Curiosity rover discovers that evidence of past life on Mars may have been erased

[Judi Lynn]

By Ben Turner - Staff Writer 8 days ago



The HiRISE camera aboard NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter captured this photo of the
Curiosity rover on April 18, 2021. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/UArizona)

Evidence of ancient life may have been scrubbed from parts of Mars, a new NASA study has found.

The space agency's Curiosity rover made the surprising discovery while investigating clay-rich sedimentary rocks around its landing site in Gale Crater, a former lake that was made when an asteroid struck the Red Planet roughly 3.6 billion years ago.

Clay is a good signpost towards evidence of life because it's usually created when rocky minerals weather away and rot after contact with water — a key ingredient for life. It is also an excellent material for storing microbial fossils.

But when Curiosity took two samples of ancient mudstone, a sedimentary rock containing clay, from patches of the dried-out lake bed, dated to the same time and place (3.5 billion years ago and just 400m apart), researchers found that one patch contained only half the expected amount of clay minerals. Instead, that patch held a greater quantity of iron oxides, the compounds that give Mars its rusty hue.

More:
https://www.livescience.com/mars-life-evidence-erased.html?utm_source=notification

[Wounded Bear]

1. That'll get the Ancient Aliens crew going, for sure...

[Effete Snob]

3. Could ancient Martians have erased evidence of their existence?

And, if so, does this mean they moved somewhere else?

Ancient astronaut theorists say “yes!”

You have to ask yourself, why would the evidence have been erased, and who erased it?

The evidence from NASA definitely indicates with 100% certainty that it could have possibly been the aliens themselves.

[Wounded Bear]

4. You been binge watching Ancient Aliens again?

It cracks me up that the "History Channel" plays a marathon of those guys every Friday.

Yeah, that stuff is real history.

[Effete Snob]

5. Perhaps the answer can be found 2,300 miles away in Akron, Ohio

Every time the Amcient Astronaut Theorists say “yes” you have to take a drink.

Ancient astronaut theorist say “yes” and some of them even go further to ask “can I smoke some of that?”

[Wounded Bear]

6. Well, I don't drink any more...

and yes, that means I drink a lot less, like in not at all. Drinking games not my gig.

[Effete Snob]

7. Then have a gummy bear instead

[Wounded Bear]

8. Yeah, that'll help my diabetes...

not to mention my weight problem.

You're not helping here.

[Effete Snob]

10. Unsalted peanuts?

Gluten-free communion wafer?

[ret5hd]

14. Clay. The answer is "clay".

[Effete Snob]

15. How about a shot of Milk of Magnesia?

Although I think we recently increased tariffs on all farm products from Magnesia.

[Wounded Bear]

17. Well, this one went off the rails...

[exboyfil]

2. Men in Black are responsible

Hiding evidence of aliens.

[Midnightwalk]

9. Marvin doesn't like visitors

So of course he erased all evidence with his dis integrator gun

[Wounded Bear]

18. Indeed...

[Warpy]

11. On the surface, absolutely

Microbes have been detected deep underground in glacial lakes under half a mile of ice. That suggests that there might still be microbial life on Mars, but we're going to have to work hard to find it. The Martian biosphere might be only a few meters thick and under a mile or so of rock.

I would be more surprised if they don't find anything, honestly, lift tends to evolve into whatever environment it can exploit.

[NewHendoLib]

12. Kushner scrubbed the evidence? Barr???

[Sneederbunk]

13. Current inhabitants punking Curiosity.

[Worried2020]

16. Makes one ponder . . . .

.






W