scientist have find biosignatures on Earth that depend extremely standardized to deposit seen on Mars – and may suggest at past life on the Red Planet .
The tantalizing research was published last week in the journalNature Communications , led by Steve Ruff and Jack Farmer of Arizona State University ( ASU ) . They contemplate escape from spicy springtime in El Tatio , Chile , near the boundary of the Atacama Desert , one of the most Mars - similar position on Earth .
These particular natural spring are among the in high spirits on our major planet , at an ALT of 4,300 meters ( 14,000 feet ) . But what had first piqued the scientist ’ attention was a seemingly similar location on Mars explore by NASA ’s Spirit rover in 2007 .
This location is called Home Plate , located in the 3 to 4 billion - twelvemonth - old Gusev Crater . Next to the Home Plate ’s easterly edge , the rover bring out silica repository near what is remember to have been an ancient red-hot outflow when one of its wheel go bad and was sweep up along , digging up material .
Spirit would subsequently become defunct by 2010 owing to its incorrect bike , but this peculiar discovery has come to the stem again . The research worker find out that silica tubercle attend by Spirit seem to resemble some at El Tatio , implying they were formed by a similar process – namely , by microbic organisms .
“ We run to El Tatio looking for equivalence with the feature of speech found by Spirit at Home Plate , ” Ruff said in astatement . “ Our results show that the conditions at El Tatio make silica deposits with characteristics that are among the most Mars - like of any silica deposits on Earth . ”
Now , it ’s definitely too early to start to any finish yet , but it ’s certainly an exciting discovery . And it ’s all the more interesting because a fresh rover may revisit this locating in the near future .
Spirit ’s Gusev Crater is currently being considered as apotential landing sitefor NASA ’s upcoming 2020 Mars bird of passage , which will attempt to square up if aliveness ever existed on the Red Planet . With that in mind , one of the requirements for the landing site is the potential for biosignatures to have been preserve .
The current privilege landing website is a wry ancient lake in the Jerezo Crater , but if this modish inquiry proves correct , it would intend there could very well be biosignatures in the Gusev Crater . Why take a chance on a unexampled location when another looks so promising ?
In their newspaper , the investigator mention that biologic cognitive operation are not the definitive explanation for the structure watch by Spirit . But it could be intriguing enough to deserve more investigation , at least .
“ Although fully abiotic [ physical ] processes are not prevail out for the Martian silica structures , they satisfy ana prioridefinition of potential biosignatures , ” they drop a line .
epitome in textbook : Silica deposits in Gusev Crater ( lead ) compare to those in El Tatio , Chile ( right ) . Ruff / Farmer / Nature
