Did humans accidentally destroy potential life on Mars? It's a wild idea, but scientists are starting to ask if our actions might have wiped out microbial life before we even realized it was there. Mars is incredibly dry now, but billions of years ago, it had water and could have hosted tiny organisms. If any of our rovers or landers introduced Earth microbes or disturbed the delicate Martian environment, it might have disrupted whatever lifeforms could have been clinging on. Plus, some experiments meant to test for life might have accidentally killed it instead, like exposing samples to harsh chemicals. It’s not certain, but it’s a reminder that exploring other planets requires extra care, especially when it comes to protecting their ecosystems - if they exist! #brightside Animation is created by Bright Side. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Music from TheSoul Sound: https://thesoul-sound.com/ Listen to Bright Side on: Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/0hUkPxD34jRLrMrJux4VxV Apple Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/idhttps-podcasts-apple-com-podcast-bright-side/id1554898078 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our Social Media: Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/brightside/ Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/brightside.official/ Tik Tok - https://www.tiktok.com/@brightside.official?lang=en Snapchat - https://www.snapchat.com/p/c6a1e38a-bff1-4a40-9731-2c8234ccb19f/1866144599336960 Stock materials (photos, footages and other): https://www.depositphotos.com https://www.shutterstock.com https://www.eastnews.ru ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- For more videos and articles visit: http://www.brightside.me
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00:00Mars is the Earth's space cousin. It's the fourth planet in our solar system, about half the size of the Earth.
00:07It also has two small moon buddies, Phobos and Deimos. These moons are shaped like potatoes.
00:13Phobos is the drama king, moving closer to Mars and planning a crash landing in about 50 million years.
00:20Deimos is much calmer though, hanging out farther away from Mars.
00:25Mars got a cool nickname, the Red Planet, thanks to its rusty red surface.
00:30This color was so bright that it was spotted by astronomers many years ago.
00:35Even you can sometimes see it in the sky with the naked eye, a small scarlet dot.
00:40And maybe it has hot vibes, but in reality, Mars is a very cold desert.
00:45The temperatures there can drop as low as minus 240 degrees Fahrenheit.
00:50But was Mars always nothing more than a rusty-looking desert? Actually, no.
00:55Scientists believe that perhaps many years ago, this planet was similar to ours.
01:01Meet Curiosity, the detective rover made by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
01:07Scientists want to know all about the Martian weather, landscape, and other stuff like that.
01:12Curiosity is a pretty heavy car-sized robot. It weighs about 1,985 pounds.
01:19It embarked on its journey on November 26, 2011.
01:24The rover pulled off a landing on Mars on August 6, 2012.
01:29Originally, Curiosity's mission was supposed to last for two years, but it's still going strong.
01:35Curiosity is basically a space lab on wheels.
01:39It's packed with cameras, spectrometers, radiation detectors, and sensors to sniff out the Martian environment.
01:46As Curiosity roams around, it rewinds Mars' history.
01:51And during its mission, the rover discovered something incredible.
01:55Signs of lakes and rivers from long ago.
01:59You see, Curiosity's favorite spot to play around is Gale Crater.
02:03It's a prehistoric Martian oasis where water might have hung out.
02:07There's this huge mountain in the middle called Mount Sharp.
02:11This place is taller than ten Eiffel Towers stacked on top of each other.
02:15And it's got layers of rocks that hold Mars' ancient secrets.
02:19Recently, scientists spotted something great when studying Curiosity's data.
02:24Mud tracks! What's so surprising about that?
02:28Well, these aren't just any old tracks. They're like messages from the past.
02:33They mean that the Martian ground used to get wet and then dry out again.
02:38The mud on the ground would shrink and crack during the drying phases, making these T-shaped junctions.
02:44Moreover, it seems like the ground on Mars went through several wet-dry cycles.
02:49It happened maybe up to ten times. This made the junctions turn into Y-shaped cracks.
02:55When a bunch of Y-shaped cracks got together, they made a super cool pattern.
02:59Something like a patchwork of hexagons.
03:02It looks just like honeycombs or even a dragon's skin.
03:06Each of these hexagons are the size of candy.
03:10Similar cycles have happened on Earth, and they're linked to the birth of life.
03:15When water dries up, it leaves behind concentrated stuff that's great for chemical reactions.
03:20And these reactions might be the same ones that kick-start life.
03:24These hexagons have been hanging around for a really, really long time. Billions of years.
03:29That means that Mars once had a climate kind of like Earth's, and maybe even life.
03:36In fact, the Red Planet even has some signs of water right now, in the form of hidden ice at the poles.
