14 DAY TRIAL // A recent paper in the journal Astrobiology announces the discovery of a cell-like structure embedded in a Martian meteorite estimated to be about 1.3 billion years old. Besides, evidence at hand indicates that this structure once held water.
These findings show that, at one point in its distant past, the Red Planet provided the conditions needed for life to form and evolve on it. What's more, it could be that such conditions are still present beneath the planet's surface.
Analyzing a meteorite in search of signs of biological life
As detailed by Dr. Elias Chatzitheodoridis with the National Technical University of Athens in Greece, the 1.3-billion-year-old meteorite accommodating for the cell-like structure described in the journal Astrobiology goes by the name of Nakhla.
It landed on Earth several decades ago, in 1911, and broke into several stones as a result of the bumpy ride that brought it to our planet. Thus, bits and pieces of this space rock were recovered from the area of the village of El Nakhla El Bahariya in Egypt.
To peer into its entrails, Dr. Elias Chatzitheodoridis and Professor Ian Lyon with the University of Manchester in the UK resorted to high-resolution imaging. This technology enabled them to study the atomic layers of the material comprising the space rock.
A cell-like structure reveals itself in the Martian meteorite
While closely examining the makeup of this Martian meteorite, specialists pinned down an odd structure similar to the cells that make up all living organisms on our planet. At a closer look, this structure was found to show signs of having once accommodated for water.
“In many ways it resembled a fossilized biological cell from Earth but it was intriguing because it was undoubtedly from Mars. Our research found that it probably wasn’t a cell but that it did once hold water - water that had been heated, probably as a result of an asteroid impact,” explains Professor Ian Lyon.
What this finding means for the quest for life on Mars
Writing in the journal Astrobiology, Dr. Elias Chatzitheodoridis and Professor Ian Lyon argue that the discovery of this cell-like structure embedded in the Martian meteorite proves that, at some point in its history, the Red Planet was surprisingly life-friendly.
Besides, it could be that Mars is still capable of sustaining biological life, except that all the right conditions are hidden beneath its surface and haven't yet been identified and properly documented by the scientific community, the specialists go on to say.
As Professor Ian Lyon puts it, “We have been able to show the setting is there to provide life. It’s not too cold, it’s not too harsh.” Furthermore, “Life as we know it, in the form of bacteria, for example, could be there, although we haven’t found it yet. It’s about piecing together the case for life on Mars – it may have existed and in some form could exist still.”
The scientists plan to continue studying this 1.3 billion-year-old Martian meteorite that landed in Egypt on June 28, 1911, and hope to soon find so-called bio signatures indicating that the Red Planet used to be – and maybe continues to be – no stranger to biological life.