Cell-like structure found on meteorite suggests Mars was once habitable

A collaborative investigation of a fragment of a 1.3 billion-year-old Martian meteorite by scientists from the United Kingdom and Greece has brought forth more information that suggests that the Red Planet may have been habitable at some point.

Doctor Elias Chatzitheodoridis of the National Technical University of Athens found an unusual feature embedded within the fragment, known as Nakhla, and they found a “cell-like” structure, which investigators now know once held water.

Professor Lyon, based in Manchester’s School of Earth, Atmospheric, and Environmental Sciences, said that this resembles a fossilized biological cell from Earth in several ways but it was intriguing because it was undoubtedly from Mars.

“Our research found that it probably wasn’t a cell but that it did once hold water – water that had been heated, probably as a result of an asteroid impact,” said Professor Lyon. “It’s not too cold, it’s not too harsh. Life as we know it, in the form of bacteria, for example, could be there, although we haven’t found it yet. It’s about piecing together the case for life on Mars – it may have existed and in some form could exist still.”

Read more about the story at IFL Science.

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