts of things, not just drinking. We can use it for chemistry.

We can split it using electrolysis into its component gases. We can breathe the oxygen – which saves us from having to take tanked air. And if we recombine it with the hydrogen, we have an explosive mixture we might use as a rudimentary rocket fuel. If we go one stage further, we can scavenge the carbon from Mars’s carbon dioxide atmosphere and synthesise hydrocarbons for a better burn.

That carbon dioxide is also vital for plant growth. Add water, and a growing medium, and suddenly supplementing our freeze-dried packets of food becomes not just a possibility, but a mission goal. Humans consume a lot of calories, but we also eat with our eyes. A side salad isn’t just nutrition, but a morale booster.

Then there’s the stuff of Mars itself. We can use that as a construction material: make bricks from it, or simply heap it up and over our existing structures. And we really need to do that because life on the Martian surface isn’t straightforward.

The red dust has become a nanoparticle and is a major hazard, both to us and to our machines

Most immediately, there’s the temperature. Mars is an average of 80 million kilometres (50 million miles) further from the Sun, and its atmosphere is too thin to buffer the extremes of daily variations. Daytime temperatures in high summer can reach a balmy 21ºC (70ºF), but that same day, just before dawn, will have recorded -90ºC (-130ºF). Temperatures can fall as far as to freeze carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere. The extra insulation provided by several feet of Martian soil is going to be a welcome bonus.

Moreover, it’ll help with a long-term threat: radiation. The Sun spits out charged particles all the time, as well as high-energy light in the form of gamma and X-rays. On Earth, and to a lesser extent, on the Moon, we’re protected by Earth’s large magnetic field, which extends out into space and deflects the solar wind around us. Mars has no such magnetic field, and while conditions at the surface aren’t acutely life-threatening, every day that astronauts spend on the surface of Mars, they are accumulating radiation damage 10 to 20 times faster than they would on Earth – not counting the occasional solar flare that squeezes a decade’s worth of exposure into a single event.

Burying the astronauts’ base beneath the ground is one relatively easy solution to this radiation problem. So is building it inside a cave – volcanic areas of Mars are the sites of lava tubes that now form huge tunnels, with access through partial roof collapses.

The soil itself is toxic, rich with perchlorates. While these are a potential source of oxygen, perchlorates are water-soluble: contaminated soil cannot be used as a growing medium.

Then there is the dust. The red dust has been formed by hundreds of millions of years of continuous grinding of volcanic ash, becoming so fine that even the weak Martian winds can carry and keep it aloft for weeks at a time. The dust has become a nanoparticle – averaging 3μm (one 10,000th of an inch) – and is a major hazard, both to us and to our machines. It would be all but impossible to exclude the dust from living spaces: astronauts would carry it in from trips outside, even with assiduous measures – washing, hoovering, anti-static screens and air filtration – it would become part of the air they breathed and the food they ate. As well as the perchlorates previously mentioned, there’s other cancer-causing compounds, and the damage that fine-grained rock powder can cause specifically to lungs and eyes.

We’ve already lost one rover to the dust, which coated its solar panels. The more complex the machinery we take, the more certain we have to be of our seals and surfaces. Maintenance, together with the spare parts to back up that regime, would have to be strictly observed.

S o how might we do this? We have parameters set by the number of crew we send, how long they plan to initially stay for, and what they intend to do when they get there. We have to plan to shelter, water and feed them, and then bring them home – and, if we’re intending anything other than a one-time visit, we need to keep our eye on the long game: what kind of infrastructure can we build that will be useful into the future?

Breaking down the problem into manageable bites is by far the most feasible way. What we learn from such incremental efforts – and what we have already learned – can be used to guide us as we work our way through the various elements that we need to execute a successful, and sustainable, Mars mission.

We must prioritise a safe landing without encumbering the descent with the weight of food, fuel, air and water

The first stage would be to increase our capabilities in low Earth orbit. A multi-month journey to Mars will require the largest spaceship we’ve ever built, and almost certainly something that can’t be lofted in a single launch. It’ll need to be constructed in space, using methods similar to the International Space Station. Fuel, together with everything needed to maintain life for the long journey, will need to be shipped from Earth – twice over, as it’ll be coming back. The descent craft will be a separate part of the ship, while the main portion stays in Mars orbit.

The second stage would be to send supplies ahead to the designated landing area. If we can, we should send robotic, self-erecting modules. This would ensure that there would be somewhere safe for the newly arrived astronauts to go, and enable us to prioritise a safe landing without encumbering the descent phase with the additional weight of food, fuel, air and water. And, this way, we wouldn’t have to commit astronauts to the long and arduous journey to Mars until we know there’s enough equipment in place to sustain them. If one rocket went astray – more than one is statistically likely to be lost – we’d simply send another.

One of the pieces of kit we’d send ahead would be an ascent module, an empty ship capable not just of landing on Mars, but also refuelling itself from the Martian atmosphere, ready for a return to the transfer ship in orbit.

