Are there residing microbes on Mars? Test the ice, researchers say

In pure water ice, greater than 10% of the amino acids — the molecular constructing blocks of proteins — from the E. coli pattern survived the simulated 50-million-year timespan, whereas the samples containing Mars-like sediment degraded 10 occasions sooner and didn’t survive. A 2022 study by the identical group of researchers at NASA discovered that amino acids preserved in a ten% water ice and 90% Martian soil combination have been destroyed extra quickly than samples containing solely sediment.

“Based on the 2022 study findings, it was thought that organic material in ice or water alone would be destroyed even more rapidly than the 10% water mixture,” Pavlov mentioned. “So, it was surprising to find that the organic materials placed in water ice alone are destroyed at a much slower rate than the samples containing water and soil.”

That degradation could possibly be as a result of a slippery movie that kinds in areas the place ice touches minerals, the researchers hypothesized, permitting radiation to achieve and destroy amino acids.

“While in solid ice, harmful particles created by radiation get frozen in place and may not be able to reach organic compounds,” Pavlov mentioned. “These results suggest that pure ice or ice-dominated regions are an ideal place to look for recent biological material on Mars.”

In addition to testing for circumstances on Mars, researchers additionally examined natural materials in temperatures just like these on Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, and Enceladus, an icy moon of Saturn. They discovered that these even colder temperatures additional lowered the speed of degradation.

Those outcomes are encouraging to NASA’s Europa Clipper mission, Pavlov mentioned, which can discover the ice shell and ocean of Europa, the fourth largest of Jupiter’s of 95 moons. Europa Clipper launched in 2024 and is touring 1.8 billion miles to achieve Jupiter in 2030. It will conduct 49 shut flybys of Europa to evaluate whether or not there are locations beneath the floor that might assist life.

For exploring ice on Mars, the 2008 NASA Mars Phoenix mission was the primary to excavate down and seize photographs of ice within the Mars equal of the Arctic Circle.

“There is a lot of ice on Mars, but most of it is just below the surface,” House mentioned. “Future missions need a large enough drill or a powerful scoop to access it, similar to the design and capabilities of Phoenix.”

In addition to House and Pavlov, the co-authors embrace Zhidan Zhang, a retired lab technologist within the Penn State Department of Geosciences; and Hannah McLain, Kendra Farnsworth, Daniel Glavin, Jamie Elsila and Jason Dworkin, all researchers at NASA Goddard.

NASA’s Planetary Science Division Internal Scientist Funding Program by the Fundamental Laboratory Research work bundle at Goddard Space Flight Center supported this analysis.

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