Is this proof Mars once had life? Odd patchwork of polygon-shaped mud cracks suggests Red Planet used to have Earth-like conditions 3.6 billion years ago, scientists say

• NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected an uncommon array of cracks on Mount Sharp
• Sediments discovered right here point out that moist and dry cycles could as soon as have occurred 

NASA’s Curiosity rover has spent 11 years looking out far and vast for indicators of life on Mars.

And now it has emerged that the car-sized robotic could have discovered one thing.

In 2021, it detected an uncommon array of polygon-shaped cracks inside the soil that scientists now consider is proof that the Purple Planet as soon as had Earth-like situations that would have allowed microorganisms to outlive 3.6 billion years in the past.  

The mysterious mud cracks on the mattress of an historic lake trace that moist and dry cycles corresponding to the seasons we expertise on our planet right now could have existed on Mars.   

Such cycles are very important for encouraging the formation of carbon-based ‘polymers’ – often called the constructing blocks of natural compounds and even DNA. 

‘That is the primary tangible proof we’ve seen that the traditional local weather of Mars had such common, Earth-like wet-dry cycles,’ stated lead writer William Rapin of France’s Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie. 

‘However much more essential is that wet-dry cycles are useful – perhaps even required – for the molecular evolution that would result in life.’

Curiosity was launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral in 2011 as a part of a two-year mission to assemble info on whether or not Mars may help life.

As a result of its success, the mission was prolonged indefinitely, with the mud cracks detected simply two years in the past after the rover ascended the 15,840ft-high Mount Sharp.

These had been discovered on the web site of an historic lake, wedged between a clay-rich sediment layer and a extra salty sulfite layer.

The 2 contrasting layers recommend that moist and dry cycles as soon as occurred, as clay normally arises in moist situations and sulfites typically kind as any water dries up.

It’s believed the bizarre cracks additionally fashioned within the midst of this, remodeling from dried up ‘t-junctions’ to hexagonal shapes because of water publicity. 

Lengthy chains of carbon-based molecules often called polymers could have fashioned too, that are largely recognized to be the chemical constructing blocks of life.

In 2017, related cracks had been additionally found at a close-by rock often called  the ‘Outdated Soaker’. 

It isn’t clear why these cycles could have stopped, although some scientists consider that temperatures had been far hotter than they’re right now, facilitating a stream of liquid water. 

‘This paper expands the form of discoveries Curiosity has made,’ stated Ashwin Vasavada of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. 

‘Over 11 years, we have discovered ample proof that historic Mars may have supported microbial life. 

‘Now, the mission has discovered proof of situations that will have promoted the origin of life, too.’

In contrast to Earth, Mars is not dwelling to any tectonic plates, which means that historic sediments usually are not buried far under the floor and are as a substitute fairly well-preserved. 

Consequently, scientists consider that prehistoric biology and geology will be examined extra totally.  

Mr Rapin added: ‘It is fairly fortunate of us to have a planet like Mars close by that also holds a reminiscence of the pure processes which can have led to life.’