03:43Mars has the North and South Poles, and just like with the Earth, they're Red Planet's ice caps.
03:49Picture the North Cap as a big icy pancake about 620 miles wide.
03:54The South Cap is a bit smaller, about 220 miles wide.
03:59But it's got a thicker ice layer, almost like a snowball with a strong shell.
04:04When it's winter at the poles, it's an incredibly long nighttime.
04:08No sunlight, just chilly darkness.
04:11During that time, around 30% of the air turns into frozen CO2.
04:16It's dry ice, the same stuff that's often used in horror movies.
04:20But when the poles wake up to sunlight, the dry ice turns back into gas.
04:25All this freezing and thawing makes clouds and frost, just like on Earth.
04:30One time, a rover named Opportunity even caught some clouds made of water ice.
04:36But it doesn't necessarily mean Mars was once thriving just like the Earth.
04:41Life needs more than just wet-dry cycles to pop up.
04:44It needs the right atmosphere and other special ingredients.
04:48We're not sure if Mars had all of those.
04:50And even if it did, there's no guarantee that life actually happened.
04:55But this raises another very important question.
04:58Has Mars ever hosted tiny living creatures?
05:02Curiosity isn't the only robot that tries to find the answer to that.
05:06There's also a rover called Perseverance.
05:09It's trying to find clues about Martian life.
05:12It's digging into an old Martian crater once filled with water.
05:16And like a space archaeologist, Perseverance is searching for fossilized signs of ancient critters.
05:23And here's the funny thing.
05:25Some scientists think that we've stumbled upon it almost half a century ago.
05:29The only problem is we might have accidentally destroyed it.
05:33It happened even before Curiosity started rolling around Mars.
05:37Back in the 1980s, two cool NASA's landers, Viking 1 and Viking 2, made a pit stop on the Red Planet.
05:45These landers took a selfie.
05:47And then they also did some funky experiments on the Martian soil.
05:51All in the name of finding signs of life.
05:54What they found is some weird organic stuff called perchlorate.
05:58It's a compound that we use in fireworks or rocket fuel.
06:02But most results didn't seem that promising.
06:04They even mixed up some soil with water and nutrients, hoping that if there were Martian microbes,
06:09they'd snack on the goodies and return radioactive gas as a result.
06:13But unfortunately, that didn't happen.
06:17Now, here's the problem.
06:19Some scientists think that maybe the water they added back then actually destroyed those tiny Martian critters.
06:26Poor microbes were just hanging out and suddenly got soaked by a bunch of weird liquid.
06:32Something like this wouldn't be very pleasant for the Earth microbes.
06:35They live inside rocks, and they're sucking water from the air.
06:39Pouring water on them would result in a total disaster.
06:42So, of course, giving them nutrients after that wouldn't do anything.
06:46If you've just barely survived a water bath, you're probably not in the mood for a feast.
06:52Perhaps these Martian buddies might have something called hydrogen peroxide in their cells.
06:57It helps them live in an extreme environment.
07:00If that's true, it could explain all the results from the experiments.
07:04You see, the instruments heated up the samples.
07:07So, if there was hydrogen peroxide, it would have gone boom,
07:11wiping off the little guys and turning their cozy homes instantly.
07:15Imagine how ridiculous it would be if it turns out that we accidentally destroyed the only signs of life on Mars.
07:21Ideally, we need a new mission to Mars to test this theory.
07:25Let's hope it's not true.
07:27In any case, the journey isn't over.
07:30There are more missions planned for Mars, and humans might even visit this planet someday.
07:35The next mission is the Mars Sample Return.
07:38It's a super cool teamwork project between NASA and ESA.
07:43They're teaming up to bring back souvenirs from Mars, collected by NASA's trusty Mars Perseverance rover.
07:50There's going to be a whole bunch of spaceships.
07:53They'll work together to bring these precious Mars samples back.
07:57The samples are planned to arrive on Earth in the early to mid-2030s.
08:02And the fun doesn't stop at Mars.
08:05Our Mars missions are a warm-up for an even bigger adventure, exploring icy moons around Saturn and Jupiter.
08:12These moons have hidden oceans beneath their icy surfaces, and who knows what kinds of space secrets they're hiding.
08:19But whether it's Mars, icy moons, or beyond, our quest to find extraterrestrial life continues.
08:25In addition, we are slowly starting to find more and more organic materials on Mars.
08:31And maybe one day, we'll finally find some microbes in our solar system.
08:35Let's hope for it, and stay tuned.
08:43That's it for today.
08:44So, hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your friends.
08:49Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side.