Mars's water may have enough oxygen to keep it alive

in #esteem6 years ago

Mars has long been considered by scientists as a dry and desert planet, which due to lack of water is unable to sustain life. But the latest results from multiple studies have shown that Mars may even have water now, and in some of the results it is claimed that it is entirely possible that under the surface of the Red Planet there is a whole underground lake. All of this has led to the emergence of new scientific hopes that Mars may still be able to sustain life, and that this depends largely on the properties of the water.

And now a new study published in the journal Nature Geoscience shows that deposits under the surface of the planet, and especially in the areas of its two poles, can support molecular oxygen, which is key to Earth's life. This discovery is of paramount importance because, if confirmed, Mars is very likely to be home to a number of microbes and bacteria, and possibly to some types of fungal formations. The surface of the planet 3.8 to 4 billion years ago was very similar to Earth. At that time Mars had a thick atmosphere and abundance of running water, apart from a global magnetic field and a strong volcanic activity.