The first life on Earth formed four billion years ago, as microbes living in pools and seas: What if the same thing happened on Mars? If it did, how would we prove it? Scientists are hoping to identify fossil evidence of ancient Marian microbial life using a laser-powered device. The laser-powered device could reveal ancient Martian microbial life and test the scientist’s hypothesis. The scientists are a close analogy to sulfate rocks on Mars.
Billions of years ago, the water dried up on Mars. Gypsum and other sulfates formed when pools evaporated, leaving behind minerals that precipitated out of the water and potentially fossilizing any organic life left behind. That means if microbes such as bacteria lived there, traces of their presence could be preserved as fossils.
Scientists selected an instrument that could be used in spaceflight: a miniature laser-powered mass spectrometer, which can analyze the chemical composition of a sample in detail as fine as a micrometer. The laser-powered device could reveal ancient Martian microbial life and test the scientist’s hypothesis. The scientists are a close analogy to sulfate rocks on Mars and could even get their hypothesis right.
RELATED TOPICS
https://interestingengineering.com/beyond-earth/2024-yr4-city-killer-asteroid
https://phys.org/news/2025-02-laser-powered-device-earth-microbial.html
https://scienceblog.com/laser-powered-device-tested-on-earth-could-spot-microbial-fossils-on-mars/
TAKE ACTION
