Presentations:Topic:Astrobiology:Life on Mars


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Title

Astrobiology and the Search for Life on Mars

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Faculty Member

Michael Summers

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Abstract

There are several planets in our solar system which are habitable for terrestrial bacteria. Bacteria that can live in extreme environments, known as extremeophiles, could in fact thrive under the surface of Mars. All of the essential ingredients are present on Mars: energy, water, and carbon. Even if such bacteria did not originate on Mars, asteroid impacts have transported billions of tons of Earth rocks to Mars over the course of solar system history. Terrestrial extremeophiles could easily survive such transport. The search for indications of subsurface life on Mars has already revealed the presence of disequilibrium gases that would be expected as metabolic by-products of terrestrial-type bacteria. We will discuss whether these biomarkers are indeed signatures of subsurface life on Mars.

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