"Whether there is life on Mars or not, science still does not know" - this common aphorism comes from a good old Soviet movie, it seems that it is no longer relevant. Recent studies of the Red Planet have clarified the situation. Scientists can say that now there is no life there, unless, of course, by this term we mean the presence of protein organisms. But what happened in the past? The soil drills produced by the rovers showed that once this planet had all the conditions to become "inhabited". But why is our neighbor in the solar system not as lucky as the Earth? And scientists have a plausible answer to this.
Ever since mankind invented the telescope, this mysterious planet has never ceased to excite the human imagination. R. Bradbury, A. Tolstoy and other writers wrote works about "Martians". Riverbeds, seas and oceans, seen when approaching the surface of the Red Planet, it would seem, with all persuasiveness proved that with such a presence of water, life simply must be. Only twenty years after sending the first satellite into space, NASA launched a government program to fly to Mars in order to detect life there.
BIn 1976, two NASA spacecraft landed on the surface of the planet named after the god of war. The Vikings transmitted to Earth numerous photographs of lifeless brown-red deserts, as well as the results of analyzes of the atmosphere, soils and deeper rocks. Thus, it became clear why Mars appears to us as a shimmering red disk. The predominant soil on the planet is ferrous oxide. Such "rust" is also found on Earth. What does this discovery have to do with the question of whether there is life on Mars? Most directly: such soils are formed in the presence of water and free oxygen and in warm climates.
But the chemical analysis of the planet's atmosphere disappointed people. Free oxygen in it turned out to be catastrophically small. If you answer the question of whether there is life on Mars, based on air indicators, then the answer is a categorical “no”. But soils? Apparently, once oxygen was present here in the same quantities as on Earth. Plant life is required to produce it. And, most likely, it was once in abundance on the Red Planet. This is evidenced by methane, also present in the Martian atmosphere.
Soil samples at the North and South Poles of the planet made the hearts of researchers tremble. In the ice caps, scientists have found some classical water ice. Taking into account the channels of huge water arteries, as well as the fact that the Red Planet is farther from the Sun than the Earth, so the climate there is much colder, you canto say that the conditions for the birth of bionics were. This, of course, does not answer the question of whether there is life on Mars. But still, this information gives some hope.
In 1984, an event occurred that again made the broad masses interested in whether there is life on Mars. The fact is that in Antarctica they found a 2-kilogram meteorite that fell from this planet. In 1996, it was investigated and … found in it the remains of petrified primitive bacteria. The age of these microorganisms is three billion years. Despite the skepticism of many scientists, this find allows us to hope that there was still life on our closest neighbor planet. But she died as a result of the attacks of giant asteroids.
