A new study published Monday (10) shows that not only are we alone in the Universe, but we are not the first species to attempt to destroy life itself by drastically changing the planet’s climate. An ancestral model of Mars, developed by French researchers, suggests that the red planet is already habitable enough. to host a microbe population.
According to the research, during the Noachian period 3.5 to 4.5 billion years ago, a few centimeters of the saltwater-saturated porous regolith of the Martian surface was sufficient. to protect microbes that produce methane and eat hydrogen and carbon dioxidefrom the intense radiation of time.
As soon as the model was ready, “figuratively speaking, we put it to work in the Martian crust,” explains astrobiologist Boris Sauterey, lead author of the study, in a press release. “However, if any, the team evaluated how it could alter the chemistry of the planet’s crust. affect the chemical composition of the atmosphere.
What happened to the Martian microbes?
To simulate the population of Mars, the researchers methanogenic bacteriaare considered some of the simplest and most resilient creatures known in the universe. These microorganisms helped warm and stabilize the earth’s climate by producing methane, but the same organic compound is now considered to be responsible for the greenhouse effect.
However, unlike what is happening on our planet, the change caused by methanogenesis – by removing hydrogen from the Martian atmosphere – was brought about by a global cooling event. A temperature of almost minus 200 degrees Celsius eventually jeopardizing the planet’s hot conditions and pushing the entire biosphere deep into its crust.
The study’s findings suggest that life on Mars would not be self-sustaining if it existed. While feasible, Sauterey concludes, “life’s inability to maintain habitable conditions on the planet’s surface is causing its extinction very quickly.”
ARTICLE – Nature Astronomy – DOI: 10.1038/s41550-022-01786-w.
Source: Tec Mundo
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