T o be clear, none of this is risk-free. Famously, an alternative speech was delivered in 1969 to the US president Richard Nixon in advance of Apollo 11’s landing, covering the scenario for failure. While our careful preparation has made success more likely, there are still situations that would be all but impossible to recover from. The main cause of this is how long it would take us to react to the unforeseen.

Supply chains are one of the most underestimated and misunderstood factors underpinning a modern economy. We are very used to being able to order anything, from anywhere, and it being available in a matter of days, if not hours. Manufacturers run just-in-time stocks from their suppliers, and retailers promise almost immediate delivery. Behind those storefronts lies a fantastically complex web of communications, transport, inventory control and personnel. We notice it only when it fails.

Almost everywhere on Earth is connected. Vital medicines, microchips, engine parts, even live organs for donation, are moved seamlessly between countries and continents. But there are places where this isn’t true, and they give us a first insight as to what challenges any Martian colonist might face.

Antarctica, despite our technology, remains one of the most isolated and inhospitable places on the planet. Almost everything that is needed – barring air, and water – has to be shipped or flown in, over vast distances and not without risk. Heavy seas, thick ice, a storm, an extra-cold snap: all see food and fuel stuck on a dock or on a runway. Antarctic bases don’t run a just-in-time supply chain, because when that supply chain is inevitably interrupted, people might die. Planning for those interruptions means having to take, and store, far more than is normally needed. Those of us who aren’t preppers will baulk at the amount of groceries required to keep a single person fed for a couple of months: the wintertime population of the Amundsen-Scott base, right on the South Pole, is 50.

Food, of course, can always be rationed. Heating can be reduced to one or two heavily insulated modules. There are back-up generators, and a doctor on site, and a modern, satellite-connected communications suite. Scientists are supported by a whole team of electricians, plumbers and technicians, working around the clock to maintain the infrastructure of the base, catching problems before they become critical and providing workaround solutions through their expertise.

The risk of death – by starvation, cold, asphyxiation, accident, illness, disease – has to be accepted

None of which has stopped problems occurring. Notably, if the base doctor falls ill and requires surgery, as has happened twice, the doctor ends up operating on themselves. In both cases, medical evacuation was impossible due to poor weather conditions and the distances involved. Some permanent bases still insist that personnel have their appendix removed before arrival.

Now, imagine that happening on Mars. A fully functioning base, sited in the most favourable position, and enjoying a multiply redundant infrastructure maintained by shifts of highly motivated and trained engineers, is still in a far, far more precarious position than any Antarctic base is today. A mercy dash to air-drop urgent medical supplies in Antarctica from the South Island of New Zealand is difficult but possible: the travel time, once everything is in place, is a matter of hours. Meanwhile, if the launch window is being kind, Earth to Mars is nine months. New generations of space drives will inevitably reduce that, but nothing can be done to erase the vast distances between the two planets. At best, 56 million kilometres ( c 35 million miles). At worst, when Earth is one side of the Sun, and Mars the other, 400 million kilometres ( c 250 million miles).

Without a doubt, it would be the longest supply chain in history, at the end of which is the harshest environment we have ever encountered. Even in the Age of Sail, the journey from England to Australia was faster.

If you’re the doctor on the first Mars mission, you have to decide not what drugs and bandages and surgical equipment you’re taking, but what you’re not taking. What can you do without? Both space and weight are limited. If you’re the engineer: how are you going to choose between this critical spare part and that critical spare part? Of course, you could ask the mission planners to send one – or two – of everything. But, given all that’s gone before, how feasible is that? At some point, enough will be too much. The risk of death – by starvation, by cold, by asphyxiation, by accident, by illness, by disease – has to be accepted.

As with all pioneers, the heaviest burden will fall on those who go first. They will be the most uncomfortable, the most precarious, the most vulnerable. Those who follow afterwards will have it, if not easy, certainly easier. The infrastructure of the initial base is designed to be expanded, as long as Earth holds faith with the project. For it’s certain that Mars will be utterly dependent on Earth for decades. How, though, would a Mars colony grow towards independence? Can we see that far ahead?

Manufacturing is a key technology here: not just the usual but vital supply of spare parts, but also the chemicals required for life. Specially tailored medicines, dietary supplements and plant nutrients will provide a measure of security for colonists; 3D printers with a vast library of models can start to deal with the physical, while the biological components can be conjured by automated synthesis machines.

Another cornerstone of a more independent Mars would be the colonists themselves – and specifically their education. Necessity is often the mother of invention, but Mars would be a very harsh taskmaster. A Martian colonist would need to devote a significant portion of their time to learning. The level of technology required to sustain a working colony would be high, and the number of personnel limited by available food and air. With everyone an expert in two or three separate areas of knowledge, a tragic accident to one need not turn into a crisis for all.

