Astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch suggests that, in the 1970s, NASA could have accidentally killed life on Mars on one of its missions.
In the 1970s, NASA’s Viking missions were one of the first attempts to search for life on Mars. Now, decades later, the German astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch suggests that these experiments may have inadvertently caused harm to potential Martian life.
In an article recently in the journal Nature, Schulze-Makuch argues that NASA’s approach to introducing water to Mars may have been a fatal mistake for any microscopic organisms present.
The Schulze-Makuch theory, which ZAP last month, focuses on Mars’ unique environment, which is incredibly dry and likely inhospitable to Earth-like life detection methods.
When NASA poured water on the Martian surface to observe its interaction with the soil, it was assumed that liquid water would support life, just as it does on Earth.
However, according to Schulze-Makuch, this approach ignored important differences between the two planets.
On Mars, any native organisms would have adapted to its arid conditions. Schulze-Makuch suggests that the introduction of water from Earth – not adapted to the Mars environment – could have been catastrophic for any potential microbial life.
Instead, the astrobiologist proposes that a better approach would have been to test with saltswhich could help sustain organisms in extremely dry conditions by retaining water for longer periods.
According to , the researcher points to the Atacama Desert, one of the driest places on the planet, where microbes survive using salt to store and manage moisture.
The idea of using salts instead of water to search for life is based on the fact that salt can extract and retain water, even in sterile environments.
This method, Schulze-Makuch argues, may have been more effective and less harmful. The German compares it to dry salting in the kitchen, in which the salt removes moisture.
