Martian Soils Are Friendlier to Life Than First Calculated

For quite some time now, astronomers have been questioning the established belief that soils on Mars are entirely barren, devoid of any ability to support even basic lifeforms. Finally, the latest study shows that experts may have misjudged this issue, since it seems the soil is not that unfriendly after all.

That is not to say that lifeforms may definitely inhabit the land. The research is simply meant to refine previous studies, providing as much details on what Martian soils and their dirt can do and what they can't do. Such knowledge is critical for future space exploration efforts.

Based on these analyses of Mars, experts could refine the objectives of future exploration missions. This may allow them to obtain the best scientific results possible from rovers and lander, while also tailoring the equipment astronaut crews will take with them on a journey to the Red Planet.

The most important finding made in the new study is related to the mount of oxidizing compounds researchers thought were harbored in Martian soils. These chemicals would have made the development of organic molecules extremely difficult.

But the new investigation showed that the amount of such compounds was vastly exaggerated. The research team used samples collected by the NASA Phoenix Mars Lander to arrive at these conclusions. Experts learned that only limited amount of oxidizing elements lie in the soils.

“Although there may be some small amounts of oxidants in the soil, the bulk material is actually quite benign. It's very similar to moderate soils that we find on Earth,” researcher Richard Quinn explains.

The expert was also the lead author of the new study. He holds joint appointments, at the Moffett Field, California-based NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) and the Search of Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute, in Mountain View, California.

In addition to confirming the presence of water on Mars and investigating oxidants levels, Phoenix also measures the pH of soils around its location. This measure refers to the acidity of the lands. A higher pH means that soils are alkaline, while a smaller pH means that they are acidic.

“People really didn't know what the pH was going to be. A lot of people believed that the soils would be very acidic,” Quinn said in an interview for Space. It was determined that the soils around the lander were slightly basic, with a pH level of 7.7. Pure water is neutral, with a pH of 7.

“When you look at the composite of all the material in there, and you measure the overall reactivity of that soil in solution, it's comparable to what you would find in terrestrial soils, Earth soils. So it's not an extreme environment in that regard,” the investigator says.

“The evidence from the HiRISE team that there may be seasonal water flow at some locations, combined with this measurement that shows that when the soil is wetted it's actually not harsh conditions – it's very positive in terms of the potential for life to get a foothold,” he explains.

The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) is one of the primary science instruments aboard the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), a spacecraft that achieved orbital insertion around the Red Planet in 2006.