The research identifies key locations where alien life is most likely to thrive.
Scientists suggest that Mars’ mid-latitudes, beneath layers of dust-filled ice, could harbor the right conditions for photosynthesis: the process by which plants, algae and cyanobacteria on Earth convert light and water into energy, producing oxygen.
The researchers, whose findings were published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment believe that these essential components for life could also be present beneath the icy surface of Mars.
Both Earth and Mars lie within the Sun’s “habitable zone,” an area where temperatures allow liquid water to exist on planetary surfaces. While Earth is 71% covered in liquid water, Mars is a dry, arid landscape.
However, evidence from rovers and orbiters shows that Mars once had liquid water billions of years ago. Today, water on Mars exists mainly as ice, not only at the poles but also in mid-latitude areas.
Mars likely lost its liquid water when its magnetic field weakened, causing most of its atmosphere to escape and exposing the planet to harmful ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
Despite this, scientists propose that photosynthesis can still occur under the protective ice sheets in the mid-latitudes.
These areas are not as frigid as Mars’ poles, and the ice could protect potential life forms from harmful solar radiation while allowing enough light for photosynthesis. In addition, frozen water in the ice can occasionally melt into liquid form.
The study’s modeling indicates that potential habitable zones could exist in the ice at depths ranging from 5-38 centimeters to 2-3 meters, depending on the amount of dust in the ice.
These conditions resemble habitats on Earth, where life has been found in similar icy environments. So it is possible that alien organisms exist in these underground ice layers on Mars.
