The unique signs of life on Mars may be easier to find than first thought

A school science experiment is answering questions that are out of this world. While there have been concerns that any evidence of life on Mars might be obscured by the planet’s topography, new research suggests this may not be the case.

A group of young researchers has helped to show how to find evidence of life on Mars.

Students from St Bernard’s Convent High School in Westcliff-On-Sea, Essex, helped scientists from the Natural History Museum and University College London in an experiment to see what evidence of any ancient life might have remained. on the red planet.

Students from the girls’ school, whose ladies include Dame Helen Mirren, prepared samples of a microbial mat that was diluted with edge of space in a balloon to simulate conditions on Mars. This allowed the researchers to study any changes caused by the cold, dry air in the signs of life.

Connor Ballard, a Ph.D. The student who led the study said, “We wanted to involve students in as many ways as possible in this study, and they were involved throughout.”

“We know that science suffers because of the lack of diversity, so being able to work with these young women is a joy. I know that many of them want to pursue a career in science, so we really hope this will be helpful for their future. “

Dr. Louisa Preston, a science associate at the Natural History Museum and a writer, added, “It’s wonderful for these young women to have a plaque with their name celebrating their work.”

“Getting kids involved in science is really important, and we hope it will inspire other students as well.”

The research data was published in the journal AAS Research Notes.

Marks on Mars

Since the 1990s, six rovers have successfully landed on Mars to learn more about our neighboring planet. Many of these missions have attempted to answer one big question—was there life on Mars?

It is not as strange as it seems. Although a person will not live on Mars, there are many microbes on Earth that can get its carbon dioxide, the dry environment is very hospitable.

It is expected that if there is, the Martian life has given some signs back in the form of special signs or chemicals called biosignatures. But identifying these symptoms can be misleading. The high temperature, heat and climate of Mars may have damaged or blurred the signs making them difficult to see.

To explain this, the researchers wanted to know what information remains when biosignatures are broken down. The team was very pleased with the effect of gypsum on these marks.

On Earth, this mineral is found in dry lakes, and it is suggested that on Mars the mineral can preserve the molecules of any life that can live in any water. But there are problems with this.

“While gypsum may be good at preserving wildlife, it may be difficult to find,” Connor said. “Working in the infrared, the issue is that most of the main characteristics of gypsum have absorption information that darkens the peaks of organic matter in the spectrum.

Working with students, the team decided to model what signs of ancient life might look like on the red planet by using the Natural History Museum’s records.

fly high

To test any Martian biosignatures, the team faced two challenges: finding a representative for Martian life, and testing conditions on the planet.

If there was life on Mars, it is thought that it might have been in the form of microbial mats. These collections of bacteria and other microbes form some of the oldest evidence of life on Earth, so it’s not a stretch to say that life on Mars might have a way like that.

As part of her research, Luisa worked with samples of carpets from the Natural History Museum’s collection.

“I worked with microbial mats collected during the Discovery expedition, led by polar explorer Robert Falcon Scott in the early 1900s,” he said. “These mats are well preserved and, despite their age, still exhibit strong biosignatures.”

“That’s why they were a good choice to use here, and I think that Robert Falcon Scott will be happy that, over a century later, an example from his journey will be broken eat new ground.”

Now that they have their replacement, the team needs to test the conditions of Mars. To solve this problem, Luisa and the team turned to a company called Thales Alenia Space, which has launched weather balloons that have been taking academic research to the edge of space since 2014.

By taking samples to the edge of space, it was hoped that they would reach the same conditions as those found on the red planet.

With the balloon set for launch, the students were able to mix minute samples of microbial iet and gypsum in different proportions before sealing the samples in plastic containers. Half of them remained on the surface of the earth as a ruler, while the others rose up to 30 kilometers above the earth before falling safely to the ground.

The samples were recovered and then analyzed using infrared spectroscopy, a technique that characterizes the structure of a sample. by looking at how infrared radiation is absorbed. Analysis of the sample samples found that high levels of gypsum in the mixture darkened the biosignatures in the carpet.

However, for samples that have traveled to the edge of space it is a different picture. The exposure to the altitude caused the gypsum to dry out, meaning that some parts of the carpet were exposed in the study.

This suggests that rovers on Mars equipped with infrared spectrometers, such as NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity, should be able to detect biosignatures even when preserved in gypsum.

Connor hopes that future tests can shed light on how other minerals affect biosignature detection, giving researchers the best chance of finding any signs of organic matter on Mars.