MOSCOW, December 9 – RIA Novosti. Small freshwater lakes on ancient Mars had all the conditions necessary for the initiation and maintenance of primitive forms of life, that have the chemical composition of sediments on the bottom of the reservoir, which studied Curiosity rover to the crater Gale, say scientists in a paper published in the journal Science.
“We are extremely captures the idea that billions of years ago in the calm waters of the lake could be a life that has transformed its mineral wealth into energy. As the next phase of the mission Curiosity we study the composition and structure rocks at the edge of the crater, which may contain an answer to the question – whether there was life on the Red Planet, “- said Sanjeev Gupta, from Imperial College London (UK).
Gupta and his colleagues, along with five other research groups, summed up the rover’s stay in that part of Gale Crater, which scientists have dubbed the “Gulf of Yellowknife” (Yellowknife Bay). Curiosity arrived in this corner of Mars in early December last year and held it for several months to find traces of water in the rocks “John Klein” and “Cumberland”.
authors re-analyzed the data collected by different instruments of the rover in the study of the “Gulf” and tried to evaluate the conditions that prevailed in the lake, which appeared at the bottom of these stones and other breeds. In particular, they have calculated the temperature of the water and approximately defined chemical composition and “compatibility” with life.
So, this lake was filled with warm water and a neutral or slightly alkaline pH, which is conducive to the emergence of life. Based on the composition of sediment present in these waters, sufficient hydrogen sulfide, sulfur oxides, hydrogen and other substances which are used in the terrestrial bacteria as a primary energy source. These facts, as researchers believe, can surely say that on ancient Mars had all the conditions for the emergence and maintenance of life.
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