Is there really life on Mars?

As we all know, the stars and the sea are the journey that humans long for. The mystery of the universe keeps scientists busy, and the kingdom of nebulae fascinates people. The vast sea of ????stars is so vast that many people firmly believe that the earth is not the only home for life. In recent years, the focus of space exploration, except for the moon, is almost all locked on Mars. This is the human target of countless scientific ideas to immigrate to the planet. , a fiery red planet that may have had life before its decline and may even be developing a second life.

So why are people so enthusiastic about exploring Mars and hoping to find evidence of life on this planet? Of course it's because scientists saw the light. This requires first understanding how life on earth came about.

According to what Carl Sagan mentioned in "Dragon of Eden", compressing the time from the birth of the universe to the present into one year, if the Big Bang is January 1st, it will be around the end of August. Our star, the Sun, was born. Other planets, including the Earth, followed closely and were born in the sea of ??stars. There is no doubt that the conditions are harsh. The Earth is a treasure gifted to mankind by fate. The earth was born on September 14th, around September 21st. It can be considered that this is the great beginning of life.

Water is the source of life. Scientists also know that when searching for the origin of life, they have to follow water. But now they're looking at stones because of serpentinization. According to the current mainstream theory with high credibility, there are large amounts of serpentinized rocks on the seabed that release hydrogen and methane. The abiotic alkanes and organic molecules generated by serpentinization provide the necessary energy and initial materials for the emergence of microbial communities, and are the most important metamorphic hydration reactions in the origin of life. Those crooked cracks are places where the glimmer of life shines through.

Scientists speculate that a long time ago, the earth was restless, and cracks on the seafloor caused seawater to collide with the hot rocky mantle. Gradually abundant organic molecules cleverly gathered in the gaps in the rock. The serpentinization process releases a large amount of heat, which over a long period of time provided the energy required for the chemical energy process of the origin of life.

In such a small gap, there is a spark of hope. Changes were happening every day, and more complex molecules gradually appeared, until at some point, life was born. A great origin appeared on this planet that was still chaotic at the time. Based on this, life began its quantitative and qualitative changes. From escaping from rocks to conquering the ocean, and finally struggling towards land, the journey of life has been leaping forward moment by moment over the next hundreds of millions of years, while also changing the earth.

Of course, the location of the Earth also provides a favorable condition for the origin of life, so where is Mars in the solar system? Counting away from the star Sun, it is the fourth planet. It is adjacent to the earth and is a terrestrial planet. Just like the moon is a loyal believer of the earth, it also has its own two natural satellites. But its diameter is only about 53% of the Earth's, and its volume and mass are much smaller than the Earth's, so it still has a completely different surface environment. When you land on Mars, you will see at a glance the vast desert, the vast sea of ??hills, and the dead craters. The desolation has the unique characteristics of the planet. Although Mars has various terrain types, most of those mountains and plains are attributed to the more active geological activities in ancient times. Now it seems to have fallen into a period of silence, which has resulted in a lack of plate movement and no way for carbon dioxide to be recycled into the atmosphere. Thermal umbrella, the temperature difference between day and night on Mars is very large, which is not suitable for human survival.

Mars is so desolate. It stands to reason that scientists should not have hope for its environment. Why is everyone’s focus focused on Mars? In fact, it is because of water, an essential element of life. First, in 1877, astronomer Schipare accidentally discovered dark grooves on Mars using a telescope. He was shocked and called these dark grooves "Canali" ("water channel" in Italian). This important discovery was later translated into "canal" during the dissemination process, which means "canal" in English, attracting enthusiastic interest and discussion among scientists. Although the facts were later clarified, enthusiasm for Mars exploration had already been ignited.

It was later confirmed that there might indeed be an ancient ocean on Mars.

Mike Rambo, an assistant professor of geology in the United States, published a paper in Acta Geophysica. The evidence came from images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter MRO, which was orbiting Mars at the time. Although this study still doesn't provide direct evidence, it does support the theory that the young lowlands in Mars' northern hemisphere were dry ancient oceans. Not to mention that dry ancient river deltas had been discovered on Mars before. In June 2008, Phoenix made a more intuitive discovery. It excavated and found 8 white objects. Because they were sublimated, the possibility of salt was ruled out. This gave direct evidence that there is ice on Mars. Later, the American Curiosity rover also made a series of related discoveries about ancient freshwater lakes.

The exploration of Mars has been making continuous progress in recent years. So what exciting evidence has been discovered on Mars about the origin of life?

In 2000, a very famous Martian meteorite, Allen Hills 84001, brought new discoveries. It was a meteorite discovered in Antarctica in 1984. First of all, it contained carbonate, proving that It is very likely that water did exist on Mars before, and the organic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in it may have been produced by microbial decay. It is said that some worm-shaped structures were also found on this meteorite, which some scientists believe are the existence of life. evidence, but there are also objections. In the end, no very definite results were obtained.

In early March 2013, NASA's Curiosity Mars rover found reliable evidence of water-bearing minerals in Martian rocks. At the same time, after seven months of exploration on Mars, the Curiosity rover analyzed Martian bedrock samples. The samples contained nitrogen, phosphorus, hydrogen, oxygen, carbon and other key life factors, showing that the ancient environment of Mars was indeed suitable for life.

So the focus of current research is still on whether life has ever appeared on Mars? Could it have been another prosperous civilization in its ancient times?

In this regard, in 2019, Curiosity discovered sediments rich in mineral salts in Gale Crater, which pointed out that there was a saltwater lake in the crater, at least indicating that the former environment of Mars was likely to be humid. climate, instead of the roaring wind and sand now. Previously, many scientists believed that life in the solar system may have originated on Mars. Steven Benner supports this theory by thinking about the distribution characteristics of molybdenum minerals on Mars. He believes that the oxide of molybdenum is a catalyst that is conducive to the formation of the first life structure and is related to the origin of life. Such a material may have existed on Mars more than 3 billion years ago.

As for whether it is possible that Mars is developing a second life now? Is it suitable for earth immigration? Humans don't yet have a deep understanding of it. Even if it existed before, until now, there is no direct evidence. Therefore, scientists still need to continue to search for life on Mars. Human beings still need to protect their mother earth.