Spreading Water On Mars

Abstract

It has been hypothesized that life will form and evolve whenever the energetic, chemical, and geological conditions are met. Life is commonly thought to have emerged on Earth. However, through recent studies, Mars has become a very probable candidate for life, but it may have been destroyed before it could into the more complex life forms that exist on Earth today. But so far, we have only seen the surface of Mars. Little is known about what lies beneath the surface. It is commonly theorised that Mars once held vast oceans. However this was millions of years in the past. But since the recent discovery of flowing water on Mars, hopes have risen for astrobiologists searching for any form of life that may have survived under the surface.

Multiple organic compounds exist in all life on Earth, (e.g., amino acids, nucleobases, lipids) and are used as biomarkers for the characteristics of extinct or extant life. Laboratory Simulations Through experiments, scientists have been able to produce the necessary conditions for life to be sustained. “Levy et al. found that amino acids were produced abiotically in a frozen NH4CH solution while Martins et al. showed the formation of several amino acids through a process called impact shock synthesis. Hydrocarbons can be synthesized by chemical reactions simulating high-pressure/temperature conditions (Fischer-Tropsch reactions), and nucleobases have been shown to form under simulated prebiotic conditions, with formamide (HCONH2) as the precursor molecule, which may have been available on the early Earth.” [1] However, when searching for molecular traces of life on other terrestrial bodies, such as Mars, one must take great care to distinguish between abiotic and biotic

This cave system has been isolated from Earth’s atmosphere and sunlight for 5.5 million years and displays a unique groundwater ecosystem, which is supported by in situ chemoautrophic production. The cave’s atmosphere is rich in hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide and also contains 1%–2% methane and as a result chemosynthesis is mainly based on sulfide- and methane-oxidation. Although this cave has been deprived of sunlight for millions of years, a variety of unique indigenous species have been identified, including 33 vertebrates and a wide range of microorganisms, ranging from common alpha-proteobacteria to methanotrophs.” [1] If life is capable of existing in such extreme environments on Earth, then it is plausible that life will of already has developed in a subterranean Martian environment. Any life that exists beneath the surface may be able to escape the harsh conditions that keep life from existing there, such as the increased levels of UV