A new study shows that presence of warm water on the Red Planet may have a possible habitat for microbial life.
According to NDTV, the study conducted by the University of Leicester and The Open University found that the temperature of the warm water on Mars is ranging 50 to 150 degree Celsius, which is similar to that of Earth's water and making microbial life possible on the Red Planet.
"Rovers on Mars - the Mars Exploration rovers Spirit and Opportunity, and the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity - are studying rocks to find out about the geologic history of the Red Planet," researcher John Bridges, from the University of Leicester Space Research Centre said, according to NDTV News. "Some of the most interesting questions are what we can find out about water, how much there was and what temperature it might have had."
The detailed research is conducted in the University of Leicester Department of Physics and Astronomy using powerful microscopes and a model is created by The Open University who also helped further in the study.
Researchers classified the meteorites in three different groups depending on their compositions.
"While the orbiters and rovers are studying the minerals on Mars, we also have meteorites from Mars here on Earth. They come in three different groups, the shergottites, the nakhlites and the chassignites," said Dr. Bridges
Dr. Bridges explained in detail the nakhlites which striked their interest. In a report by NDTV,
"Of most interest for the question of water on Mars are the nakhlites, because this group of Martian meteorites contains small veins, which are filled with minerals formed by the action of water near the surface of Mars," he said.
Among the nakhlites, Dr. Bridges and team were able to segregate into eight nakhlite Martian with little but momentous differences.
They found one the eight nakhlite Martian was Lafayette, which is found in its veins and but with more focus using the electron microscope and a transmission electron microscope, they learned it was iron carbonate which grew along the walls of the vein, says a report in NDTV.
As a result of Dr. Bridges remarks, The Open University which built a model which suggested that water on the Red Planet had correct temperature and nutrients for a microbial life to take place.
"Our results show that environments associated with this type of fluid were habitable, unlike those associated with acid-sulphate fluids," said a report in The Register. "Considering the timing of the nakhlite alteration, the most likely cause is impact-generated hydrothermal alteration of the nakhlite pile at the margins of an impact crater.
"The martian subsurface fluid forming phyllosilicates provided habitable temperatures and many of the nutrients required for life,"
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