There is a theory that life on Mars became extinct due to this.
Mars exploration illustration. (NASA)
Hitekno.com – Self microbes It’s inside Marstheir unique “eating habits” probably played a major role on the red planet by being much colder than it should have been before.
Reported by Sputnik Newsthe apparently sterile and lifeless planet that is now Mars may have hosted life microscopic at some point in the distant past, French researchers speculate.
However, if they exist, they are likely responsible for the transformation of Mars into a remote desert, with the study’s lead author Boris Sauterey, a postdoctoral researcher at the Sorbonne University, saying that life “can in fact generally cause its own. death”.
During their research, Sauterey and his team attempted to use climate and soil models to assess the habitability of Mars about 4 billion years ago, when it was thought to have water.
The researchers concluded that, as on early Earth, hydrogen-feeding and methane-producing microbes likely thrived in Martian soil.
However, the alleged hot and humid climate of early Mars would be threatened by these microorganisms, as sucking hydrogen from the planet’s thin atmosphere would plunge the planet into an ice age, with temperatures dropping to nearly minus 200 degrees Celsius.
Noting that their findings may seem “a little depressing”, Sauterey said he believes they are also “very inspiring”.
“They challenge us to rethink how the biosphere and its planets interact,” he said.
