Here’s some exciting news. I guess.
It appears that until 3 billion years ago, Mars was partly covered by water, at which time its atmosphere was blown away by the solar wind. But a recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that an enormous amount of water is still trapped in the pores of volcanic rock beneath the surface of Mars.
Water implies the possibility of life. Michael Manga, study co-author and professor at the University of California, Berkeley, says: “Water is necessary for life as we know it. I don’t see why [the underground Martian reservoir] is not a habitable environment. It’s certainly true on Earth — deep, deep mines host life, the bottom of the ocean hosts life.”
What would it mean if we found life on Mars, even if it’s only primitive organisms similar to those that we find at the bottom of the ocean on Earth?
Neel V. Patel argued recently in The New York Times that the discovery of life on Mars “would change how humanity thinks about its place in this universe.” He concedes that sending humans to extraterrestrial destinations is a worthy goal, but NASA’s top priority should be answering the question of whether we are truly alone in the universe.