"This graphic shows the long-chain organic molecules decane, undecane, and dodecane. These are the largest organic molecules discovered on Mars to date. They were detected in a drilled rock sample called “Cumberland” that was analyzed by the Sample Analysis at Mars lab inside the belly of NASA’s Curiosity rover. The rover, whose selfie is on the right side of the image, has been exploring Gale Crater since 2012. An image of the Cumberland drill hole is faintly visible in the background of the molecule chains. Credit: NASA/Dan Gallagher" (ScitechDaily, Life on Mars? NASA’s Curiosity Rover Finds Prebiotic Clues in a 3.7-Billion-Year-Old Rock)
The new observations about Martian rocks uncover long carbon molecules. Those molecules can be the remnants of ancient life. Or maybe some other thing formed them. When probes research red planet. we can see ancient lakes and rivers.
Today those lakes and rivers are all gone. The reason for that is that the Mars' atmosphere is very thin. And that allows cosmic radiation to impact Mars's surface.
There could be bacteria or proto-bacteria on that planet. But then some cosmic catastrophe like an impact with some big asteroid or protoplanet blew lots of material from the red planet to space. And it's possible that this impact also pushed Mars away from its original place. But was Mars closer, or outer from the sun? That is a good question. Another good question is: how big Mars was before those cosmic catastrophes? There were many catastrophes in the Mars-planet youth.
"A view of Mars’s north polar cap, reconstructed from various spacecraft data. The spiral troughs that dissect the cap are visible. Credit: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Scientific Visualization Studio" (Astronomy, Ghost rivers, hidden lakes: The long search for water on Mars)
"A close-up of Mars’ south pole shows a thick ice cap, thought to be made up of frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide. Credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin/Bill Dunford" (Astronomy, Ghost rivers, hidden lakes: The long search for water on Mars)
We see only the last version of that planet. The Mars planet didn't form the entire Asteroid belt. But there can be some remnants of the Mars-planet's ancient lithosphere. Those river and lake remnants are formed after the last catastrophe. And it's possible that the cosmic ice ball hit Mars at that time. That causes interesting thinking experiments. The Mars planet's gravity is very weak. If we compare it to Earth's gravity.
That means the cosmic snowball would not heat so much as if it hit Earth. So those cosmic snowballs can carry protobacteria to Mars. The big problem is this. Where came from water. What formed those ancient lakes and rivers come from? If we think that the red planet has been heavier and bigger before it lost its lithosphere.
So, did the planet Mars impact with the icy moon or some icy dwarf planet like Jupiter's Europa moon? That can explain those ancient lakes and rivers. If Mars really lost its lithosphere in some impact it should vaporize the water and throw that water, what existed before the impact to space.
We know that the biggest asteroid Ceres is mainly water. So there should be other ice asteroids in the asteroid belt. The depth of those oceans is unknown. But if the water that formed the Martian lakes and rivers remnants we see came from somewhere else the best candidate can be the water dwarf planet like Europa.
https://www.astronomy.com/science/ghost-rivers-hidden-lakes-the-long-search-for-water-on-mars/
https://scitechdaily.com/life-on-mars-nasas-curiosity-rover-finds-prebiotic-clues-in-a-3-7-billion-year-old-rock/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ceres_(dwarf_planet)#Internal_structure
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars
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