For decades, if not centuries, explorers, scientists, and everyday people have peered into the sky, contemplating the vastness of space. Most people eventually come to a simple question, is earth the only planet to host life? To answer this, people have gazed at the stars, developed equations, and even sent machines to other worlds. For a long time we have found very little, but very recently, discoveries have been made related to the planet Mars that could very well answer this question, at least when it comes to Mars. So, what happened that could help answer this question? Two events in particular have led to the bounds of research.
The first event occurred on the Martian surface itself. The perseverance rover, a jeep sized rover which landed on mars in February 2021, has recently been taking samples from the martian surface. During the rover’s exploration, it uncovered signs of liquid water interactions with the planet’s surface which occurred a long time ago, as well as signs of organic chemistry, which hints at the presence of microbial life that existed a very, very long time ago. The second event occurred on Earth.
Analysis of a meteorite which came from Mars and landed in Morocco in 2011 has been analyzed and a recent study published in January 2023 on the subject of the meteorite has also revealed stunning signs of organic chemistry. Organic chemistry refers to compounds made of a mixture of carbon and other chemicals such as oxygen, hydrogen, nitrogen, and other similar chemicals. Organic magnesium compounds and carboxylic acids (similar to amino acids found in proteins) were also found in the meteorite, a first for a Martian sample. So, what does all this mean? Have we already found life on another planet?
Well, no. We have not as of yet found living, breathing Martian life. Not even martian bacteria has been found, let alone little green men. It is also likely that these organic compounds may not have been made from living creatures but from the geology of Mars or something else. In addition, we still do not have samples from the perseverance rover fully analyzed yet. The rover is currently dropping sample tubes on the Martian surface to be picked up by a future mission to deliver the samples to Earth for a complete test. Even if we do find bacteria on Earth, it could be life that accidentally was bright there from earth despite incredibly strict cleaning protocols for spacecraft.
But there is still hope for believers in Martian life. It is certainly possible, even likely, that the samples from Mars will show signs of life that lived or even does live today on Mars, and this could have massive implications for all of humanity, even the students of Bear River. If life can develop on hostile Mars, then it is almost certainly very abundant in the universe. A confirmation of this life can lead to a boom in space industry, science, and exploration like nothing that has ever been seen before. Even the people of Bear River will be affected, with many pursuing jobs in the new industry and science fields, and even those who don’t will finally have the answer to an age – old question: are we alone ? If the answer to it is no, the impact of this will affect people forever.