The highly precarious nature of life on Mars will inevitably lead to new social mores and codes of behaviour. Far from being rugged individualists, Martians will rely on each other for their very lives in a highly interdependent way – and they’ll reflect that, both in their relationships and their laws.

Just how divergent colonists become from the mother planet remains to be seen. But an independent Mars wouldn’t be a carbon-copy of any Earth society. It would be startlingly, and profoundly, alien.

The Red Planet: A Natural History of Mars (2022) by Simon Morden is published by Pegasus Books.

Illness and disease

Getting past ‘it’s IBS’

While science illuminates the gut-brain relationship, doctors remain ignorant and dismissive of patients with gut problems

Ecology and environmental sciences

To take care of the Earth, humans must recognise that we are both a part of the animal kingdom and its dominant power

Hugh Desmond

Quantum theory

Quantum dialectics

When quantum mechanics posed a threat to the Marxist doctrine of materialism, communist physicists sought to reconcile the two

Jim Baggott

Building embryos

For 3,000 years, humans have struggled to understand the embryo. Now there is a revolution underway

John Wallingford

Last hours of an organ donor

In the liminal time when the brain is dead but organs are kept alive, there is an urgent tenderness to medical care

Ronald W Dworkin

The environment

We need to find a way for human societies to prosper while the planet heals. So far we can’t even think clearly about it

Ville Lähde

Astronomy Issues: Life on Mars Research Paper

• To find inspiration for your paper and overcome writer’s block
• As a source of information (ensure proper referencing)
• As a template for you assignment

Introduction

The surface of mars, the atmosphere, controversial issues about mars, the idea of transforming mars, the idea of preserving the planet, summary and conclusion.

Mars is a planet that is similar and closer to earth than other planets. The planet has soil and rocks on its surface, and it has some gases in the atmosphere. Earlier researches indicated that there was a possibility of having some water, which is an essential aspect of life. According to astronomical researches, Mars has a cold climate, and the length of days and nights in Mars have a pattern similar to the one on Earth.

Moreover, since the axial tilt of Mars is similar to Earth’s axial tilt, the two planets experience the same seasons. The mentioned findings cause much anxiety as scientists suspect that the planet may support life.

If the assumptions are true, it would be necessary to find out if there was some ancient life on Mars and the possibility of having life on Mars. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration agency (NASA) has done several aerospace types of research to find out if indeed the planet can support life. This paper will take a stringent analysis of the research findings to determine the possibility of life on Mars.

In 1864, some curious astronomers gazed at Mars through telescopes, and they perceived the surface of Mars to have some vegetation. However, a spacecraft was able to arrive on Mars a hundred years later, and interestingly, there was no vegetation on Mars. The land was bare, and there was no evidence of water or life. Since then, several robotic spacecraft have arrived on the planet, but none has proved that Mars has a sign of life.

The most interesting thing to note is the earth’s magnetic field that turns away dangerous radiation particles in the space. Mars has no magnetic field to turn away the dangerous radiations; therefore, the planet is hostile to any form of life (Space Place, 2014, para. 5). The magnetic shield protects the atmosphere from losing moisture; therefore, lack of it makes the planes susceptible to losing its atmospheric moisture to the solar wind.

Mars has less air than the earth does, and there is no evidence of water on the planet. In case there was water on the planet, it must have been too saline to support life. The scientific experiments facilitated by robotic spacecraft that arrived in Mars never revealed any sign of living microorganisms in the soil.

Indeed, the absence of living microorganisms in the soil is a clear indication of the absence of water on the red planet. NASA has also employed efforts to find out whether the soil particles might contain tiny fossils that would be a sign of ancient life on Mars. So far, the aerospace research reports have not found any feasible results indicating the presence of life in the cold desert.

The Red Planet’s surface temperatures lie between -143oc and +27oc, and indeed, these temperatures are considerably low. The most controversial fact about Mars is the thin atmospheric pressure that is about 1% of that on earth (Turner, 2004, p. 306).

The air is dry with no liquid water, and the ultraviolet radiations in the atmosphere cannot support life in any way. It is noteworthy that Mars’ polar caps have frozen carbon dioxide, which would thicken the atmosphere if released into the air through warming.

Interestingly, there is no rain on Mars, and the planet obtains less sunshine than the Earth due to its long distance from the sun. Although carbon dioxide that is necessary for photosynthesis is plenty on the Red Planet, it is almost impossible for the planet to support plant life because of the lack of light energy (Hunter, 2013, p. 22). In the absence of the plants, herbivorous cannot survive, and consequently, the carnivorous cannot survive on the Red Planet.

No one can tell the truth about the images that show large river channel networks on the Red Planet. Explorers are wondering if the layered sediments may imply that Mars had some flowing rivers in the past. There are assumptions that Mars was a warm and wet place, but for unknown reasons, everything dried up.

