Was the Red Planet ever able to support life?

We’ve always wondered if there is life on Mars, and while we have found evidence of water ice, finding proof of life continues to elude us. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t possibilities. We’re not talking about little green men though – it’s more like microbial or bacterial life. The intense radiation that bombards the planet would probably make life on the surface next to impossible, and now any liquid water would exist below the surface where it’s warmer. But there have been hints. For example, we discovered that the levels of methane in Mars’ atmosphere may have microorganisms beneath the surface as a source.

In the last few decades, a multinational team of scientists came up with a hypothesis. When the ice cap on Mars’ south pole thaws in the spring, there are visible dark patches called ‘spiders’. While some believe these patches are due to eruptions of gas and sand, they could be from photosynthetic microorganisms that live in a layer of liquid water. They dry and turn black when the ice melts, exposing them. With the Perseverance rover currently sampling rock on the Red Planet, we should get an answer as to whether Mars was habitable when the samples are returned to Earth.