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Mars Basalt

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One of the most fundamental questions in science currently is whether we are alone in the universe. All the terrestrial planets, such as Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars, show evidence of volcanic activities in their past.1,2 Mars is the only location where budgetary and technological constraints permit access and is also considered as having had the most likely planet for sustaining life.1–5 The surface conditions of Mars presently appear hostile to life,6 and thus we rely on evidence that the planet has been more hospitable to life in the past.7 such as the recent discovery of liquid water by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.8
The change to colder and drier conditions may have forced any ancient life to retreat into the subsurface.9,10 Alternatively, while Mars experienced significant volcanic activity, biological remnants may have been absorbed into ancient rocks, and some organic molecules as an indicator of life on Mars may still remain. Thus, the organic matter within the rock potentially contains information that can be used to determine the past or extant presence of life. On this assumption, if we could show that the production of new living organisms or organelles has occurred independently on …show more content…

This allows us to evaluate methods that will be required to detect past or present life on Mars. In this study, we use analogs on Earth and develop a test procedure with the aim of arriving at a method suitable for analyzing Martian crust

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