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Mars was once covered by 300-meter deep oceans, study shows
- docmechanic 4y agoWhen Mars was a young planet, it was bombarded by icy asteroids that delivered water and organic chemistry necessary for life to emerge. According to the professor behind a new study, this means that the first life in our solar system may have been on Mars.
- JoeAltmaier 4y agoEarth is, and has been, being bombarded by icy comets daily to this day. I wonder if icy asteroids did more to promote life than that?
- polishdude20 4y agoAnother theory that is much more likely is that life sprung up from hydrothermal vents which had the conditions to react non organic molecules to form organic ones. Check out Nick Lane.
- andrewstuart 4y agoI wonder if having the Moon was the critical factor for the Earth. The Moon's gravitational pull stirs the core of the planet and evens out the pull of the oceans across the planet. Maybe it's this stability that matters in the creation of long term water and stability. By way of comparison, Venus, a planet similar to Earth without a comparable moon has a surface and atmosphere like living hell.
- headcanon 4y agoI've been thinking about that a bit. It makes me wonder if the best way to terraform Mars would be to pull Ceres into orbit around Mars to "stir the pot" so to speak and help it build a thicker and richer atmosphere. Obviously this would require a lot of reaction mass and patience but I wonder if it would be possible to "reboot" a planet's core that way. You could of course try bombarding it with a bunch of asteroids too but that seems wasteful given how rich in minerals they are.
- deleted 4y ago[deleted]
- andrewstuart 4y agoMaybe Mars lacks the gravity to hold the sort of atmosphere humans like.