It is noteworthy that air and water are the most important aspects of life; interestingly, Mars cannot support liquid water because of its low temperatures. Secondly, the atmospheric pressure on Mars cannot allow the exchange of gases. While animals need high atmospheric pressure with plenty of oxygen, the plants need small amounts of oxygen, and the two living things exchange gases for survival.

Some researches indicated that there were some traces of methane gas in the atmosphere, and thus it is impossible for the planet to support life (“Life of Mars,” 2013, p. 2). Nitrogen is another very important element of life, but the nitrogen levels in the atmosphere are considerably lower on the Red Planet.

Moreover, no biological process supports nitrogen fixation into the atmosphere. Thus the planet cannot support life. However, scientists believe that initially, the planet had a thick atmosphere, and people can do something to make the place habitable.

Indeed, scientists are seriously considering the idea of transforming Mars into a habitable planet. The first thing that came up was heating the polar caps to release the carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The approach would help in thickening and warming the atmosphere, which would support liquid water that is essential for life. The considerably low temperatures would increase to manageable levels that can support life.

Scientist thought of mirrors that would reflect extra light onto the poles and warm it up. They also thought of the black color that absorbs heat, and they had the idea of sprinkling dark dust onto the poles of the Red Planet.

The most promising idea was introducing greenhouse gases into the atmosphere to warm up the planet (Marinova, 2008, para. 7). Indeed, the latter idea would be the most viable provided the scientists used greenhouse gases with long atmospheric lifetimes. This would ensure that the entire exercise would have minimal effects on the ozone layer of the planet.

Later on, researchers found out that the best greenhouse gas that can warm up the planet is perfluoropropane. This hybrid gas is a combination of all gases released by industries in the entire globe, and the gas is not portable. Therefore, the idea of introducing greenhouse gases into the red planet’s atmosphere would hold if industries were set up on Mars.

The issue was politicized, and the opposing group could not find it worthwhile to introduce the greenhouse gases that have already proved to have negative effects on the climate on Earth.

On the other hand, the scientists, who were for the idea indicated that planet Earth has an evolved ecosystem, explored the existence of various life forms; however, there is no ecosystem in Mars. Although there may be some organisms living underground, they cannot prevent explorers and scientists from undertaking their experiments.

Although some scientists are strongly proposing that they should try to establish ways through which Mars can support life, others are arguing that it is unreasonable to tamper with natural creation. Some people feel that Mars is a beautiful planet that ought to be preserved for future generations.

This is because if scientists manage to heat Mars, they may find it difficult to introduce oxygen into the atmosphere of the planet. People will have to wear oxygen masks and struggle to survive in the high-pressure atmosphere. Indeed, Earth is unique because of its ability to support life, and therefore, trying to transform Mars may sound to be theoretically feasible, but it is practically impossible.

From the discussions, it is evident that scientists are desperately looking for ways to enable Mars to support life. They are curious about finding any evidence about the ancient existence of life on the Red Planet. The scientists are not ready to quit, and they are keeping on with the search for complex organics that support life.

Although some scientists said that they had found a habitable environment on Mars, they have not shed enough light of the habitable environment on the Red Planet. Currently, there is no life on Mars, as the planet is much drier and colder than it was in the ancient days.

The scientists are continuing with their research of the ways of transforming Mars into a habitable place. It is about 50 years since the first aircraft was able to reach Mars and scientists have not yet found a viable solution. The research is ongoing, and it may take quite some time before the scientists find a way of establishing life on Mars.

Hunter, M. G. (2013). Life on Mars 3: More study of NASA’s Mars photos. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris Corporation.

Life on Mars fades after curiosity rover methane findings. (2013). The Australian , 35 (9), 1-2.

Marinova, M. (2008). Life on Mars: Terraforming the Red Planet . Web.

Space Place: Is there life on Mars? (2014). Web.

Turner, M. J. (2004). Expedition Mars . New York, NY: Springer.

• Mars: Water and the Martian Landscape
• Astronomy of the Planets: Kepler's Law, Lunar Eclipse, Moon
• Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• The Usefulness of Earth Observation Satellites
• NASA's Lunar Surveyor Program
• Cost for Failed Systems: NASA Program
• Life outside planet Earth
• Life in This Universe
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, February 19). Astronomy Issues: Life on Mars. https://ivypanda.com/essays/astronomy-issues-life-on-mars/

"Astronomy Issues: Life on Mars." IvyPanda , 19 Feb. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/astronomy-issues-life-on-mars/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Astronomy Issues: Life on Mars'. 19 February.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Astronomy Issues: Life on Mars." February 19, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/astronomy-issues-life-on-mars/.

1. IvyPanda . "Astronomy Issues: Life on Mars." February 19, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/astronomy-issues-life-on-mars/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Astronomy Issues: Life on Mars." February 19, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/astronomy-issues-life-on-mars/.

The search for life on Mars is now stronger than it’s ever been

Many people might think the search for life on Mars ended when NASA's first rovers revealed its barren, inhospitable surface .

