Did Humans Live on Mars Before Earth?
The prospect of life existing elsewhere in the solar system or wider universe has been
at the center of debate for decades. Given the millions of stars and worlds “out there”,
is Earth really the only one actually hosting anything? And even if it was found that life
doesn’t exist on other planets right now, could it have existed somewhere else in the
past? Somewhere relatively close to home?
This is Unveiled, and today we’re answering the extraordinary question; Did humans live
on Mars before Earth?
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Though it’s widely believed that Mars in its current state couldn’t support complex
life, there are various theories to suggest that ancient Mars may have been a much more
hospitable, habitable environment - perhaps at one point even more so than Earth was.
It’s thought that, more than three billion years ago, the “Red Planet” was actually
similar to what Earth is now in terms of climate and conditions, with vast lakes and warmer
weather patterns.
In terms of whether it ever hosted life, NASA’s Curiosity Rover has provided plenty of apparent
evidence that it may have - or at least that it was a possibility. Curiosity was launched
in November 2011 and landed in August 2012 with the primary goal of exploring the Gale
Crater - an area that’s now believed to have once been a sprawling body of water.
The rover’s mission objectives were (and still are) very far-reaching, but much of
what it does, collects, studies and records is done so that NASA scientists can try to
determine whether Mars could ever have hosted life.
First off, while navigating the Gale Crater, Curiosity discovered a host of specific molecules
and carbon chains which, according to NASA, could have contributed to the formation of
early life. Since then, during Curiosity’s further exploration of the Martian landscape,
it has found evidence of sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen and carbon; elements that
are also essential to life. We are, after all, carbon-based beings.
The puzzle is by no means complete, and at the moment there’s no solid, irrefutable
answer on whether life does, has or has never existed on Mars… But it does seem as though
early Mars at least contained all of the fundamental pieces necessary for it to happen. John Grotzinger,
the chief scientist behind the Curiosity Rover, has every confidence that Mars was once a
habitable planet - even claiming that the water that once filled the Gale Crater would’ve
been safe to drink!
It’s an exciting thought, but it also ignites another question: If life was initially on
Mars instead of Earth, then how did it eventually get here? Well - assuming for a second that
life at some point did, in fact, exist on Mars - the prospect of the two planets somehow
exchanging organisms might not be all that far-fetched, given their close proximity.
At the closest point in their orbits, Earth and Mars are approximately 34 million miles
apart. It is a massive distance, but not exactly insurmountable in the grand scheme of space.
And here we get to the panspermia theory, which suggests that forms of life exist throughout
the universe and travel through space mostly on meteorites. The chances of microbes actually
surviving such high-speed, inter-planetary, trans-star-system journeys are definitely
low, but studies have shown that it is possible. And we do already know that various meteors
from other celestial bodies have made their way to Earth. And that Mars has been pummeled
with space debris in its past, as well. So, if there’s even a grain of truth in the
panspermia theory, then it may well have played out on our planet and the “Red Planet”
- and, across billions of years, such events may theoretically have passed vital material
from Mars to Earth.
Much more recently, scientists like Steven Benner, of the Westheimer Institute of Science
and Technology, have added more fuel to the theory - arguing that, thanks to its store
of the element boron, early-Mars may have actually been a better place than early-Earth
for the creation of RNA or ribonucleic acid - an essential building block for life. So,
perhaps life really did develop on Mars first before travelling to Earth… Or, at the very
least, an adequate store of Boron made it to Earth via meteorites, to kickstart evolution
here.
It ties closely with the “Phosphate Problem”, which science has long been trying to figure
out. The problem posits that early-Earth couldn’t sustain the vital phosphates needed to create
life… But early-Mars could well have done. In 2013, shortly after Benner revealed his
ideas on why Mars may have been a better breeding ground for basic life, the university of Nevada’s
Christopher Adcock led a study which found that it was much more likely that phosphates
on Mars would’ve developed in water; compared to phosphates on Earth which weren’t as
compliant with water. So, seeing as we believe life started in water, Mars is arguably a
more likely early home.
As interesting and possible as it may seem, though, the idea that life existed on Mars
is still just a theory. And the jump from the Red Planet perhaps hosting early microbial
life to it being the long-lost-home for an ancient line of actual human beings that we
no longer know about is a massive one. Depending on who you ask, some form of life may have
existed (or may still exist) on Mars… But walking, talking, advanced, intelligent and
recognizable humans? Not likely.
For those trying to pinpoint the origin of life, though, Mars offers an alternative to
our own planet - with some claiming that Earth increasingly seems a more unlikely source.
But there are still plenty of questions hanging over Mars in general - not least, “what
exactly happened to its atmosphere?” While there’s still no proof that life has ever
existed or excelled there, the general consensus is that it’s at least possible.
What do you think? Is there anything we missed? Let us know in the comments, check out these
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