Martian Water May Have Enough Oxygen to Sustain Life
by Stephanie Mlot October 23. 2018 (geek.com)
• New research conducted by scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and published in the journal Nature Geoscience cites two recent Red Planet discoveries: heavily oxidized rocks and briny water, that could mean the existence of very small Martians. Salty water below the surface of Mars could hold enough oxygen to support basic microbial life and even sponges. It was previously assumed that oxygen on Mars was insufficient to sustain even microbial life.
• NASA, however, tends to avoid watery areas for fear of cross-contamination with Earthly bacteria. This means that most Mars rovers, including the upcoming Mars 2020 rover, are left looking for evidence of past life and not current life.
• Earlier in 2018, analysts confirmed the discovery of desiccation cracks in Gale Crater on Mars, which are the result of residue once saturated with water. NASA dates this standing water on the surface of Mars back some 3.5 billion years ago.
• Additional evidence of underground brine reservoirs came this summer, when researchers revealed a 12-mile-wide lake of liquid water below the Martian South Pole.
• [Editor’s Note] The drip drip drip of disclosure… now NASA is admitting to the presence of oxygen on Mars. It is common knowledge among SSP insiders that the Martian atmosphere contains enough oxygen to allow for shallow breathing by humans and indigenous beings on the planet surface.
Salty water below the surface of Mars could hold enough oxygen to support basic microbial life.
New research published in the journal Nature Geoscience cites two recent Red Planet discoveries—heavily oxidized rocks and briny water—that could mean the existence of aliens.
Albeit very simple, very small aliens.
“We found something very surprising,” according to Vlada Stamenkovic, a scientist with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and lead author on the paper.
“Many brines can exist in different places on Mars,” he told Popular Mechanics. “They fully suffice to allow the aerobic breathing for microbes and even sponges, which are the simplest animals.”
That’s great news for researchers and alien hunters looking for any reason to believe there is life on other planets.
Just keep in mind this study does not prove the existence of extraterrestrials.
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