Life on Mars: Asteroid impacts could have created LIFE as key ingredients IDENTIFIED

A study based on NASA’s Curiosity rover data shows how asteroid impacts could have created the right cocktail of chemical ingredients necessary for life. The study, published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, could also explain how Mars remained hospitable to life even after its ancient atmosphere waned. The identified key ingredients are nitrites (NO2) and nitrates (NO3), which are all forms of nitrogen needed for life as we know it to thrive. All of these chemical compounds were discovered by NASA’s Curiosity rover in a series lakebed and rivers known as the Cale Crater.

Dr Rafael Navarro-González from the Institute of Nuclear Sciences of the National Autonomous University of Mexico, who led the new study, simulated asteroid strikes with lasers to recreate the monstrous shockwaves resulting from impact.

The scientist found an early Martian atmosphere of hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide formed promising amounts of nitrates when hit with lasers.

Dr Navarro-González said: “The big surprise was that the yield of nitrate increased when hydrogen was included in the laser-shocked experiments that simulated asteroid impacts.

“This was counterintuitive as hydrogen leads to an oxygen-deficient environment while the formation of nitrate requires oxygen.

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“However, the presence of hydrogen led to a faster cooling of the shock-heated gas, trapping nitric oxide, the precursor of nitrate, at elevated temperatures where its yield was higher.”

The experiment was conducted in a closed laboratory environment, where leasers were shot into flakes containing the right mix of gases.

Infrared lasers were shot in pulses into the flasks, which were then analysed for their chemical compounds.

Mars today might be a cold and extremely hostile planet with an incredibly thin and unbreathable atmosphere.

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But billions of years ago the planet is believed to have hosted a much thicker atmosphere full of greenhouse gases like hydrogen and carbon dioxide.

Scientists argue the presence of greenhouse likely warmed to the planet enough to the point where life could have existed.

And if the planet’s atmosphere was rich in hydrogen, temperatures could have been warm enough for liquid water to pool on the surface.

Jennifer Stern, from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said: “Having more hydrogen as a greenhouse gas in the atmosphere is interesting both for the sake of the climate history of Mars and for habitability.

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“If you have a link between two things that are good for habitability – a potentially warmer climate with liquid water on the surface and an increase in the production of nitrates, which are necessary for life – it’s very exciting.

“The results of this study suggest that these two things, which are important for life, fit together and one enhances the presence of the other.”

However, NASA noted the exact composition of Mars’ ancient atmosphere remains a mystery until direct evidence of its compounds can be found.

But with new research using Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), scientists are hopeful they mystery will soon be cracked.

Christopher McKay, a co-author of the paper from NASA’s Ames Research Centre, said the presence of nitrates in Martian soil is one of the best indicators of past alien life.

He said: “SAM on Curiosity was the first instrument to detect nitrate on Mars.

“Because of the low levels of nitrogen gas in the atmosphere, nitrate is the only biologically useful form of nitrogen on Mars.

“Thus, its presence in the soil is of major astrobiological significance.

“This paper helps us understand the possible sources of that nitrate.”