NASA says there could be life in deep underground caves of Mars

NASA scientists have reportedly claimed that there could be life in the underground caves on Mars made possible due to some form of water supply on the planet. NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory research scientist Vlada Stamenković explained the Martian underground life theory at a recent space event.

According to reports, speaking at Mars Extant Life Conference, Stamenković claimed that the surface of the Mars was very oxidizing, cold and dry.  He added that a rover that could detect the subterranean groundwater and other chemical substance must be sent on Mars that could reveal signs of life to scientists on Earth.

Stamenković emphasized at the conference that whatever liquid may be present on the surface of Mars may not be stable for an extended period of time. He added that if it still exists for a longer time, extant life form would be possible to exist on Mars. More than 1,000 potential cave sites have been discovered and mapped on Mars by the US Geological Survey's (USGS) Astrogeology Science Centre, as per reports.

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NASA aims to gather Martian samples

NASA intends to dispatch WED rover in these underground caves later in the year to study the surface. The 2,260-pound space probe aims to gather Martian samples about events of life in the caves, extinct, or alive and send it back to Earth. This groundbreaking development comes after scientists discovered breathable molecular oxygen half a billion light-years away. Scientists discovered molecular oxygen near Ursa Major constellation, in a galaxy precisely 560 million light-years away named Markarian 231. 

Astronomers used millimetre astronomy and detected radio wavelengths of 2.52 millimetres emitted by these oxygen molecules. The astronomers had earlier made a similar discovery between two star-forming clouds within Milky Way, namely Orion Nebula and Rho Ophiuchi cloud, as per reports.

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