However, scientists at the University of Minnesota continue to explore the possibility of life on Mars by expanding their understanding of the extreme conditions that can support life on Earth.

They are rethinking what extraterrestrial life might look like, keeping the search for Martian life very much alive.

Perchlorate salts, brines, and life on Mars

Perchlorate salts are compounds that contain the perchlorate anion (ClO4-), which is a stable oxyanion of chlorine in its highest oxidation state (+7).

Due to their oxidizing properties and high oxygen content, they are often used as oxidizers in rocket propellants, fireworks, and explosives.

In recent years, NASA missions have discovered abundant perchlorate salts on Mars' surface . These salts can absorb atmospheric water, forming concentrated solutions known as brines.

Perchlorate brines are highly concentrated aqueous solutions that contain dissolved perchlorate salts. These brines often form naturally in arid and semi-arid regions, such as the Atacama Desert in Chile and parts of the southwestern United States.

The perchlorate salts in these brines primarily originate from the atmospheric deposition of perchlorate, which is thought to be produced by photochemical reactions involving chlorine species in the upper atmosphere.

Since liquid water is essential for life, NASA's strategy to search for life on Mars is to " follow the water ." As a result, perchlorate brines have become a significant focus of research.

Understanding the formation and behavior of perchlorate brines on Earth can provide valuable insights into the potential habitability of Mars and other planetary environments.

Mars' geochemical environment

New research published in Nature Communications by investigators at the University of Minnesota College of Biological Sciences examines how Mars' unique geochemical environment could have shaped life, past or present.

Led by Assistant Professor Aaron Engelhart, the team studied two types of ribonucleic acids (RNAs) and protein enzymes from Earth to determine their functionality in perchlorate brines.

RNA and protein enzymes

The research revealed several key findings:

• All the RNAs worked surprisingly well in perchlorate brines.
• Protein enzymes did not function as effectively as RNAs in these brines. Only proteins evolved in Earth's extreme environments, such as those living at high temperatures or in high salt, could function.
• In perchlorate brines, RNA enzymes performed unique actions, like generating new molecules that incorporate chlorine atoms, a reaction previously unobserved by scientists.

"Taken together, these results show that RNA is uniquely well-suited to the very salty environments found on Mars, and could be found on other bodies in space," said Engelhart. "This extreme salt tolerance could influence how life may have formed on Mars in the past or how it is forming in the conditions on Mars today."

The team is continuing to explore the chlorination chemistry they discovered and other reactions that RNA can perform in high-salt conditions.

Their ongoing research aims to further understand the potential for life in extreme environments, both on Mars and other planetary bodies.

Life on Mars and the future of astrobiology

The study's implications extend beyond finding possibilities of life on Mars. The findings contribute to the broader field of astrobiology by demonstrating how life might adapt to extreme conditions on other planetary bodies.

This knowledge is crucial as scientists prepare for missions to other moons and planets in our solar system, such as Europa , Enceladus , and Titan .

By exploring the limits of life on Earth and beyond, researchers are laying the groundwork for future discoveries that could answer one of humanity's most profound questions: Are we alone in the universe?

In summary, the ongoing research into Martian brines and their potential to support life represents a significant step forward in our quest to understand the possibilities of life beyond Earth.

As scientists continue to uncover the secrets of Mars' geochemical environment, the dream of discovering extraterrestrial life comes closer to reality.

The full study was published in the journal Nature Communications .

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Life on Mars? This Could Be the Place NASA’s Rover Helps Us Find It.

Rocks collected by Perseverance are filled with organic molecules, and they formed in a lake that would have been habitable a few billion years ago.

By Kenneth Chang

Exploring an ancient river delta in a crater on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover has collected samples of two rocks that are chock-full of carbon-based molecules that could be remnants of ancient life.

The rocks formed several billion years ago when the crater was a lake, an environment where life could have existed.

“I think it’s safe to say that these are two of the most important samples that we’ll collect on this mission,” David L. Shuster, a professor of earth and planetary science at the University of California, Berkeley, who is working on the mission, said during a news conference on Thursday.

Mission scientists were careful to add that they could not say whether these molecules are actually bits of dead microbial Martians, describing them as “potential biosignatures.”

Kenneth A. Farley, a professor of geochemistry at the California Institute of Technology who serves as the project scientist for the Perseverance mission, said the carbon molecules, even though described as organic, could have also formed in chemical reactions that did not involve life.

“A key point about a potential biosignature is it compels further investigation to draw a conclusion,” he said. “We don’t yet know the significance of these findings. These rocks are exactly the kind of rocks we came to investigate.”

The sophisticated but limited scientific instruments on Perseverance are unlikely to provide definitive, convincing answers. “The burden of proof for establishing life on another planet is very, very high,” Dr. Farley said. “And it seems unlikely to most of us that the evidence will be so compelling that we will be able to do that.”

That is why the rover is drilling samples of intriguing rocks that eventually will be brought back to Earth , where scientists will be able to use state-of-the-art techniques.

