Species on Mars Could Be Our Cousins or a Whole New Kind of Life
Either way will be fascinating.
Imagine sunrise on Mars 3.5 billion years ago. Maybe the descendants of that era’s lake dwellers are now underground.
Source: Kees Veenenbos/Science Photo Library, via Getty Images
On Earth, living things hang on everywhere there’s liquid water — from scorching hot springs to rocks deep underground. Neither salt nor acid, nor heat, darkness or cold, can kill off all life once it gets started. What does look deadly is lack of liquid water, and until recently this looked to be in short supply on Mars.
And so scientists were cautiously thrilled last month when the journal Science reported that a radar experiment aboard the Mars Express spacecraft detected what looks like an underground lake on Mars. The craft, which was launched by the European Space Agency, arrived in orbit around Mars in 2003.