Aliens could be living in ice on Mars, scientists say

Deposits could shield microbial life from the harm of the Sun, study suggests

An image from NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter of a gully in the Martian region Dao Vallis. The white areas in the centre of the image are believed to be areas of dusty ice similar to that modelled in the study (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona)

Microbial alien life could be found inside ice on the surface of Mars, according to a new study.

It is almost certainly impossible to live on the surface of Mars. It is hit by high levels of ultraviolet radiation that would be harmful to anything that tried to survive there.

But a new study suggests that a thick enough layer of ice could protect anything living in it from that radiation.

That life would need to be in a position where it was deep enough down to be protected from that ultraviolet radiation, but also at a sufficiently shallow point that it could receive visible light for photosynthesis.

In the new study, researchers modelled whether it would be possible for such a sweet spot to exist, given the dust and the kind of ice found on Mars.

They found that if the ice did not contain too much dust – 0.01–0.1 per cent – then there may be a region that would sustain life between 5 and 38 centimetres down. If the ice was cleaner, then the habitable zone would be larger: at between 2.15 and 3.10 metres deep.

The dust within the ice would also occasionally melt the ice, meaning that there would be enough liquid water to help with the photosynthesis required to allow such life to survive.

Holes formed by cryoconite on Alaska’s Matanuska Glacier in 2012. Cryoconite consists of dust particles that melt into the ice over time, eventually forming small pockets of water below the glacier’s surface. Scientists believe similar pockets of water could form within dusty water ice on Mars (Kimberly Casey, licenced under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0.)

The researchers caution that the new study does not suggest there actually is life within those icy regions. But they do urge that it becomes a key location when searching for life on Mars, and that they might be the most accessible places to find it.

An article describing the findings, ‘Potential for photosynthesis on Mars within snow and ice’, is published in the Nature journal Communications Earth & Environment.