NASA and the European Space Agency are collaborating on a follow-up robotic mission known as Mars sample return to pick up Perseverance’s rock samples. That mission is scheduled to launch in 2028 with the Martian rocks landing on Earth in 2033.

Scientists have long been fascinated by the possibility of life on Mars. The first spacecraft to set down on and study the red planet, NASA’s two Viking landers in 1976, observed a world that is now cold, dry and seemingly lifeless. But in the past quarter century, planetary scientists have come to believe Mars was once warmer and much wetter — a place that could have been home to life.

Although some scientists think life could persist on Mars today, perhaps underground where it could be shielded from the bombardment of radiation from space, the Perseverance mission was designed to look into the ancient past for signs of possible long-dead Martian microbes, chemical signatures that are similar to those that point to the earliest life on Earth.

After arriving on Mars in February 2021, Perseverance spent a year exploring the floor of Jezero, the 30-mile-wide crater where it landed. Then it made a sprint to the western rim of the crater, toward what led planetary scientists to choose Jezero as the landing site : a dried-up river delta.

If life ever arose on early Mars, more than 3.5 billion years ago, a river delta was an ideal geological environment to preserve traces of the organisms — the potential biosignatures.

“This specific area has probably the highest scientific value for exploration of the entire mission,” Dr. Farley said. “This is the place where we have the best chance to explore these ancient sedimentary rocks deposited in the lake.”

The rover is able to drive up along various exposed layers of the sedimentary rock. Of particular interest are two rocks that the scientists named Skinner Ridge and Wildcat Ridge.

The Skinner Ridge rock is a sandstone containing a mixture of rocky material that might have been washed into Jezero crater from 100 miles or more away.

“That’s important because this is giving us material from a very far distance that the rover will not visit in this mission,” said Dr. Shuster, the scientist overseeing the collection of samples.

Wildcat Ridge, while near Skinner Ridge, is different — a fine-grained mudstone containing sulfate minerals and clays. The rock, about three feet wide, appears to have formed in salty water as the lake was evaporating.

On Earth, those are conditions favorable to retaining signs of past life.

Perseverance had earlier found organic molecules — those with carbon and hydrogen atoms bonded together — in rocks on the crater floor of Jezero. But scientists were pretty sure those molecules had formed through non-biological processes.

The organics in the river delta rocks have the potential to tell a different story.

As Perseverance approached the river delta, the signal of organic molecules grew stronger, said Sunanda Sharma, a scientist working with an instrument on the rover that performs chemical analysis of the rock.

At Wildcat Ridge, “These signals were present at nearly every single point in every scan,” Dr. Sharma said. “They are also some of the brightest that we’ve seen thus far on the mission.”

Dr. Sharma said the data indicates the presence of ring-shaped carbon molecules known as aromatics, which the instrument is more sensitive at detecting. More complex organic molecules like proteins or amino acids would provide more compelling evidence of life, but that would have to await analysis after the sample is returned to Earth.

The overlapping of sulfates and organics in the rock is also intriguing. “On Earth, sulfate deposits are known to preserve organics and often harbor signs of life,” she said.

Dr. Shuster said that for places on Earth that would have been similar to Jezero back then, “I think it’s safe to say, or at least assume, that biology would have done its thing and left its mark in these rocks.”

He added: “That’s really why we’re so excited to be able to address these questions upon returning these samples to laboratories here on Earth. We have all of the right ingredients here.”

The scientists, however, will not predict what they will find.

“Let’s just say we are not going to bet,” Dr. Farley said.

Kenneth Chang has been at The Times since 2000, writing about physics, geology, chemistry, and the planets. Before becoming a science writer, he was a graduate student whose research involved the control of chaos. More about Kenneth Chang

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Why the US can't send humans to Mars

• Humans have long imagined life on Mars , though our understanding of the planet has changed a lot.
• Some of the US's earliest plans assumed humans could reach the Red Planet by the 1980s.
• Over the decades, technology and funding challenges have hampered the nation's hopes of crewed flights.

Earlier this month, NASA announced it was funding a revolutionary high-thrust rocket — called a Pulsed Plasma Rocket — that could make crewed missions to Mars in just two months.

That's seven months faster than it'd take with current technology, and it would drastically reduce the risk and cost of a crewed Mars mission, according to Howe Industries, which is developing the concept. It "holds the potential to revolutionize space exploration," NASA said in a statement.

The PPR is just one of the latest developments in the US's decadeslong discussion to send humans to Mars . In the early '60s, for example, nuclear-bomb-powered spaceships were proposed for the trip.

Since well before NASA landed the first humans on the moon, the US has poured money and time into proposals for a crewed Mars mission , only to see its attempts never leave the ground. But technology isn't the only thing standing in the way. Politics also plays a big role .

