The prospect of discovering alien life on Mars has long excited scientists, who intently study the Red Planet in space and on Earth. On Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover tirelessly treks around the dusty planet in search of life past and present. And here on Earth, scientists meticulously analyse the recovered fragments of Martian meteors, which have crashed into the Earth in the distant past. One of these meteors is the so-called Allan Hills 77005, which is one of the most promising candidates for alien life yet.
The ancient Martian meteorite was recovered by Japanese polar explorers in the Allan Hills region of Antarctica on December 29, 1977.
A team of Hungarian researchers have now studied a thin slice of the Martian rock to discover trace amounts of fossilised organic material inside the meteor.
The researchers found under powerful microscopes threadlike structures commonly associated with microbial features.
The meteor also appears to contain mineralised biosignatures or the remains of fossilised Martian microbes.
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This organic material within the meteor is a strong indicator microbial life may have once existed on Mars, long before the planet dried up into a barren desert.
The revelation was presented on March 28 this year on the peer-reviewed journal Open Astronomy.
The study titled Mineralized biosignatures in ALH-77005 Shergottite – Clues to Martian Life? proposes the organic material was created by Martian iron-oxidising bacteria.
The research paper states: “This study proposes presence of microbial mediation on Mars.”
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Similar microbes are abundant here on Earth and are often found in surface waters.
The peculiar microscopic creatures thrive and multiply by breaking down ferrous iron through oxidisation, or a chemical reaction in which oxygen atoms are introduced.
Streams and ponds brimming with iron-oxidising bacteria often build a foul but harmless brown sludge on the surface of the water.
The study’s lead author Ildiko Gyollai, from the HAS Research Centre for Astronomy and Earth Sciences in Budapest, argued the finding suggests life may be present on other planets.
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She said: “Our work is important to a broad audience because it integrates planetary, earth, biological, chemical, and environmental sciences and will be of interest to many researchers in those fields.
“The research will also be of interest to planetologists, experts of meteorite and astrobiology as well as researchers of the origin of life, and to the general public since it offers an example of a novel aspect of microbial mediation in stone meteorites.”
NASA’s scientists are certain the harsh conditions of the Red Planet are absolutely inhospitable towards harbouring life.
But the planet is believed to have looked more like Earth billions of years ago before the planet died an arid death.
NASA’s Dr Marc Rayman said: “The United States and other countries have been sending spacecraft to orbit or land there since the 1960s, and each mission teaches us more about this fascinating planet.
“We have learned that even though Mars is more similar to Earth than anywhere else in the solar system, and therefore is a good place to look for life, it is still different from Earth in many ways.”
And former NASA chief Ellen Stofan testified before the US Senate in 2018 to express her belief microbial life did develop on Mars.
She said: “I do think it will take humans on the planet breaking up a lot of rocks to try and actually find this evidence of past life and finding one sample is not good enough.
“You need multiple samples to understand the diversity.”