{"id":17164,"date":"2024-10-17T21:33:40","date_gmt":"2024-10-17T13:33:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/researchers-suggest-new-place-to-look-for-microbial-life-on-mars-ice-with-bits-of-dust\/"},"modified":"2024-10-17T21:33:40","modified_gmt":"2024-10-17T13:33:40","slug":"researchers-suggest-new-place-to-look-for-microbial-life-on-mars-ice-with-bits-of-dust","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/researchers-suggest-new-place-to-look-for-microbial-life-on-mars-ice-with-bits-of-dust\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers suggest new place to look for microbial life on Mars: ice with bits of dust"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Mars
The white areas on the edges of these gullies in the Martian region of Terra Sirenium, shown in an image from NASA\u2019s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, are thought to be areas of dusty ice similar to those identified as potential havens for microbial life in a research study. (Credit: NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ Univ. of Arizona)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Could microbes endure just beneath the surface of Mars, in layers of dusty ice exposed to just the right amount of sunlight? A newly published study suggests those might be among the most accessible places to search for signs of life on the Red Planet.<\/p>\n

The study, published today in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, is based on models developed using impure ice from Greenland.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe did not find any direct evidence for any microbes on Mars,\u201d study lead author Aditya Khuller told GeekWire in an email. \u201cWe do find that the depths where the radiation (solar and UV) conditions are favorable for photosynthesis within dusty Martian ice intersect with the depths where dusty ice can melt on Mars.\u201d<\/p>\n

Khuller is a researcher at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory who\u2019s due to join the University of Washington\u2019s Applied Physics Laboratory at the end of the month. The paper\u2019s co-authors include one of Khuller\u2019s mentors, UW professor emeritus Steve Warren, whom Khuller says is \u201cthe world\u2019s expert in how radiation interacts with snow and ice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Modern-day Mars is a cold, dry world, bombarded with life-killing levels of ultraviolet radiation. But scientists say that the planet would have been far more hospitable to life in ancient times. They suggest there\u2019s a chance that hardy organisms could still be hanging on deep down in subsurface havens.<\/p>\n

How deep? And how much of a chance? Those are questions that Khuller, Warren and their colleagues sought to answer by modeling the composition of Mars\u2019 ice.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used impure Greenland ice instead of typical terrestrial snow, because it is likely that the dusty ice on Mars has also become coarse-grained since it was deposited sometime over the last million years, during a series of Martian ice ages,\u201d Khuller said. The research team also factored in the presumed composition of Mars\u2019 red, iron-rich dust.<\/p>\n

Their conclusion was that there could be a sweet spot in layers of Martian ice where the dust could filter out UV radiation, while letting enough sunlight through to thaw out a trickle of water and support photosynthesis. That probably wouldn\u2019t happen at the Martian polar caps, but it could happen in warmer areas at mid-latitudes.<\/p>\n

The ice would have to be exposed to the surface. Khuller said one of the likeliest places to look would be in \u201cthe dusty ice that can get exposed by the overlying dry material slumping down within some gullies\u201d on Mars. Such gullies have been areas of interest for astrobiologists for decades.<\/p>\n

\n