[{"command":"openDialog","selector":"#drupal-modal","settings":null,"data":"\u003Cdiv id=\u0022republish_modal_form\u0022\u003E\u003Cform class=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form ecl-form\u0022 data-drupal-selector=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 action=\u0022\/cs\/article\/modal\/7255\u0022 method=\u0022post\u0022 id=\u0022modal-form-example-modal-form\u0022 accept-charset=\u0022UTF-8\u0022\u003E\u003Cp\u003EHorizon articles can be republished for free under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) licence.\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EYou must give appropriate credit. We ask you to do this by:\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      1) Using the original journalist\u0027s byline\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      2) Linking back to our original story\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n      3) Using the following text in the footer: This article was originally published in \u003Ca href=\u0027#\u0027\u003EHorizon, the EU Research and Innovation magazine\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003ESee our full republication guidelines \u003Ca href=\u0027\/horizon-magazine\/republish-our-stories\u0027\u003Ehere\u003C\/a\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n      \u003Cp\u003EHTML for this article, including the attribution and page view counter, is below:\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cdiv class=\u0022js-form-item form-item js-form-type-textarea form-item-body-content js-form-item-body-content ecl-form-group ecl-form-group--text-area form-no-label ecl-u-mv-m\u0022\u003E\n        \n\u003Cdiv\u003E\n  \u003Ctextarea data-drupal-selector=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 aria-describedby=\u0022edit-body-content--description\u0022 id=\u0022edit-body-content\u0022 name=\u0022body_content\u0022 rows=\u00225\u0022 cols=\u002260\u0022 class=\u0022form-textarea ecl-text-area\u0022\u003E\u003Ch2\u003EHow life on Earth could help us find life on Mars\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003EToday, however, Mars is a barren wasteland. Any water it once had on its surface hundreds of millions of years ago is long gone, while its atmosphere is a thin shell of the thicker barrier it \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.nasa.gov\/press-release\/nasas-maven-reveals-most-of-mars-atmosphere-was-lost-to-space\/\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Emight once have been\u003C\/a\u003E. But could the planet have hosted life in the past, and is there a possibility that any life on Mars has survived today?\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile we can\u2019t answer those questions just yet, we are closer than ever to finding out. And with a host of new missions on the horizon, fresh clues are beginning to emerge.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EDeserts\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOn Earth, life survives in a huge range of locations, from the deserts of the Sahara to the frozen glaciers of Antarctica. The surface of Mars today bears similarities to some of these locations so if we can find life in these places on Earth, perhaps it might be on Mars too.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Dirk Schulze-Makuch from the Technical University of Berlin, Germany,\u0026nbsp;coordinated the \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/188487\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EHabitability of Martian Environments\u003C\/a\u003E (HOME) project, which studied soil collected from the Atacama Desert in South America, and examined what microbes were present \u2013 if any. The results showed life was alluringly resilient.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We showed that even in the hyper-arid core, there is still active microbial life there,\u2019 said Dr Schulze-Makuch. \u2018We found several survival mechanisms. For example, some microbes use water directly from the atmosphere, so they don\u2019t need any rain.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe team also created different soils and salty brines that mimicked some of the conditions on Mars. By introducing microbes into these Mars analogues, they could work out what sort of life might be able to survive under the surface of Mars today.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cblockquote class=\u0022text-center text-blue font-bold text-2xl w-full lg:w-1\/2 border-2 border-blue p-12 my-8 lg:m-12 lg:-ml-16 float-left\u0022\u003E\n  \u003Cspan class=\u0022text-5xl rotate-180\u0022\u003E\u201c\u003C\/span\u003E\n  \u003Cp class=\u0022font-serif italic\u0022\u003E\u2018We know that environmental conditions on early Mars were habitable.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\n  \u003Cfooter\u003E\n    \u003Ccite class=\u0022not-italic font-normal text-sm text-black\u0022\u003EDr Alberto Fair\u00e9n, Spanish Astrobiology Centre\u003C\/cite\u003E\n  \u003C\/footer\u003E\n\u003C\/blockquote\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We were mostly interested in extremophiles (life that survives in extreme locations on Earth),\u2019 said Dr Schulze-Makuch. \u2018For the brine experiments we used \u003Cem\u003Eplanococcus halocryophilus\u003C\/em\u003E (a microbe that can live in \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/microbiologysociety.org\/blog\/life-in-a-cold-climate.html\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Every salty and very cold\u003C\/a\u003E conditions). We found it had really high tolerance.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWhile we can mimic conditions on Mars, however, we cannot exactly replicate them. The surface of Mars has much higher levels of radiation than anywhere on Earth, and there is much less water available on Mars than in the driest deserts on Earth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018There are a lot of microbes that astonishingly can survive under conditions that are getting very close to Mars,\u2019 said Dr Schulze-Makuch. \u2018But you would have to test on Mars to be absolutely sure.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@alignleft@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Researchers with the HOME project looked at extremophile microbes in the soil of South America\u2019s Atacama Desert to understand what kind of life could survive under Mars\u2019 surface today. Image credit - Dirk Schulze - Makuch\u0022 height=\u0022896\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/boulders-.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Researchers with the HOME project looked at extremophile microbes in the soil of South America\u2019s Atacama Desert to understand what kind of life could survive under Mars\u2019 surface today. Image credit - Dirk Schulze - Makuch\u0022 width=\u00221200\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022italic mb-4\u0022\u003EResearchers with the HOME project looked at extremophile microbes in the soil of South America\u2019s Atacama Desert to understand what kind of life could survive under Mars\u2019 surface today. Image credit - Dirk Schulze - Makuch\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWater\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUnderstanding how much water was on Mars in the past is crucial to knowing its potential habitability. We know that on Earth, nearly anywhere we find water we find life. So if Mars was once a lot more wet than it is today, the chances of habitability increase considerably.