This time, these are not numerous pictures of "shells" and "fossils" on Mars, which, no matter how much they find, are still with a tenacity worthy of better use, are declared a direct consequence of "pareidolia" (i.e., roughly speaking, the desire to accept wishful thinking). American scientists from NASA themselves said that they found clear evidence of the vital activity of ancient Martian organisms. It is curious that the thread of discovery stretches back to the distant 2008 …
It was in 2008 that the Spirit rover came across unusual bumps in the Gusev crater. Outwardly, they resemble cauliflower, but are composed of opal silica.
Previously, scientists believed that the bumps were "carved" from the rock by geothermal processes associated with acidity - even at the time when a hot spring was gushing in the area of the Gusev crater. However, in 2011, planetary scientist Stephen Ruff and geobiologist Jack Farmer found that the surface is alkaline or neutral acidity. Therefore, this version was dropped.
Several years after refuting the hot spring hypothesis, Raff and Farmer stumbled upon similar objects in the Chilean Atacama Desert (which is considered the closest analogue of the Martian environment on Earth). The "granules" have been found in the El Tatio Geyser Field, as well as near the Yellowstone Hot Springs and the Taupo Volcano in New Zealand.
According to NASA representatives, the bumps in the Atacama Desert are traces of ancient bacteria. Now they are looking for specific chemical traces of organic life (biosignatures) in the soil. If this quest is successful, Gusev Crater will become the main place for the search for life on Mars. However, proving the biogenic origin of the Atacama pellets will not be easy, and will take at least several years, the researchers warn. But we will wait!
In the meantime, we can watch a curious little video about the traces of ancient life on Mars: