The possibility of finding life on Mars has worried scientists for many years, and recent discoveries have only increased the worries about whether we will finally find life on the Red Planet or not. And so, new research in Nature Geoscience shows that Mars may have enough oxygen to support life below the surface. A team led by Vlada Stamenkovich of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) made two interesting discoveries. We know there may be underground salt water lakes on Mars; in particular, one of these may be under the Martian polar ice cap.
If these lakes do exist, there could be a lot of potential oxygen in them.
Where on Mars can life be hiding?
Back in 2016, the Curiosity rover discovered that Mars might one day have an oxygen-rich atmosphere, but the loss of its magnetic field meant that most of its surface oxygen had evaporated. But oxygen still remains in the rocks of the planet, which means that it may be quite enough to support life under the surface, from where it does not leave so quickly.
With both discoveries in mind, the JPL team examined how much oxygen can be contained in subsurface salt lakes and whether it will be enough for life. It turned out to be quite enough, especially in the polar regions, since the lower temperatures in these regions means that it is easier for oxygen to get into these salt lakes.
There are many unknowns in this study - after all, the existence of these salt lakes has yet to be proven. But this will be the next step - to show how exactly life on the Red Planet could exist, starting from what we know about Mars. Moreover, it will also show how life could exist on other planets without photosynthesis.
Ilya Khel
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