Is there life on Mars?

The Defining Question for Mars Exploration: Life on Mars?

Among our discoveries about Mars ,one stands out above all others: the possible presence of liquid water on Mars, either in its ancient past or preserved in the subsurface today. Water is key because almost everywhere we find water on Earth, we find life. If Mars once had liquid water, or still does today, it's compelling to ask whether any microscopic life forms could have developed on its surface. Is there any evidence of life in the planet's past? If so, could any of these tiny living creatures still exist today? 

NASA Didn't Find Life On Mars, But It Did Find Something Very Cool

If we ever get proof of past life on Mars, it will come in the form of biosignatures, fingerprints that could only have been left by living organisms. We're a long way from finding that smoking gun evidence, but an analysis of silica minerals discovered by NASA's Spirit rover pushes us one step closer. 

To be clear, this does not mean NASA has discovered life on Mars. It means that we might have found evidence of past life—which is still pretty cool.


A study published last week in Nature Communications raises anew the possibility that life once existed on Mars, by drawing a connection between opaline silica deposits found near the “Home Plate” feature in Gusev crater, and opaline silica at El Tatio, a geyser field located high in the Andes mountains of northern Chile. A rubbery-looking substance forming bumpy nodules that lack crystal structure, opaline silica was first discovered on Mars by the Spirit rover in 2007. It’s taken to be evidence of past hydrothermal or volcanic activity.





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