Martian Soils and the Microbes That Love Them - The Cosmic Companion Feb. 20, 2021
Microbes are successfully grown in authentic Martian soil for the first time, suggesting life may have been possible on ancient Mars.
Microbes grow in Martian soil, building molecular structures, showing life is capable of surviving within the ruddy crust of Mars.
Billions of years ago, Mars was home to oceans, rivers, and seas. During this ancient era of the Red Planet, atmospheric pressures and temperatures were themselves higher than today, making Mars a far more temperate world than the one we know in our modern age.
Today, we search for signs of any ancient life which may have once graced the surface of the Red Planet. The Perseverance rover set down on the surface of the Red Planet on February 18, in search of Martian water and signs of ancient life.
Life utilizes the resources it has available, and such ancient life on Mars would have had vast storehouses of mineral-rich rock to use both as both a home as well as a source of nutrition.
On Earth, rock-eating microorganisms called chemolithotrophs are capable of converting some rocks into energy needed for life and biomass. Ancient Martian lifeforms similar to chemolithotrophs might have, likewise, could have obtained nourishment from the Martian crust, a new study reveals.
Read more: https://thecosmiccompanion.net/martian-soil-and-the-microbes-that-love-them
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Upcoming guests:
This week: David W. Brown, space science columnist, contributor for The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and Scientific American. We discuss his new book on the upcoming Europa Clipper project, The Mission.
February 23 (s4/e8):Mars Mania! Martian geologist Dr. Kirsten Siebach, participating scientist on NASA’s Perseverance mission to Mars!
Plus, Dr. Fatima Ebrahmi from the Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, discussing her work designing plasma engines capable of being spacecraft and human travelers to Mars and beyond.
March 2: (s4/e9): Dr. Elisabeth Newton, astronomer at Dartmouth College, talking about her discovery of three super-Earths in the TOI 451 system.
March 16: (s4/e11): NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON! We will talk with the world’s best-known astrophysicist about his new book, Cosmic Queries, and get his thoughts on life, the Universe, and everything.
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