Was there life in the solar system on Mars for the first time?

Today we only know the Red Planet as a dry desert, full of debris and dust, but our neighboring planet was actually blue and – most researchers agree – covered in water. Opinions differ about how much water there was.

A new study from the University of Copenhagen now says that about 4.5 billion years ago there was enough water to cover all of Mars with an ocean 300 meters deep. Therefore, a team led by Martin Bizzarro believes that the first life in our solar system ever originated on Mars.

Did asteroids bring amino acids to Mars?
“At that time, Mars was bombarded with icy asteroids. That happened in the first 100 million years of the planet’s evolution,” said Bizzarro, a researcher at the Center for Star and Planet Formation. In addition to water, the asteroids would also have brought biologically relevant molecules such as amino acids to the red planet. These are responsible for the formation of RNA (ribonucleic acid) and DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) – the basis of life as we know it.

Around that time, according to a common theory, a Mars-sized protoplanet (Theia) collided with Earth, wiping out all potential life on our planet. Theia itself was destroyed in the process, and the resulting fragments eventually formed the Moon, which has been orbiting our Earth ever since.

Analyzed 32 meteorites for study
There is therefore really strong evidence that the conditions that support life on Mars existed long before Earth, Bizzaro’s team writes in the journal Science Advances. The scientists conclude this from analyzes of 32 Martian meteorites, which originate from the former crust of the planet.

“Unlike on Earth, where plate tectonics have erased all evidence of what happened over the past 500 million years, Mars doesn’t have these crustal movements,” Bizzaro explains. “That’s why these geologic records have survived on Mars to this day.”