A new study report published in the Journal Communications Earth and Environment has suggested that Mars was more cold and frigid than previous expectations.
The study report comes at a time when several scientists are exploring the possibility of ancient life on Mars.
Mars Was Once Extremely Cold
The new research carried out by soil scientist and geomorphologist Anthony Feldman and his team focussed on analyzing X-ray amorphous materials found in Martian soil samples collected by NASA's Curiosity Rover.
Researchers found that these materials collected from Mars' Gale Crater lacked a crystalline structure, which directly challenges the long-held notion that the planet was once warm and wet.
Later, researchers compared the Martian substances with soil on earth and found that the subarctic conditions of Newfoundland produced materials chemically similar to those found in Gale Crater, while warmer climates did not.
Researchers believe that these findings are directly connected to a history of cold climate on the Red Planet.
"This shows that you need the water there in order to form these materials. But it needs to be cold, near-freezing mean annual temperature conditions in order to preserve the amorphous material in the soils," said Feldman.
The Possibility of Ancient Life on Mars
Even though several scientists believe in the existence of ancient life on Mars billions of years ago, the findings of this new study report challenge it.
Even though the presence of water is crucial for life, the extremely cold conditions put forward by this research might have made it more challenging for life to develop or thrive on ancient Mars.
A few months ago, Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a teacher at a university in Berlin, suggested that humans had discovered alien life on Mars, but have unintentionally killed it.
According to Schulze-Makuch, NASA missions to the Red Planet fed water to the tiny creatures living in Martian soil, and they died.
"Imagine if aliens found you in a desert, and they thought you needed water. So, they put you in the middle of the ocean to help you. But that wouldn't work for you, right?," said Schulze-Makuch.
