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НА МАРСЕ БЫЛА ЖИЗНЬ? Владимир Сурдин — Transcript

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0:00Remember in school, we were taught that
0:03Mars is a barren red desert.
0:05You can forget about that. Today,
0:07scientists know for sure that there is
0:09water on Mars, and plenty of it.
0:13It hides in the form of giant glaciers
0:15right beneath the dusty surface, freezes
0:18at the poles, and perhaps even lurks
0:20deep underground as salty lakes.
0:23But the main discovery of recent years,
0:26according to data from NASA rovers and
0:28Russian-European orbital probes, is that
0:31billions of years ago a vast, stormy
0:33ocean splashed on the Red Planet, and a
0:36Chinese rover even found traces of an
0:38ancient beach.
0:40And wherever there was liquid water,
0:42there were all the conditions for
0:44organic life to emerge. Was there life
0:47on Mars?
0:48And even crazier: are Martian microbes
0:50hiding beneath the surface?
0:52Right now, as you watch this video, this
0:55is the "Not Earthly" podcast. I am your
0:57host, Vladimir Tsurdin. In this episode
1:00, we will analyze the latest data from
1:02space missions.
1:04We will look under the Martian ice and
1:06find out why humanity is so obsessed
1:08with the search for Martian water.
1:10If you are interested in this topic,
1:13please like this video. And we begin.
1:23Long ago, back in the 19th century,
1:25astronomers became convinced that there
1:27was water on Mars.
1:29Do you think it's only today that we’ve
1:31been searching for it and can't seem to
1:32find it? Yes, it was discovered back in
1:34the 19th century. And do you know how?
1:36Even today, any amateur astronomer with
1:39a small telescope during Mars opposition
1:42, when it gets closer to Earth, can look
1:45at the Red Planet and see small white
1:48spots in the north and south, that is,
1:51at the north and south poles.
1:54So, these white spots long ago proved to
1:57astronomers that there are frozen gases
1:59on Mars.
2:01For quite a long time, astronomers had
2:04doubts about what exactly was frozen at
2:06the poles of Mars: water or part of the
2:08Martian atmosphere, carbon dioxide,
2:11which turns into snow and ice at low
2:13temperatures.
2:15On Earth, it is often used in
2:17refrigerators and small boxes where ice
2:20cream is stored.
2:22In short, it’s a familiar thing. Well,
2:24we recently realized that there is both
2:27frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide
2:29at the poles of Mars.
2:31They just appear in different
2:33combinations during different seasons of
2:35the year, when it is winter on Mars—and
2:37they have winter and summer just like on
2:40Earth, meaning polar nights and polar
2:42days.
2:42And so, during the polar night, both
2:46water and part of the atmosphere freeze
2:49, falling as snow on the pole and
2:52covering the large polar cap with dry
2:55ice and snow.
2:58But when summer arrives, the polar cap
3:00shrinks, the wide area covered by carbon
3:03dioxide evaporates into the atmosphere,
3:05and the water ice remains untouched, and
3:08there is quite a lot of it there.
3:11For example, in the middle of the ice
3:14cap at the North Pole of Mars, its
3:16thickness reaches about 3 kilometers.
3:19It's almost like our ice dome in
3:21Antarctica. Well, it shrinks just a
3:24little bit at the edges. In a word,
3:26water was found in its solid phase at
3:29the Martian poles, but solid water is
3:31not exactly a suitable environment for
3:34life to develop. But is there water in
3:38other regions of Mars?
3:40For example, in the mid-latitudes or
3:42even at the equator.
3:44This remained unclear for a long time
3:46until artificial satellites began
3:49operating around Mars.
3:57The housing question has never left
3:59anyone indifferent, even the cosmonauts
4:01of the first squad.
4:04Alexei Leonov described in his memoirs
4:05how apartment buildings were being
4:07constructed in Star City for cosmonauts
4:09and their families.
