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    Alien life could survive in Mars ice for 50 million years. Here's what it means for future missions | A team of scientists say their study shows fragments of molecules that make up proteins in E. coli bacteria, if present in Mars’s permafrost and ice caps, could survive for over 50 million years.
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    Alien life could survive in Mars ice for 50 million years. Here’s what it means for future missions | A team of scientists say their study shows fragments of molecules that make up proteins in E. coli bacteria, if present in Mars’s permafrost and ice caps, could survive for over 50 million years.


    Alien life could survive in Mars ice for 50 million years. Here’s what it means for future missions | A team of scientists say their study shows fragments of molecules that make up proteins in E. coli bacteria, if present in Mars’s permafrost and ice caps, could survive for over 50 million years.

    https://www.skyatnightmagazine.com/news/alien-life-mars-ice

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    1. Wealist on

      NASA and ESA where to look: deep, cold, stable regions like the polar ice caps or buried glaciers.

      They’ll need sterile drilling tech to avoid contamination and preserve those ancient biomolecules.

    2. Adeldor on

      Old as that might sound, it’s still geologically very recent relative to the age of the planet. Further, open water apparently disappeared around 3 billion years ago (60 times older), although I suspect some microbial life might survive underground for some time after that.

    3. Maelaina33 on

      Could, maybe, perhaps. Nothing is certain. I don’t think there’s ever been any life on that frozen rock.

    4. econopotamus on

      “Fragments of molecules of life” is vert different from “Life” surviving. Keep in mind that natural atomic decay cuts apart large complex molecules on *much* shorter timescales than that.