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Could Signs of Mars Life Be Hidden in Its Thick Layers of Clay?
- A study published June 16, 2025 in Nature Astronomy revealed thick clay layers on Mars, indicating episodic water flow but overall desert conditions limiting habitability.
- Roughly 3.7 billion years ago, thick clay layers formed on Mars under warmer, wetter conditions, but low volcanic outgassing and a thin atmosphere caused global drying and climate instability.
- Using Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter data, Moore's team studied 150 clay deposits, finding chemical weathering favored in lake-adjacent lowlands, supporting a transient habitable environment.
- NASA's planned Mars sample return mission for 2033 aims to find direct evidence of past life, crucial for understanding Mars' habitability.
- NASA's findings suggest Mars' brief habitable episodes and prolonged aridity imply life is difficult to originate, informing future exploration and the quest to understand life's cosmic rarity.
12 Articles
12 Articles
NASA Discovery Could Explain Why We've Never Found Life on Mars
Why is Mars barren and uninhabitable, while life has always thrived here on our relatively similar planet Earth? A discovery made by a NASA rover has offered a clue for this mystery, new research said Wednesday, suggesting that while rivers once sporadically flowed on Mars, it was doomed to mostly be a desert planet.
I'm an astrobiologist - here's why I'm convinced aliens DID live on Mars
ASTRONAUTS visiting Mars could unearth a museum of alien fossils that may have belonged to an intelligent civilisation. Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe backed NASA’s plan to send humans to Mars in the 2030s and Elon Musk’s bid to colonise the planet. WikipediaProfessor Chandra Wickramasinghe believes astronauts could unearth alien fossils on Mars[/caption] AlamyMars, known as the Red Planet, could have been a ‘green planet’, an astrobiologist h…
Analysis of 150 deposits of material on the Red Planet helped in the study on old molecules
A groundbreaking study published this week reveals that the thick clay layers on Mars may hide evidence of ancient life. The researchers, who examined 150 clay deposits using NASA probe data, discovered that the layers formed under warm, humid conditions - findings that raise the possibility of life.
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