(CN) — Researchers say missions within the next ten years could give experts the information they need to at last confirm or deny the existence of Martian life.
For as long as humans became aware of the vastness of the universe, scientists and curious minds alike have pondered one of the most often asked questions in history: Is there life in the cosmos beyond the denizens of Earth?
Those looking to explore this mystery have often set their sights on Mars, one of Earth’s closest neighbors in our solar system, to help provide answers and it is easy to see why. While Mars is often viewed as a desolate desert planet, research has shown that the planet once maintained a far more habitable environment earlier in its history and experts have even found evidence of organic molecules there that often serve as the essential building blocks of life.
While definitive answers on the subject of life on Mars have been scarce, some believe that is all about to change much sooner than you think.
In a perspective piece published Thursday in the journal Science, experts Ryuki Hyodo and Tomohiro Usui of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency say space missions happening this decade may give researchers their clearest picture yet on the status of past or present life on the Red Planet.
Researchers are particularly interested in the planned Mars Sample Return mission put together by NASA and the European Space Agency that is primed to explore the planet’s Jezero Crater, a site believed to be the relic of a great ancient lake. Experts say rovers will collect samples from the crater that, once studied, could help scientists better understand how habituality on the Red Planet has changed so drastically over the years.
But it’s not just Mars itself that may hold the secrets scientists are seeking. Mars also commands two moons, Phobos and Deimos, that might also prove crucial to scientists’ quest for answers.
Understand, first, that scientists do not actually believe any life — even the microscopic kind — could possibly exist on either of Mars’ moons. Phobos, the closer of the two moons, is home to an atmosphere void of virtually any life-supporting systems that would make life on the lunar body nearly impossible.
“Phobos does not have air or water, and its surface is constantly bathed in solar and galactic cosmic radiation,” according to the study. “This indicates that Martian materials on Phobos’ surface almost certainly do not contain any living microorganisms.”
Instead, researchers are much more interested in the material ejected from Mars’ surface after eons of asteroid bombardment that has settled on its two moons. Researchers believe that the moons may house what they have dubbed SHIGAI (Sterilized and Harshly Irradiated Genes, and Ancient Imprints) which roughly translates to “dead remains” in Japanese.
The presence of SHIGAI from Martian debris could point to evidence of long-expired Martian life, and experts are hopeful that they may even contain trace amounts of DNA fragments or other biological “fingerprints” from lifeforms that may have inhabited the Red Planet at some point.
Of course, researchers say, there is another possibility in all of this many need to remember: the missions may not turn up evidence of life at all. There is a chance that life on Mars simply does not exist, and in fact may never have. But if this scenario plays out, researchers still maintain these missions will help them understand how Mars came to be such a cold, lifeless world.
“If Mars never had life at all, these missions would then be absolutely vital in unraveling why Mars is lifeless and Earth has life,” the study states. “Therefore, the missions may eventually provide the means to decipher the divergent evolutionary paths of life on Mars and Earth.”
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