4:11These were eleven-story buildings with
4:13four apartments on each floor. The
4:15Leonovs were given an 86-square-meter
4:18home. As Alexei recalls, back then, that
4:21was incredible luxury. If you didn't get
4:24an official government apartment, you
4:27can find a suitable option on Cian. Many
4:30people are choosing secondary housing
4:32these days.
4:33Well, to afford more square footage at a
4:35good price.
4:38And to make sure you don't overpay, look
4:40for listings with the "Good Price" badge
4:42.
4:44It is assigned based on Rosreestr data
4:47on the cost of completed transactions,
4:49as well as bank statistics and Cian's
4:52analytics.
4:53On the site, you can study every
4:56property. The listing card includes
4:58price trends and Cian's valuation.
5:01And if you go to the report, you can see
5:03price changes, market demand and supply
5:05in general, and the history of listings
5:08in the desired and neighboring buildings
5:10.
5:11Cian helps you move in. How do you buy
5:14an apartment on the secondary market
5:16without overpaying? Link in the
5:18description.
5:25But is there water in other regions of
5:28Mars? For example, in the mid-latitudes
5:31or even at the equator.
5:33This remained unclear for a long time
5:36until artificial satellites began
5:38operating around Mars.
5:41And here, one observation must be made,
5:43which for many years, I would say,
5:45remained in the shadows.
5:47Who actually researched and discovered
5:49the presence of water on Mars over these
5:52past decades?
5:54Well, you might say Roscosmos hasn't
5:56flown to distant planets in a long time
5:58.
5:59Our Soviet probes flew to Venus, to Mars
6:02, and many times to the Moon.
6:05But in the new Russian space era, no one
6:09has sent spacecraft to Mars.
6:13Yes, they haven't sent them, but that
6:15doesn't mean our instruments haven't
6:17flown on other countries 'craft.
6:19And I'll tell you, our instruments
6:21proved to be indispensable there.
6:23For many years, remarkable detectors for
6:27finding water beneath the Martian soil
6:31have been flying on board American,
6:35European, and joint Russian-European
6:38spacecraft. They were all created
6:41primarily through the efforts of
6:43researchers at the Space Research
6:45Institute in Moscow. Well, of course,
6:48with the help of other institutes too,
6:50because these are neutron detectors.
6:53They are different types. They have
6:55flown on lunar orbiters and several
6:57times on various Mars orbiters.
7:00They work roughly like this: when a
7:03stream of cosmic radiation hits Mars,
7:06consisting mainly of fast protons, they
7:09strike the Martian soil and knock
7:12neutrons out of it.
7:15The neutron is a very interesting litmus
7:18test that can tell us about the presence
7:21of water ice beneath the soil. How does
7:24this happen? Look, the neutron and
7:27proton are almost twins. They have
7:30practically the same mass. Well, the
7:33proton has an electric charge, while the
7:35neutron does not.
7:37But when a cosmic proton crashes into
7:39the Martian atmosphere at high speed, it
7:41knocks out neutrons.
7:44And here is the further fate of those
7:46neutrons. They fly off in all directions
7:48.
7:49At first with high energy, because a
7:51fast proton knocked them out.
7:53But then they have options.
7:57If a neutron hits the nucleus of a heavy
8:00atom, it bounces off it like a wall,
8:02meaning it changes its flight direction
8:05but loses almost no energy.
8:08The heavy nucleus doesn't budge, and the
8:10neutron simply scatters off it.
8:13Then the neutron continues flying at
8:15high speed, and we register it as, well
8:18, a fast neutron.
8:20But if a knocked-out neutron hits a
8:24proton, its energy is split in half.
8:28These are two practically identical
8:30particles. And a neutron, after striking
8:34protons, loses its energy and slowly
8:37exits the soil. And what is a proton? It
8:41is a hydrogen nucleus. And what is
8:44hydrogen? Well, it is the main component
8:46of water. Water is H2O, meaning it
8:50consists 2/3 of protons, of hydrogen
8:54nuclei.
