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An unprecedented discovery by NASA scientists has been published in the science magazine Nature. Scientists have expressed the possibility of life on the Red Planet with some photos obtained from the data of NASA’s ( NASA ) Curiosity Mars Rover.
A distinctive wet-dry cycle captured by NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is raising the possibility that Mars may have had life in the past.
The rover discovered a distinctive hexagonal pattern, which developed as a crack on well-preserved soil.
William Rapin of France’s Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planetologie said, ‘These special soil cracks are formed when wet-dry conditions occur repeatedly – probably due to frequent changes in the weather.’ This discovery was formed because of a transition between a clay rich layer and a sulfate saline one.
Scientists believe that these junctions have become soft due to repeated contact and they have changed into Y shape. And later these were transformed into a hexagonal pattern.
Scientist Rapin said, ‘This is solid evidence that shows that like Earth, Mars also had regular climates that used to create wet-dry cycles here. More importantly, these wet-dry cycles are likely to have facilitated molecular evolution, leading to the birth of life here.
Although water is essential to life, it requires careful balancing. At the same time, this wet-dry cycle controls the chemicals used to make polymers. And it is here that polymers control the long chains of carbon-based molecules that are later believed to be important chemical building blocks of life.
