Why is there no life on Mars? Rover finds a clue

Why is Mars barren and uninhabitable, whereas life has all the time thrived right here on our comparatively comparable planet Earth?

A discovery made by a NASA rover has provided a clue for this thriller, new analysis stated Wednesday, suggesting that whereas rivers as soon as sporadically flowed on Mars, it was doomed to largely be a desert planet.

Mars is believed to presently have all the required components for all times aside from maybe an important one: liquid water.

Nonetheless, the crimson floor is carved out by historical rivers and lakes, displaying that water as soon as flowed on our nearest neighbor.

There are presently a number of rovers looking out Mars for indicators of life that might have existed again in these extra liveable occasions, hundreds of thousands of years in the past.

Earlier this 12 months, NASA’s Curiosity rover found a lacking piece on this puzzle: rocks which are wealthy in carbonate minerals.

These “carbonates”—similar to limestone on Earth—act as a sponge for carbon dioxide, pulling it in from the environment and trapping it in rock.

A brand new research, published within the journal Nature, modeled precisely how the existence of those rocks might change our understanding of Mars’s previous.

Temporary ‘oases’

Lead research writer Edwin Kite, a planetary scientist on the College of Chicago and a member of the Curiosity crew, advised AFP it appeared there have been “blips of habitability in some occasions and locations” on Mars.

However these “oases” have been the exception slightly than the rule.

On Earth, carbon dioxide within the environment warms the planet. Over lengthy timescales, the carbon turns into trapped in rocks similar to carbonates.

Then volcanic eruptions spew the fuel again into the environment, making a well-balanced local weather cycle supportive of constantly working water.

Nonetheless, Mars has a “feeble” price of volcanic outgassing in comparison with Earth, Kite stated. This throws off the stability, leaving Mars a lot colder and fewer hospitable.

In response to the modeling analysis, the temporary intervals of liquid water on Mars have been adopted by 100 million years of barren desert—a very long time for something to outlive.

It’s nonetheless doable that there are pockets of liquid water deep underground on Mars we’ve not but discovered, Kite stated.

NASA’s Perseverance rover, which landed on an historical Martian delta in 2021, has additionally discovered indicators of carbonates on the fringe of a dried-up lake, he added.

Subsequent, the scientists hope to find extra proof of carbonates.

Kite stated the perfect proof can be returning rock samples from the Martian floor again to Earth—each the USA and China are racing to do that within the subsequent decade.

Are we alone?

Finally, scientists are trying to find a solution to one of many nice questions: how widespread are planets like Earth that may harbor life?

Astronomers have found practically 6,000 planets past our photo voltaic system because the early Nineteen Nineties.

However just for Mars and Earth can scientists research rocks which permit them to grasp the planet’s previous, Kite stated.

If we do decide that Mars by no means hosted even tiny micro-organisms throughout its watery occasions, that might point out it’s troublesome to kick-start life throughout the universe.

But when we uncover proof of historical life, that might “principally be telling us the origin of life is straightforward on a planetary scale,” Kite stated.

© 2025 AFP