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EWe have found evidence for ancient water on Mars in a variety of places. NASA\u2019s Curiosity rover may have found an \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/science\/2018\/jun\/07\/nasa-mars-rover-finds-organic-matter-in-ancient-lake-bed\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003Eancient lake bed\u003C\/a\u003E, while the northern hemisphere of Mars appears to have once contained a large ocean. Now scientists want to take these studies even further.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EDr Alberto Fair\u00e9n from the Spanish Astrobiology Centre in Madrid, Spain,\u0026nbsp;coordinates a project called\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/id\/818602\/es\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EMarsFirstWater\u003C\/a\u003E. This project aims to work out just how much water might have been on Mars in its first billion years, whether this was liquid water or ice, how long it was there for, and where it was.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EUsing data from past, present, and future Mars missions, both on Earth and on Mars itself \u2013 such as NASA\u2019s upcoming Perseverance rover, set to launch in July 2020, and Europe\u2019s Rosalind Franklin rover, planned for launch in 2022 \u2013 the project aims to reconstruct and map the surface of ancient Mars like never before.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018Between 4.5 and 3.5 billion years ago, Mars is thought to have had an active surface hydrosphere that included glaciers, rivers, lakes, deltas, and maybe even a hemispheric ocean the size of the Mediterranean Sea,\u2019 said Dr Fair\u00e9n.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe emerging picture of early Mars, he says, suggests that its summers were similar to winters in Iceland and its winters resembled winters in the Antarctic.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@alignleft@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022Dr Fair\u00e9n studies nunataks, permanent ice-free peaks found in Antarctica, as analogues for early Mars \u2013 in terms of temperature, UV radiation and the availability of liquid water \u2013 when in this cold and wet environment life had a higher chance to thrive. A diverse microbial community is found in Earth\u2019s nunataks. Image credit - M. A. Fern\u00e1ndez-Mart\u00ednez\u0022 height=\u00221824\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/nunatak_1.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022Dr Fair\u00e9n studies nunataks, permanent ice-free peaks found in Antarctica, as analogues for early Mars \u2013 in terms of temperature, UV radiation and the availability of liquid water \u2013 when in this cold and wet environment life had a higher chance to thrive. A diverse microbial community is found in Earth\u2019s nunataks. Image credit - M. A. Fern\u00e1ndez-Mart\u00ednez\u0022 width=\u00222736\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022italic mb-4\u0022\u003EDr Fair\u00e9n studies nunataks, permanent ice-free peaks found in Antarctica, as analogues for early Mars \u2013 in terms of temperature, UV radiation and the availability of liquid water \u2013 when in this cold and wet environment life had a higher chance to thrive. A diverse microbial community is found in Earth\u2019s nunataks. Image credit - M. A. Fern\u00e1ndez-Mart\u00ednez\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EStripped\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EA previous study from Dr Fair\u00e9n, called \u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/cordis.europa.eu\/project\/rcn\/105611\/factsheet\/en\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022 rel=\u0022noopener noreferrer\u0022\u003EIcyMARS\u003C\/a\u003E, concluded that ancient Mars may have been colder than people anticipated, but still wet enough to be habitable. At some point in its history, this water was then stripped from Mars when the planet\u2019s core cooled for unknown reasons, and its atmosphere was blown away by the solar wind.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018As a result, Mars turned (into) the extremely cold planet it is today,\u2019 said Dr Fair\u00e9n.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EMarsFirstWater will look for any biomarkers such as microbial lipids on Mars that could be evidence for life once surviving in this more habitable ancient locale. Checking the chemical processes that took place on Martian rocks, for example, could tell us how much liquid water was present, letting us work out what sort of life could have survived there. The project will also look for biomarkers in the Martian geological record that are similar to those produced by microbes on Earth.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAlready the team have some early results. They have found that some microbe types found on Earth could stop water on Mars from freezing into ice due to their biological processes, while some signs of ancient life could remain in wet clays under the Martian surface today that could be studied by rovers.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cfigure role=\u0022group\u0022 class=\u0022@alignleft@\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cimg alt=\u0022The Atmosphere and Surfaces Chamber (PASC) used by the MarsFirstWater project is a vacuum chamber that can simulate conditions on Mars. Image credit - CAB\u0022 height=\u0022630\u0022 src=\u0022\/research-and-innovation\/sites\/default\/files\/hm\/IMCEUpload\/pasc_chamber_ok.jpg\u0022 title=\u0022The Atmosphere and Surfaces Chamber (PASC) used by the MarsFirstWater project is a vacuum chamber that can simulate conditions on Mars. Image credit - CAB\u0022 width=\u0022700\u0022\u003E\n\u003Cfigcaption class=\u0022italic mb-4\u0022\u003EThe Atmosphere and Surfaces Chamber (PASC) used by the MarsFirstWater project is a vacuum chamber that can simulate conditions on Mars. Image credit - CAB\u003C\/figcaption\u003E\n\u003C\/figure\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EThe next phase in searching for life on Mars will be piecing all of these clues together and using data from upcoming missions to look for new signs of life. \u2018We already know Mars was habitable,\u2019 said Dr Fair\u00e9n. \u2018The next question to answer is if it was actually inhabited.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EPerseverance and ExoMars may not be enough; a life detection mission that can sample Mars directly for signs of life may instead be needed to know for sure. But there\u2019s little doubt that an answer to one of the greatest questions of our time is within reach.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u2018We know that environmental conditions on early Mars were habitable,\u2019 said Dr Schulze-Makuch. \u2018There were lakes, oceans, it was raining. There could have been life.\u2019\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003EThe research in this article was funded by the European Research Council. 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