NASA’s Mars rover has discovered at the bottom of a lake on the Red Planet that dried up billions of years ago‚ conditions that could support life. According to a study published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets‚ astronomers analyzed data obtained by NASA’s Curiosity rover while exploring the floor of Gale Crater on Mars‚ where there was a lake of water billions of years ago. The rover found large amounts of manganese oxide in local rocks. This mineral is found on Earth in lakes where the right conditions exist for oxidation‚ resulting in the creation of manganese crystals in the presence of oxygen. Scientists believe that Earth-like conditions were present in the Martian lake. This may mean that life could exist on Mars‚ but it is not yet clear how so much oxygen arose on the planet. Due to the large amount of oxygen on Earth‚ which is created by photosynthesis‚ manganese oxide forms on the shores of lakes. It also occurs because microbes help carry out manganese oxidation reactions. But how such a large amount of manganese oxide formed in Gale Crater is not clear. The fact is that so far no signs of the existence of extraterrestrial life have been discovered on the Red Planet‚ and the mechanism for creating oxygen on Mars still remains a mystery‚ scientists say. There is a lot of manganese oxide on Earth and it is actively involved in biological processes. Almost all life on our planet needs manganese for one reason or another. There isn’t much oxygen on Mars right now‚ so scientists are puzzled by how the same amount of manganese oxide formed on the Red Planet that can be compared to the amount found in sedimentary rocks on Earth. According to scientists‚ strong oxidation conditions are needed to create manganese oxide‚ and therefore most likely these minerals were formed in the lake when Mars had a lot of oxygen in its atmosphere. Scientists says that the lake on Mars was habitable for a huge period of time‚ because manganese oxide takes thousands of years to form. But so far scientists do not know exactly where so much oxygen came from on Mars. It is likely that oxygen could have been released from icy deposits when meteorites fell onto the surface of the Red Planet. Scientists believe that if living microorganisms took part in the oxidation of manganese‚ then traces of them may remain in rocks that contain manganese. The post Conditions similar to those associated with life discovered on Mars appeared first on Anomalien.com.