8:56Therefore, when we register neutrons, we
8:58can find out what they scattered off,
9:01what they bounced off, what they
9:03reflected from.
9:06And this is exactly what the method of
9:08probing shallow layers of Mars for the
9:11presence of water is based on. Yes, it
9:14may be frozen water, but it is still
9:16water, water ice.
9:18So, many instruments, for example, DAN—
9:21Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons—worked on and
9:24still works on board the Curiosity rover
9:27.
9:28Curiosity has been walking on Mars for
9:31many years, and this DAN instrument
9:34registers the presence of water ice
9:37along the rover's travel path.
9:40One can also perform such studies from
9:43orbit, well, probing, so to speak.
9:46For example, right now, the FREND
9:50instrument—Fine Resolution Epithermal
9:54Neutron Detector—is flying on board an
9:59American spacecraft.
10:02Previous neutron detectors that flew on
10:05spacecraft in the past surveyed almost
10:08the entire Mars, identifying areas about
10:10300 km in size.
10:13Well, that is a significant part of the
10:14size of the planet itself.
10:16And we created a rather rough, but very
10:18interesting map of the permafrost
10:20distribution on the surface of Mars.
10:23At one time, Mars did not rotate the way
10:26it does today. More precisely, its
10:29surface was not oriented the way it is
10:32today.
10:33And the poles of Mars were not where we
10:35see them today.
10:37Today we see them actually at the
10:39geographic poles.
10:41And in the past, when Mars was young and
10:43geologically active, a geological bulge
10:46formed in the northern hemisphere of
10:48Mars.
10:49Today we call it the Tharsis region. It
10:53has four massive volcanoes on it. One of
10:55them is the largest in the solar system
10:57. This is that very same 26-
11:00kilometer-high Olympus. Remember, I have
11:03told you about it repeatedly.
11:06So, this bulge caused the surface of
11:09Mars to rotate.
11:11And now Tharsis has moved to the
11:13equatorial region. And along with it,
11:15the old poles.
11:18So, the previous neutron detectors
11:20noticed that the polar regions and the
11:22ice-laden soil had moved almost to the
11:25equatorial region of modern Mars.
11:29Well, the new poles formed where the
11:31axis of rotation of Mars passes today.
11:34And for the current FREND detector, they
11:37created a special, well, you could call
11:40it a lens or a field-of-view limiter.
11:44It is a waffle-like structure, somewhat
11:47reminiscent of a honeycomb, which limits
11:50the instrument's field of view and
11:53allows it to examine spots on Mars only
11:5740 km in size.
11:59And the map of water distribution across
12:03the Martian surface became much sharper
12:06, much more detailed.
12:08I will tell you later what very
12:10interesting thing was discovered with
12:12this instrument.
12:14In short, the Russian neutron detectors
12:17created at the Space Research Institute
12:20in the Department of Nuclear Planetology
12:23under the leadership of Igor Mitrofanov
12:25turn out to be the best instruments in
12:28the world for sounding water on Mars.
12:32And not only on Mars, by the way, but on
12:34the Moon as well. And in the near future
12:38, they will also examine the surface of
12:41Mercury and look for water there.
12:44Remarkable instruments. In the "
12:46Nezemnoy"(Unearthly) podcast, we discuss
12:48news about studying the Universe.
12:49Recording and editing a video is not a
12:51fast process. But there is time to delve
12:54deep into the topic.
12:56If you want to find out news about the
12:58study of the Universe and space
13:00exploration as quickly as possible,
13:02subscribe to our Telegram channel, "
13:04Nezemnoy Telegram."
13:06Subscribe so you don't lose us. The link
13:08is in the description below the video.
13:16So, let's get back to Mars. Water in
13:19frozen form exists on Mars.
13:22The question is: was liquid water ever
13:27on Mars? After all, liquid water, not
13:29solid, is needed for the development of
13:31life. Water is a universal biological
13:34solvent. Life does not form in solid
13:38water. Liquid water was on Mars.
