Could Alien Life Survive on the Martian Surface?

The same mechanism that gives Mars its cliffs and canyons could also give it subsurface life.

Transcript

00:00When picturing alien life on Mars, what comes to mind is likely bacteria or simple organisms

00:08clinging to life on the surface of the Red Planet.

00:10But now experts are saying that a better place to look for it might be under the Martian

00:14surface.

00:15According to researchers for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence Institute, or

00:19SETI in California, there's ice that is melting under the Martian surface.

00:23But how do we know that and why is it important?

00:25Well, the researchers believe that subsurface ice is melting and mixing with permafrost,

00:30creating unstable terrain that's causing landslides.

00:32Those landslides, which the researchers say can travel at around 225 miles per hour, are

00:37thought to be the reason for the trenches and cliffs on the Red Planet.

00:40And we can see those.

00:41And of course, water is crucial for the survival of life, meaning water under the surface could

00:45mean life is down there as well.

00:47In an environment some say might be much like that of Antarctica.

00:50So how does ice melt on Sub-Zero Mars?

00:52The answer is salts.

00:54In a lab, researchers recreated Martian temperatures and conducted a study on regolith-like substances

00:59made of chlorine salt and sulfates, finding that a slushy water mixture could be produced

01:03even in temperatures of down to minus 58 degrees Fahrenheit.