Alien life on Mars: the rover will search for fossils on the Red Planet

Alien life on Mars: the rover will search for fossils on the Red Planet
Alien life on Mars: the rover will search for fossils on the Red Planet
Anonim

NASA is investigating the possibility of alien life on Mars amid speculation that there are fossils in a crater in which the rover will land for its mission.

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft, which orbited the Red Planet, recently found evidence that the proposed landing site for the rover - Yesero Crater - has hydrated silica in it.

This mineral is good for preserving evidence of the existence of life, that is, if there is or was alien life on Mars, this will show evidence of its existence.

The researchers hope that the data gathered by the rover will allow them to get better evidence of whether there is alien life on the planet, as well as how the minerals got into the crater.

The experts explained that hydrated silica holds water in its crystal structure. On Earth, it can form in a number of different environments, such as volcanic glass and the ocean floor.

And because hydrated silica is one of the hardest minerals, it is exceptionally good for retaining the softer minerals that get inside it.

Study author Jesse Tarnas, a planetary scientist at Brown University in the US, said: "The oldest fossils we find on Earth are usually found in silica."

Scientists now hope that after the rover lands in 2021, they can find evidence of alien life sealed in Martian minerals.

The rover is slated to launch in July 2020 and land on Mars in February 2021.

It will transmit data while it is there, and it can also collect samples that can eventually be returned to Earth.

Recommended: