WHAT DO MARS AND POTASH MINES HAVE IN COMMON?
Who knew? The search for life on Mars means looking down, not up. Scientists in the United Kingdom (UK) are conducting research deep below the earth’s surface in conditions similar to those on Mars. The ICL UK Boulby potash mine in north-east England not only produces almost half of the UK’s potash, it is also the site of one of the few facilities in the world where such research can be conducted.
The Boulby Underground Laboratory is a multi-disciplinary deep underground science facility operated by the UK’s Science & Technology Facilities Council (STFC) in partnership with ICL UK. Located 1,100 metres (3,608 feet) below the surface, the lab is one of only a limited number of locations deep enough for scientists to work where cosmic rays and other radiation cannot penetrate.
Termed “quiet places in the universe” by scientists, these locations lend themselves to a wide range of research projects, including the study of cosmic rays themselves, as well as of dark matter, the asyet undetected particles that make up 85 per cent of the universe. Boulby is also home to the Mining and Analogue Research (MINAR) project, which studies how exploration techniques and instruments will function on other planets. It is funded by the UK Centre for Astrobiology in conjunction with ICL UK Potash Ltd, the Crown Estate, STFC and the European Union MASE (Mars Analogues for Space Exploration project). Charles Cockell is a Professor of Astrobiology at the University of Edinburgh as well as director of the UK Centre for Astrobiology. His research focuses on understanding how life adapts to extreme environments, including examining how humans themselves would function. As part of the MINAR project, his findings may not only assist in the development of technologies to explore other planets, but also be used in the mining industry. “We are also testing equipment. Miners need lightweight, easy to use equipment similar to that needed for planetary exploration,” he said.
Cockell and his team are also examining how microbes extract energy and nutrients from rocks and what genes are needed for life to grow. “We are also undertaking studies of life under high radiation environments and in environments at below background levels of radiation,” he said. But, it’s the relationship between the underground research and life on Mars that piques the public interest. Cockell is one of the scientists working at the Boulby International Subsurface Astrobiology Laboratory (BISAL) examining whether life is possible at such depths and in the extreme saline conditions that mimic the surface of Mars. “Life in deep salts is very interesting and little understood,” he said. “We are looking at microbes to understand living organisms in an extreme environment. There are different pathways going through the salts with varying degrees of salinity. Different salts support very different communities of microbes.”
The findings of several NASA orbiters have led scientists to estimate that there may well be frozen water beneath the surface of Mars and that it may even flow intermittently on the surface. Any water that may be there is likely to be extremely salty, however, which is why the research at Boulby is so relevant.
A multi-million dollar (1.77 million British pounds) construction project is currently underway to replace the existing Boulby laboratory with a new, larger facility. Funded by the STFC, the lab will house the current experiments as well as allowing room for additional studies.
If there are similarities between the conditions deep under northeast England, so too are there similarities between the Boulby mine and those closer to home. Potash is one of Saskatchewan’s largest resources, and many of us are well aware that mining for the mineral takes place at numerous locations across the province. Some of those mines operate at depths and conditions that compare to those at Boulby, and may well be able to mine more than minerals. “It is a similar environment that could easily lend itself to this kind of research,” Cockell says of this province’s potash mines.
Whether or not life does exist on our closest planetary neighbour, scientists will continue to, as cinematic Martian Matt Damon put it, “science the s**t” out of the issue, looking both way up and deep down.