Scientists have discovered small, habitable regions. Tuesday In theory, sunlight can convert water and carbon dioxide into oxygen, a new step POT study
Although the research does not mean that photosynthetic aliens actually live in this environment now (or even existed in the past), the findings suggest that the U.S. Space A company with attractive objectives for future explorations.
Over the years, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a spacecraft orbiting the Red Planet, has seen The white stuff that covers the dry valleys Dusty water is supposed to be ice. This environment in the Martian tropics may be decorated with small pockets of meltwater, similar to those found in glaciers on Earth.
One group has proposed that Simple life forms like microbes. These ice deposits, found near the Martian equator, can reach up to 10 feet below the surface of the Red Planet.
“If today we are trying to find life anywhere in the universe, icy exposures on Mars are one of the most accessible places we should look for,” said Aditya Guller, lead author of the study. a statement.
Past life on Mars? This is what the new evidence from NASA points out.
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has detected several blank craters, which are believed to be regions of dusty ice.
Credit: NASA / JBL-Caltech / University of Arizona
Over time Many ice ages For eons, powdery snow fell to the ground on Mars, 225 million kilometers away. That former ice – now snow – still contains dust particles.
Using computer simulations, the team showed that such dusty ice may contain a habitable zone on Mars. his PaperPublished in the magazine Earth and Environment CommunicationsPockets of meltwater beneath an ice sheet suggest that just the right amount of sunlight can penetrate the ice for photosynthesis to occur.
Crushable speed of light
But why does a pinch of land matter?
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter flies over a valley believed to contain regions of dusty ice sampled in the study.
Credit: NASA / JBL-Caltech / University of Arizona
on earth, Dust in the snow Cryogonite can form so-called holes: small wind-blown areas that descend to the ground, absorb sunlight, heat up, and then melt deep into the snow each summer. Eventually, the particles stop sinking, but they generate enough heat to melt the small puddles around them.
When this process takes place here, water wells Rich in life, it provides an entire ecosystem: algae, fungi and microscopic cyanobacteria, for example, obtain their energy from photosynthesis.
“This is a common phenomenon on Earth,” said co-author Bill Christensen of Arizona State University. “Dense snow and ice can melt from the inside, allowing sunlight in, warming it like a greenhouse, rather than melting from the top down.”
On Mars, not there A protective magnetic field As the sun circles the planet, it bombards the world with high levels of toxic radiation. But a thick layer of ice will absorb and shield the rays. Biology below the surfaceWhen enough light is allowed to pass through it, photosynthesis is activated.
Although the environment at the poles of Mars is very cold, cryoconite cavities form beneath the ice. The planet's tropics may present perfect conditions. During the NASA study, scientists discovered that the excess Schmidt in the ice would create a very small habitable zone, 2 to 15 inches beneath the Earth. In clear snow, that zone can extend up to 10 feet deep.
Scientists are excited about these findings because they provide a kind of liquid water well for Mars. The planet is considered a “high state” where the thin, dry ice of air and water on its surface evaporates directly from the solid. But the problems with the Martian atmosphere for ice melting into water are not found beneath glaciers or tightly packed ice.
The team plans to map possible locations of shallow meltwater on Mars. These could be some of the most attractive places on the Red Planet for future astronauts to explore.
