A new entry in the journal Astrobiology revealed the discovery of a cell-like structure within a Martian meteorite, which was thought to be more than a billion years old. Evidence at hand also indicates that this structure once held water.
The findings show that the Red Planet provided the conditions needed for life to form and evolve on it sometime in the distant past. It also suggests that such conditions are still present beneath the planet's surface.
As recorded by Dr. Elias Chatzitheodoridis with the National Technical University of Athens in Greece, the 1.3-billion-year-old meteorite harboring for the cell-like structure goes by the name of Nakhla. It landed on Earth several decades ago, in 1911, and broke into several stones as a result of the bumpy ride into earth. Bits and pieces of this space rock were recovered from the area of the village of El Nakhla El Bahariya in Egypt.
To get a closer look, Dr. Elias Chatzitheodoridis and Professor Ian Lyon with the University of Manchester in the UK resorted to high-resolution imaging. This technology allowed them to study the atomic layers of the material comprising the space rock.
While closely examining the makeup of this Martian meteorite, specialists pinned down an odd structure similar to the cells that make up all living organisms on our planet. At a closer look, this structure was found to show signs of having once accommodated for water.
Writing in the journal Astrobiology, Dr. Elias Chatzitheodoridis and Professor Ian Lyon argue that the discovery of this cell-like structure embedded in the Martian meteorite proves that, at some point in its history, the Red Planet was surprisingly life-friendly.
Besides, it could be that Mars is still capable of sustaining biological life, except that all the right conditions are hidden beneath its surface and haven't yet been identified and properly documented by the scientific community, the specialists go on to say.
The scientists should be continuing their study on the 1.3 billion-year-old Martian meteorite that landed in Egypt on June 28, 1911, and hope to find so-called bio signatures from the Red Planet.