"That's kind of like a joke within the space community or the Mars community," Matthew Shindell, a curator with the National Air and Space Museum, told Business Insider. "Putting humans on Mars is always 20 years away."

He said it was short enough to seem tangible but long enough that the political situation would change before it could be realized.

To fully understand why the US hasn't sent humans to Mars despite sending more robots there than any other country, it just takes a trip down memory lane. Here's a history of the US's most promising crewed Martian missions that never were.

1950s: The Mars Project

In the '40s and '50s, no one really knew what they might find on Mars, but they knew getting there would be tricky. One of the first to seriously tackle the problem was Wernher von Braun.

During World War II , von Braun was a member of the Nazi party and created V-2 missiles . After the war, he continued his work on missiles with the US Army as part of Operation Paperclip while also working on a novel called "The Mars Project." In it, he laid out the first detailed plan to send humans to the Red Planet.

He envisioned a 260-day mission that would launch in 1985 with 10 spaceships and 70 crew members. "He sat down and did the math and created a whole story around it," Shindell said.

In the late '50s, von Braun consulted on NASA's very first 10-year plan, which included sending the first probes to Mars. (Sending humans to Mars would come later.) What started as fiction got closer to reality when von Braun started working at NASA a couple of years later.

1960s: Mars by 1965

In the late 1950s, Theodore Taylor, who worked on nuclear weapons at Los Alamos , and the theoretical physicist Freeman Dyson embarked on an ambitious plan to build a nuclear-explosion-powered spaceship.

Named Project Orion, the resulting ship would take 12 years to develop, cost $100 million a year, and comfortably hold 150 people. Their motto was "Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970." But NASA was concerned about what would happen if any of the hundreds of bombs required to fuel the rocket exploded.

By 1963, the team was having trouble getting increased funding. That same year, the Limited Test Ban Treaty was signed, hampering the team's ability to test its vehicle.

The project was canceled a year later.

1965: Mars' first close-up

Though NASA was feverishly working toward the moon in the '60s, it didn't fully abandon its plans for Mars.

In 1962, the German rocket scientist Ernst Stuhlinger was working at NASA on a project to get five crewed ships to the Red Planet by the early 1980s.

Stuhlinger's planned ships were huge, almost 500 feet long. For comparison, NASA's Space Shuttles are under 200 feet. But as NASA raced to land the first humans on the moon, it shifted focus to smaller, lighter spacecraft. This helped speed things along toward the moon, but it was a step back for Mars.

This pivot "reduced Apollo's utility as a technological stepping stone to Mars," David S. F. Portree wrote in "Humans to Mars: Fifty Years of Mission Planning, 1950-2000."

In the meantime, NASA knew it needed more information about Mars before it landed humans there. So, in 1964, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory launched the very first probe to fly by Mars: Mariner 4 .

The images the probe transmitted to Earth were fuzzy and showed a desolate, barren planet. But they were the first close-up images of Mars's surface that anyone on Earth had seen.

1970s: The post-Apollo plans

NASA had just landed the first people on the moon in 1969 as part of its Apollo Program and was ready for the next big step. That same year, a Space Task Group appointed by President Richard Nixon issued a report that supported human flights to Mars in 1982.

But Nixon ignored most of the 1969 report's suggestions in favor of what would become the Space Shuttle program , which didn't involve going to Mars. It was a turning point for NASA.

During the height of the Apollo era, NASA didn't have to compete for funding, Shindell said. Now, Nixon's administration started cutting its budget.

This was during the Vietnam War , and many Americans wanted the government to focus on poverty, the environment, and other domestic issues.

"If you're a proponent of human Mars exploration, this is the problem you've faced ever since the 1970s," Shindell said. Sending humans to the moon was already incredibly expensive, and it's a lot closer than Mars.

1980s: Sally Ride's report

In 1985, President Ronald Reagan appointed the National Commission on Space to envision the next 50 years of space travel, which involved the possibility of piloted vehicles to Mars.

But then NASA's Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. The disaster affected how the agency thought about human space travel as a whole.

"In general, there was a great deal of soul-searching within NASA about the use of expensive and risky human-rated launch vehicles like the shuttle," William Sheehan and Jim Bell wrote in "Discovering Mars: A History of Observation and Exploration of the Red Planet."

Just a year later, though, NASA's administrator tasked the astronaut Sally Ride with laying out the agency's future space explorations. In her report, she explained what it would take for the US to land an astronaut on Mars by 2005.

To meet that timeline, NASA would need to triple its current budget in the next decade. That didn't happen.

1989: 20 years to Mars

By 1989, a crewed mission to Mars seemed back on the table, according to a speech by the newly elected president, George H.W. Bush.

" Why Mars?" he asked. "Because it is humanity's destiny to strive, to seek, to find. And because it is America's destiny to lead."

NASA's response was the Space Exploration Initiative, an analysis of Bush's space-exploration goals, which would cost an estimated $400 billion to $500 billion.

At that point, Mars was still a long way off. The missions weren't expected to begin until after 2010.

