Suara.com – To scientist argues that radioactive elements can destroy water molecules and produce materials that can fuel life underground Mars.
On Earth, a process known as radiolysis produces bacteria in rock crevices over millions to billions of years.
Although dust storms, cosmic rays, and solar wind damage the surface of the Red Planet, some life may be able to take shelter underground.
“The environment with the best chance of being habitable on Mars is below the surface,” said Jesse Tarnas, planetary scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Space.com, Monday (16/8/2021).
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The team of experts evaluated the mineral composition and abundance of radioactive elements in Martian meteorites and estimated the porosity of the Martian crust using satellite data and rover robots.
The researchers created a computer model that simulated radiolysis to see how efficiently the process produces hydrogen gas and sulfate, the chemicals that drive the metabolism of underground bacteria.
Scientists report that if water were present, radiolysis beneath the Martian surface could sustain microbial communities for billions of years and may still persist today.
The team has previously studied Martian radiolysis, but this marks the first approximation of using Martian rock to measure the habitability of the planet’s subsurface.
According to Tarnas, the potential richness of life underground on Mars could accommodate at least one million microbes in one kilogram of rock.
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Unfortunately, until now experts still do not know whether there is water on the Red Planet. Determining whether Mars’ crust contains water will be an important next step.
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