Silica evidence points to life on Mars

Scientists have found strong new evidence to prove that planet Mars was once wetter and possibly capable of supporting life.

It all came to light when a broken wheel on one of the Nasa rovers that has been roaming around Mars was analysed. Study of the Martian soil churned up by the stuck wheel on the Spirit rover showed that it was composed of about 90 per cent pure silica, a mineral that would have required the presence of water to form.

This has given some amount of credibility to the evidence amassed by the Nasa rovers. The findings suggest that Mars was once much warmer and wetter than it is today, and that it may have harboured life.

A report which termed the discovery as remarkable, added that this silica discovery was something new and different. It had earlier been reported that one of Spirit’s six wheels no longer rotates, and thus cuts a deep track as it is dragged through the Martian ground. This in fact provided scientists with a serendipitous opportunity to examine the deep-lying soil it has disturbed.

The high silica content has a detailed story to tell. The findings reveal that minerals of such purity require water to form, and one possible explanation is that it was laid down when volcanic acidic vapours interacted with water on the surface of Mars. Another is as a result of hot spring activity, the report added.

Elaborating on the findings, the study report said that the disturbed patch, which lies in the Gusev Crater region of Mars, has been named Gertrude Weise, after a player in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League.

The discovery reinforces the vast amount of related evidence gathered so far in support of the theory that significant amounts of water were present in Mars’s past. This would hopefully help in proving that Mars was once habitable and possibly supported life, said scientists.