Life ruled out on Mars after 600 mn year drought

Toronto Telegraph (IANS) Sunday 5th February, 2012

Arid conditions on Mars for more than 600 million years may have been too hostile for any life to survive on its surface

Researchers led by Tom Pike of London's Imperial College have spent three years analysing data on Martian soil that was collected during the 2008 NASA Phoenix mission to Mars.

Phoenix touched down in the northern arctic region of the planet to search for signs that it was habitable and to analyse ice and soil on the surface, the journal Geophysical Research Letter reports.

The results of the soil analysis suggest the surface of Mars has been arid for hundreds of millions of years, despite the presence of ice and the fact that previous research has shown that Mars may have had a warmer and wetter period in its earlier history more than three billion years ago.

Pike explains: "We found that even though there is an abundance of ice, Mars has been experiencing a super-drought that may well have lasted hundreds of millions of years," according to an Imperial College statement.