Scientists discover an Earth-like environment on Mars with minerals linked to life

A new study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets describes the discovery of a Martian mineral that forms on Earth in a river, delta or an ancient lake shoreline, leading researchers to believe that Gale Crater on Mars was once home to water and oxygen.

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The team explained that NASA’s Curiosity rover discovered higher than normal amounts of manganese in rocks in Gale Crater on Mars. Using the rovers’ ChemCam, an instrument that fires a laser into rocks, the rover collected data that researchers have now analyzed and published in a study.

Patrick Gasda, Los Alamos National Laboratory researcher and lead author of the study, explained that manganese formation occurs all the time on Earth due to the large amounts of oxygen in Earth’s atmosphere, produced by photosynthetic life: “and from microbes that help catalyze the manganese oxidation reactions.“However, Mars has no oxygen and no evidence of life, despite researchers suspecting that ancient Mars may have had the right environment to support life.

“On Mars we have no evidence for life, and the mechanism for producing oxygen in Mars’ ancient atmosphere is unclear, so how the manganese oxide was formed and concentrated here is truly a mystery.” he added.”These findings point to larger processes taking place in Mars’ atmosphere or surface water and show that more work needs to be done to understand oxidation on Mars.“

“The environment of Gale Lake, as revealed by these ancient rocks, gives us a glimpse into a habitable environment that is surprisingly similar to places on Earth today.said ChemCam lead researcher Nina Lanza, noting that “it is remarkable to find such recognizable features on ancient Mars.“