The scientists behind the Mars Phoenix Lander project announced that the soil on Mars was more alkaline than expected and could sustain life.
Scientists at NASA or the National Aeronautics and Space Administration claimed that they were “flabbergasted” by their discovery on the possibility that life could grow on Martian soil.
“It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. … It is very exciting for us,” said Sam Kounaves, the lead wet chemist at NASA.
The project did not elaborate any further if there was indeed life on Mars, down to the microbe level and instead stated that their discovery was only preliminary and more analysis will be needed.
There was still no evidence in the soil that “would preclude life,” and instead of an assumption of a toxic environment, Martian soil is actually, “very friendly.”
The discovery was made after the Mars Phoenix Lander scooped up Martian soil for analysis. The lander touched down on Mars on May 25, 2008 and has been conducting several survey projects.
Asteroid slammed into Mars’ northern hemisphere
In other Mars news, An asteroid the size of Pluto slammed into the Northern hemisphere of Mars creating the Borealis basin, based on the latest survey of NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Global Surveyor.
The report released by the magazine Nature, explains the 1984 observation of the unusual shape of Mars terrain in the northern hemisphere against the southern hemisphere.
An asteroid with a body of 1,900 kilometers (1,200 miles) smashed into the planet some 3.9 billion years ago, creating the vast Borealis basin measuring 8,500km (5,300 miles) by 10,600km (6,600 miles) across and occupies nearly 40 per cent of the Martian surface.
The new data is said to have convinced a lot of scientists on the impact scenario but there were still a need to prove the theory further.
Creative Commons Attribution 2.5
Rate this post:
(No Ratings Yet)
Loading ...
Stumble It!
