Life might have wiped itself out on early Mars.
But life on Earth evolved and persisted, while on Mars, it didn't., between 3.7 billion and 4.1 billion years ago, Mars also had surface water. If this is correct, Mars may have been habitable
The paper says that the microbes would've thrived in the porous, briny rock that sheltered them from UV radiation and cosmic rays. The underground environment would've also provided a diffuse atmosphere and a moderated temperature that allowed methanogens to persist.and produce methane as waste. This type of methanogenesis was one of the earliest metabolisms to evolve on Earth.
The research team used models of Mars' climate, crust, and atmosphere to evaluate methanogens on ancient Mars. They also used a model of an ecological community of Earthlike microbes that metabolize hydrogen and carbon. While the atmosphere held abundant hydrogen and carbon the organisms could've used for energy, Mars' surface was still cold. Not frozen like it is today, but much colder than modern Earth.
The team modeled all of the above and below-ground processes and how they would've influenced each other. They predicted the resulting climatic feedback and how it changed Mars' atmosphere. "According to our results, Mars' atmosphere would have been completely changed by biological activity very rapidly, within a few tens or hundreds of thousands of years," Sauterey."By removing hydrogen from the atmosphere, microbes would have dramatically cooled down the planet's climate."
According to the researchers, Hellas Planitia is the best place to look for evidence of this early underground life because it remained ice-free. Unfortunately, that region is home to powerful dust storms and unsuitable for rover exploration. According to the authors, if human explorers ever visit Mars, then Hellas Planitia is an ideal exploration site.
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