Scientists say Martian rock may hold evidence of life

Researchers say they have identified rocks that could hold four-billion-year-old evidence of life on Mars.

According to a scientific article published Friday, scrutiny of
clay-carbonate rocks in the Nili Fossae region of Mars points to
possible evidence of organisms that once lived on the Red Planet.

In 2008, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter determined that the Nili
Fossae, a region of valleys that have cut into the Martian bedrock,
contains carbonate.

The mineral, which forms in the presence of water, had previously been detected in trace amounts in Martian dust and soil.

Because carbonate is typically formed when the remains of dead
organisms are buried and preserved, the finding generated considerable
excitement in the scientific community.

Following this latest study, lead author Dr. Adrian J. Brown of the
Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute in California
said the indicators remain.

"We suggest that the associated hydrothermal activity would have
provided sufficient energy for biological activity on early Mars at Nili
Fossae," Dr. Adrian Brown said in a statement.

Using infrared light beamed from NASA's Mars Orbiter, Dr. Brown's
team closely examined the composition of rocks in the Nili Fossae area.
Then, they applied the same technique to rocks in Pilbara, Australia.

The Pilbara rocks, having remained on the surface of the Earth for
3.5 billion years, afford scientists the chance to examine evidence of
the planet's early geological history.

Of particular note are the 'stromatolites' formed in the rocks by ancient microbes and preserved there for billions of years.

Now the team believes that the same 'hydrothermal' processes that
preserved these markers of life on Earth could have taken place in the
four-billion-year-old Nili Fossae.

Comparing the composition of rocks on the two planets, researchers found they each contained similar properties.

"They indicate that biomarkers or evidence of living organisms, if
produced at Nili, could have been preserved, as they have been in the
North Pole Dome region of the Pilbara craton," Dr. Brown said in a
statement.

Nili Fossae was once touted as a possible landing site for the Mars
Science Laboratory NASA plans to launch in 2011. The area has since been
deemed too treacherous, due to its rocky, uneven terrain.

The paper "Hydrothermal formation of Clay-Carbonate alteration
assemblages in the Nili Fossae region of Mars" is published in the
journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

Ive heard this before. I dont think there is anything on mars honestly.

Don't you think there's like some secret alien technology there that will lead us to the Citadel?

Probably not.