Such analysis might be able to tell researchers how closely related any possible Martians are to us. If any life-forms are present in the dirt, the SETG would amplify their DNA or RNA, then search for genetic sequences that are common in Earth organisms. So samples could be dredged up by a rover equipped with a deep drill. "The deeper we could go on Mars, the better." "We think it's much less likely that we would find something on the surface or in the top centimeters than if we went down a meter or more," Carr told. Īlso, subterranean environments are more protected from the harmful ultraviolet radiation bombarding the Martian surface, making life more likely to survive underground. While finding anything on the Martian surface might be a long shot, digging a little deeper could bear fruit researchers have found evidence over the years that liquid water may lurk underground. Blue light excites fluorescent dyes that help identify DNA within 3072 cubic chambers, each about the width of a human hair. Tiny channels feed in the samples to be analyzed and control the fluidic circuitry on the chip. This 1 inch by 1 inch chip is part of the SETG instrument prototype. The device - known as the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes, or SETG - would take a sample of Martian soil and process it to separate out any possible organisms, living or dead (within the last million years or so). The proposed instrument, being developed by researchers at MIT and Harvard, aims to do just that. "In any case, it would be important to test this hypothesis." "It is not implausible that life on Mars will be related to life on Earth and therefore share a common genetics," said astrobiologist Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. So if life got started on Mars first, it's possible that every living thing on Earth can trace its lineage back to a Martian. Orbital dynamics show that it's about 100 times easier for rocks to travel from Mars to Earth than the other way around, Carr said.
An estimated 1 billion tons of Martian rock have made this journey over the years, researchers said.Īnd microbes are incredibly hardy, so it's possible that some bugs could have survived the asteroid impact and the trip through space to a new planet, they added. If that's the case, these Mars microbes may have colonized Earth, zipping through interplanetary space aboard rocks blasted off the Martian surface by asteroid impacts. So ancient Mars may have once supported some form of life - perhaps even before Earth did, researchers said. Here on Earth, life almost invariably occupies any niche that contains liquid water. While the Martian surface appears to be cold, dry and lifeless today, there is plenty of evidence that the planet was much warmer and wetter in the distant past, billions of years ago. The idea that all Earth life could be descended from Martian organisms may not be fully mainstream - but it's not too crazy to consider, either.
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