Ancient Crystal from Mars Could Shed Light on Alien Life

[Disir]

This Ancient Crystal from Mars Could Shed Light on Alien Life

A tiny zircon crystal offers “direct physical evidence of large impacts, some potentially life-affecting” that persisted on ancient Mars, reports a new study.

www.vice.com

I think I am going to need to see something more. Because something could have existed doesn't mean it did.

 

[Fort Fun Indiana]

The only info gained from this is that there could have been major impacts on Mars after the bombardment eras. Nothing in that meteor is suspected to be evidence of past life on Mars.

 

[sealybobo]

This Ancient Crystal from Mars Could Shed Light on Alien Life

A tiny zircon crystal offers “direct physical evidence of large impacts, some potentially life-affecting” that persisted on ancient Mars, reports a new study.

www.vice.com

I think I am going to need to see something more. Because something could have existed doesn't mean it did.

“Arguments for habitability of early Mars by 4.2 billion years that are crafted around a decline of impacts at 4.48 billion years must be reconciled with these findings, as extinction-level impact events would clearly have modified habitability conditions and hindered development of putative life,” the team concluded.
Ultimately, scientists will need to study more samples from Mars to assess its ancient habitability. So far, the only Martian rocks that scientists have been able to study are meteorites that have dropped from the sky due to pure luck, like Black Beauty. However, NASA’s Perseverance rover is currently collecting samples from an ancient Martian lakebed that will be hauled back to Earth in about a decade, if all goes to plan.
Those precious cores could finally reveal whether any microbial creatures were able to flourish during the planet’s early years, perhaps producing a brief moment in time when at least two of the solar system’s worlds nurtured young life.