Mars Habitable Hot Spots

Nili Patera The residue of hydrothermal vents on the flanks of a volcano on Mars could be signs of one of the most recent habitable environments on the Red Planet, researchers suggest. Scientists investigated data gathered on the Martian volcanoes in the Syrtis Major region of the Red Planet using a powerful spectrometer on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. They focused specifically on deposits near the relatively young Nili Patera volcanic cone, which date back some 3.7 billion years.

When hot water flows through rock, it dissolves minerals, enriching the water with silica, or silicon oxide. When this water cools off and is exposed to air, a material called hydrated silica crystallizes, which is what the investigators unexpectedly detected in the deposits near Nili Patera. The discovery suggests that the vents once served as tiny habitable pockets on Mars where primitive forms of life, could have found refuge. "When you have water and heat, as you have at this site, you have the opportunity for habitability a place where conditions for life, if it was there, could have been supported," study co-author John Mustard, a geology professor at Brown University at Providence, R.I. "The fan shape of the deposits and their location in and around a volcanic cone also suggest they came from a hydrothermal system, he added. On Earth, scientists think hydrothermal environments with silica deposits have significant potential for preserving microbial fossils. Thanks to Space.com and journal Nature Geosciences.

Dr. Levin says Viking Lander found life on Mars

I spoke with Dr. Gilbert Levin who designed the Viking Lander laboratories tests for life on Mars. We both agreed that Mars has life and for some reason JPL is reluctant to admit it, and is only slowly releasing crucial scientific data to support Mars life? It may be the result of a Brooking's Institute report that the discovery of intelligent life could cause a world wide crisis.

In 1997, Biospherics' President and CEO, Dr. Gilbert V. Levin, announced his new conclusion that his 1976 Viking Labeled Release (LR) life detection experiment found living microorganisms in the soil of Mars. Of all the many hypotheses offered over the years to explain the LR Mars results, the only possibility fitting all the relevant data is that microbial life exists in the top layer of the Martian surface.

Dr. Levin was hired by NASA to develop a laboratory to prove that life exists. He designed experiments that tested the soil of Mars nine times at two different landing sites under different temperature regimes and environmental conditions. All his data point to microbes metabolizing a nutrient solution and giving off an indicative radioactive CO2 gas.

The tests conducted on Mars were positive indicating life, but were not accepted. Dr Levin states, "We have waited ten years for all of the theories, experiments and results produced by the many scientists investigating our experiment to be reviewed before voicing a committed conclusion of our own, that there is life.

NASAs Viking Lander image showing lichen on rocks.