But Sheehan and Bell said a lack of congressional funding and political support led to the demise of Bush's Martian mission a few years later in 1993.

1990s: "Better, faster, cheaper"

By the 1990s, Mars enthusiasts were dreaming of getting humans there by the end of the millennium. The aerospace engineer Robert Zubrin formed the Mars Society, an advocacy group pushing for the planet's exploration and eventually establishing a human settlement there.

NASA was meanwhile trying to figure out how to study Mars after losing contact with the robotic probe Mars Observer in 1993. With so much still unknown about the planet, uncrewed missions continued to be the focus.

The agency's new administrator, Daniel Goldin, was pursuing a new mantra for the robotic missions: "better, faster, cheaper."

This decade saw success with the uncrewed Pathfinder and Mars Global Surveyor missions. Pathfinder delivered Sojourner, the first operational Mars rover, while MGS sent back incredible images and data from the planet .

Just a couple of years later, though, NASA lost two more uncrewed spacecraft, the Mars Polar Lander and the Mars Climate Orbiter.

2000s: But first, the moon

Despite the setbacks of the Polar Lander and MCO, NASA again had success in 2004 with rovers Spirit and Opportunity .

Though NASA had recently suffered another tragedy with the loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and its crew in 2003, the agency's rovers seemed to reignite some of the desire for human missions to Mars.

In 2004, 15 years after his father's space speech, President George W. Bush announced what would become the Constellation Program. The ultimate goal was to put people on Mars, though there was no exact date given for this part of the plan.

A large part of Bush's vision involved returning to the moon before heading to the Red Planet. In 2010, President Barack Obama canceled Constellation but set a timeline of getting astronauts to Mars by the 2030s.

2010s: Mars goes commercial

In the 2010s, private space companies — such as SpaceX — started planning projects to get crews to Mars.

SpaceX's founder, Elon Musk, said in 2016 that he'd get people there in less than a decade . He later revised the date to 2029 with robust colonization by 2050.

So far, SpaceX hasn't sent anything to Mars.

President Donald Trump meanwhile reversed the Obama administration's space-exploration plans. NASA was again planning for a moon-first agenda .

Established in 2017 under the Trump Administration, NASA's Artemis Program is its latest and current mission for crewed deep-space exploration. It aims to return humans to the moon and create a lunar space station where astronauts can live for weeks or months at a time.

But this moon-first agenda doesn't completely rule out Mars. Dayna Ise, who leads NASA's Mars Campaign Office, said it would actually help us get to the Red Planet.

"You learn a lot by going to the moon, but you learn even more by staying at the moon," she said. "And so whatever we learn there will help with Mars."

She also said private space companies had a role to play. "It's all hands on deck," she said. "It is such a difficult engineering problem that we cannot exclude anybody from helping."

2020s: Simulating life on Mars

The private space companies have been busy this decade. This year, SpaceX had its first mostly successful Starship launch after several fiery attempts. The mega-rocket is set to play a huge role in Musk's plans to colonize Mars.

The Biden Administration has meanwhile continued to support the Artemis lunar missions. There have been a few setbacks, though.

Citing safety and technical challenges, NASA recently pushed back its first crewed Artemis mission to the moon, which is now scheduled for 2025.

Artemis IV, NASA's mission to deliver part of a lunar space station to the moon, is still scheduled for 2028.

Ise said having a long-term presence on the moon would help experts learn more about how crews could survive on a different world for longer than a few days.

The agency is also studying how people will fare in isolation. NASA's CHAPEA missions put volunteers in a simulated Mars habitat for a year. The "analog astronauts" follow strict schedules, have limited contact with loved ones, and are closely monitored. The first crew is set to emerge from the habitat this year on July 6.

2030s and beyond: Getting humans to Mars

Despite its moon-first agenda, NASA knows Mars has its own challenges that the lunar surface can't prepare them for. In addition to taking a lot of time and fuel to get there, the trip is expected to result in communication delays of at least 20 minutes between the crew and Earth.

Ise said the travelers would need to be able to take care of their own health emergencies and fix hardware issues. But NASA is also working on making some systems more autonomous . "If there is an issue, they don't have time to troubleshoot with someone on the ground to fix their life support system," she said. "So we need those life support systems to be smarter."

Other problems include keeping the crew safe from radiation, dealing with the planet's skin-irritating dust, and developing a food source . "We have to build an ecology inside a transit vehicle to keep everyone alive and healthy," Ise said.

All that will take time. NASA's administrator, Bill Nelson, has said there's potential for the agency to send humans to Mars by 2040 . Ise compared it to eating an entire elephant. "We're doing it one bite at a time and building on everything that we learn," she said.

It remains to be seen whether private US companies will reach Mars first.

Correction — May 28, 2024: An earlier version of this story misstated Virgin Galactic's space exploration goals. Virgin Galactic has not announced plans to send robots or humans to Mars.

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