Is there life on Mars?

INTRODUCTION

It has long been thought that there
might be life on Mars due to its proximity and similarities with earth. The search for life on mars began over a century ago as some astronomers came with some thoughts that they could see canal, and assumed that it was a sign of dying civilization on a drying planet struggling to survive. In late 1960 some fuzzy pictures from mars was seen by enthusiasts and it was said that they saw Mars pyramid and giant faces.
They were deceived as modern high resolution images showed no canal, pyramid or faces. The color changes where as a result of seasonal dust storm.

^{wikimedia cc image of planet mars}

Ages of features on Mars

There has been no sample collected for now from Mars for analysis. Indirect method of determining the age of a planet was used and it is obtained by using the rate of infall of asteriod, meteorite, comet and dust and it showed that the age of Mars is about 3.6 billion years.

Water on Mars

It was discovered by NASA mariners in 1960 that something liquid flowed on the surface of Mars during its early history.
Water on Mars exists solely as water ice, situated in the Martian polar ice tops and under the shallow Martian surface even at more temperate latitude. Water vapor exist on the atmosphere of Mars. There is no liquid water on Martian surface due to the very low temperature on mars. The temperature is about -63°c.
^{wikimedia cc image of buried ice on mars}

Meteorite on Mars

In 1996 NASA held a public interview in Washington DC to declare the conceivable revelation of life on Mars. Normally enough this produced a tremendous measure of consideration around the world. The disclosure included Meteorite ALH84001. The meteorite was discovered in Allen hill in Antarctica in 1984 and was the first meteorite to be cataloged that year. There has been about 34 meteorite which has come from Mars. This is known because of its distinctive chemical and mineral composition which is different from that on earth.

How the meteorite came to earth

An asteroid collides with Mars and it blast off rock at high velocity and these rocks were able to escape the gravity of Mars.
The force of the blast melted most parts of the rocks and as they flew up through the atmosphere gases were trapped in the melt. The rocks cooled in space, permanently trapping the gases.
On earth, the rocks were tested in a Laboratory in Houston and it was examined that the rock contain fossil microbes when electron microscope was used to examine the rock sample. It was examined if the rock sample could contain evidence of life and it was concluded when using non biological chemical process that what was found on the fossil was not evidence of life.

Methane in Mars atmosphere

Telescope can be used to analyze the atmosphere for the presence of different gas because gases have specific infrared spectra. This telescope was used on earth to analyze gases on mars atmosphere and it was discovered that some parts (patches) of Mars is rich in Methane. The Methane is due to the presence of volcano on Mars. The origin of the Methane is unknown if it is of biology or geological origin.

Geysers on Mars

Geyser is a spring which emits or throw off intermittent jet of heated water and steam. The seasonal icing and defrosting of the southern ice cap which leads to the formation of spider-like radial channels carved on 1 meter thick ice by sunlight.

CONCLUSION

It has been seen that from different analysis since 1950 till date that the condition essential for life existed on mars in its history. So far the only greatest hint that there is life in Mars is the presence of methane gas on its atmosphere. Efforts are still put in place for further research as there is a proposition on a space mission in 2020 and robotic vehicles are to be used for this mission as samples from Mars will be recovered.

Thanks for reading through

REFERENCE

• wikipedia
• space.com
• NASA - Mars exploration rover.

All images are Creative Commons or public domain as no copyright infringements have occurred.