Life on Mars STILL Exists Beneath the Surface, Claims Top NASA Scientist

HIDDEN lakes on Mars are likely to contain some form of life, a leading expert has claimed.

Beneath the frozen deserts of the Red Planet are likely to be pools of water which are home to life, the scientist who first detected liquid water on Mars has claimed.

Alfred McEwen, professor of planetary geology at the University of Arizona, says ancient Martian bacteria has likely survived throughout the billions of years beneath the surface.

He adds that this microbial life is probably similar to what resides in the harsh conditions of the lakes in Antarctica.

Additionally, the bacteria on Mars, if there proves to be any, will help scientists understand how life on Earth began.

Speaking at the Starmus festival in Tenerife, Mr McEwen said: The billion-year-old [geological] record of life on Earth is largely lost, but on Mars it’s still preserved.

“There is probably a connection between life on Mars and life on Earth.

“So the search for ancient life on Mars may really be a search for the origin of life on Earth.”

Mars and Earth likely transferred life between each other

He added that although life is unlikely to have thrived on the the Red Planet, the temperature of water deep beneath the surface would have been enough to sustain it.

Mr McEwen continued: “At a depth of a few kilometres it’s warm enough to keep H2O in a liquid state.

“So if there was ever life on Mars in the past, it probably survives to this day in these pockets.”

A discovery of alien beings could be key to helping scientists understand early life on Earth.

When life here initially began, it was at a point when the Solar System was congested with asteroids.

It is believed as asteroids would collide with Earth, small fragments of the planet would fly off into space.

A fraction of these Earth off-shoots would then crash into Mars, which would have transferred microbial life.

Mr McEwen continued: “There has almost certainly been ex-change of biota [life] between Earth and Mars.

“Mars is not very far away away. Martian rocks from impact can easily reach Earth; probably Earth rocks also reached Mars from impacts in the past.

“Life began on this planet four billion years ago when there were lots of big-impact events.

“Bacteria are highly tolerant to extremes of ultraviolet and heat radiation and to high shock levels.

“So micro-organisms could survive a trip between Earth and Mars.

“This raises the question; did life arise on Earth and get transported to Mars or was it the other way around?

“I think life was probably present on Mars from this exchange and probably persists underground today.”

It was only last year that Mr McEwen and his team found evidence of water on Mars, and even found that water was still flowing on the surface.