NASA finds water and oxygen on Mars. But should we be excited?
Humankind's fascination with space is not just a tale of curiosity, but rather one of ambition and hope. Since time immemorial, we have viewed this vast expanse above us as the final frontier – victory over which will be proof of our ability to conquer the unconquerable.
Yet, despite such lofty ambitions, the fact remains that we have just only begun to comprehend the seemingly incomprehensible. Proof of this is our evident lack of knowledge about our immediate neighbour, Mars.
For the general audience, the Red Planet has been the center of many science fiction tales. It has played hero – and villain – in pop culture for decades. For astronauts, Mars is living embodiment of humankind's attempts to push the boundaries one rocket launch at a time. And for biologists and philosophers alike, it is the planet that arguably holds within it the answer to the eternal question – are we alone in the universe?
For what it's worth, recent findings by NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter may have just gotten us one step closer to finding it.
Trapped reserves of Oxygen
A new study published in the science journal, Nature, suggests there may be enough oxygen trapped underneath the planet's surface to support microbial – and in the future human life. Borrowing from NASA's findings, the study explains that vast reserves of oxygen might be trapped in salty water that possibly flows beneath the surface of the Red Planet.
Yet to be tested, the theory – if proven right – would not only exponentially increase the chances of sustainable human colonisation of Mars, but also increase the probability of us finding carbon-based living organisms when we finally get there.
We have for long been aware of the existence of water on Mars. Until now, however, scientists believed that it was not nearly enough in quantity to sustain life and only existed in the form of frozen glaciers on its poles. The recent findings by NASA's Reconnaissance Orbiter throws that theory out of the window, as it has captured images of excess water flowing out on the surface of Mars.
As we know liquid water and oxygen form the building blocks of carbon-based life that exists on Earth, and as such the discovery of vast reserves of these elements on Mars raises the chances of it being turned into a habitat fit for humans in the future.
How did the oxygen get there?
Despite the discovery, NASA has yert to say anything on how this vast amount of oxygen got trapped underneath the Martian surface. Many point to theories that this oxygen may have found itself trapped in the salty water billions of years ago when the Red Planet as we know it today wasn't a container for magnesium and instead had an atmosphere that had a functioning atmosphere.
Earlier, a research by scientists at Oxford University in London had theorised that Mars once had an oxygen-rich atmosphere about four billion years ago – nearly 1.5 billion years before Earth developed its atmospheric oxygen.
However, over time its atmosphere degraded and thinned so much that slowly all the atmospheric gasses escaped the planet turning Mars into the red magnesium rich piece of rock that it is today.
Why the Mars dream is doomed to fail
Which brings us to today.
Currently, the Martian atmosphere consists of heavy gasses, of which about 96 per cent is carbon dioxide, 1.9 per cent argon, 1.9 per cent nitrogen, and traces of free oxygen, carbon monoxide, water and methane, among other gases. Another important aspect – and arguably the most crucial one – about its atmosphere is that it is over 100 times thinner than what exists on Earth.
Despite the finding of new salt water and trapped oxygen reserves, the thin atmosphere coupled with Mars' low gravity may not only make the dream of human life outside a carefully controlled dome a near-impossible reality but also increases the chances of the trapped oxygen currently found on Mars escaping the atmosphere in the coming days.
Though the new findings no doubt open up new possibilities, but them being meaningful enough to make Mars a serious habitat for human and other carbon-based life forms looks unlikely.
But, as humankind has proved time and again, it can persevere in the face of adversity, and maybe it will do so again in the future when it finally conquers the unconquerable and gives birth to life on the barren planet of Mars.