13:41And we were convinced of this quite a
13:43long time ago, when we compiled the
13:44first topographical maps of the Martian
13:46surface.
13:48It has been known for many years that
13:51the northern hemisphere of Mars is on
13:53average lower than the equatorial and
13:56southern regions.
13:58And it is also much smoother. If you
14:01look at the maps of Mars, it immediately
14:04catches your eye that in the northern
14:06hemisphere there is a huge smooth plain
14:09, lowered compared to the rest of the
14:11terrain. And there are very few
14:13meteorite craters on it, which are
14:15numerous in the southern hemisphere.
14:17What is the reason for this?
14:19Few doubted that it was once an ocean
14:22floor.
14:23Admittedly, this still had to be
14:25verified, but it looks very much like it
14:27was an ocean floor.
14:29At some point, a very long time ago,
14:32about 4 billion years ago, as other
14:34geological observations show.
14:37But we did, after all, discover an ocean
14:40bed.
14:41The only question is when, how many
14:44times, in which eras, and in what form
14:47liquid water existed on Mars, because
14:50the beds are there, but the ocean is not
14:53. Moreover, there are riverbeds, but no
14:55water flows in them. And there are even
14:58lakes on Mars, or more precisely, lake
15:01basins, but they also have no water
15:04today.
15:06The work program for the latest American
15:09rover to arrive on Mars, Perseverance,
15:12was put together very well.
15:15It was landed in a crater that was
15:18actually once a lake. Yes, it is even
15:21called Jezero, which means lake. Well,
15:23it's an old Slavic word for lake.
15:26A large river once flowed into it.
15:30And you can clearly see how this river
15:32formed a delta as it flowed into this
15:35vast lake bed.
15:37Well, today there is no water in the
15:38river itself or in this basin.
15:41But when the river was flowing—and, by
15:43the way, this delta is very similar to
15:45the Volga or Nile delta.
15:48In both cases, we have examples of how a
15:51river carries sediments collected along
15:54its course, and it could have
15:57accumulated a large layer of ancient,
16:00multi-million-year-old deposits on the
16:03bottom of this lake.
16:05In general, deposits on lake bottoms are
16:09a very useful thing for geology. I
16:12immediately remembered a story here.
16:17Before the advent of modern geology, the
16:19age of our planet was calculated based
16:21on biblical legends.
16:23It was believed that a few millennia ago
16:26, God created the universe and the Earth
16:29. And, in general, these 5,000 to 6,000
16:31years were considered a normal age for
16:34our planet.
16:35And only when geologists began to study
16:38the deposits on lake bottoms and
16:41calculated how much sand a river carries
16:44and what thickness of deposits
16:46accumulated in ancient lakes, did they
16:49realize that our planet Earth is not
16:51thousands, but hundreds of millions of
16:54years old.
16:56This was a very important discovery.
16:58It forced a revision of many ideas about
17:00the formation of the Sun, the Earth, and
17:02indeed the entire universe.
17:05Thus, by using lakes as archives or
17:08museums of a planet's history, we can
17:10learn a great deal about it.
17:14And the fact that there was once water
17:16in these lakes also suggests that life
17:18could have developed there.
17:21And so, please, let's look at the latest
17:24data on this very Jezero, that is, the
17:27former Martian lake.
17:30It turned out that the Perseverance
17:33rover quite carefully studied the
17:35mineral composition of the soil it is
17:37roaming over in this lake.
17:40And it was revealed that water washed
17:43over this soil about three times in the
17:46history of Mars, and each of those three
17:49times in a different way.
17:51The first time, it was most likely water
17:54emerging from underground, perhaps in
17:57the form of some kind of geysers.
18:00The second time, lake water worked on
18:04its bed for a long time as, well, calm,
18:08normal, liquid water.
18:11And the third time, these were most
18:14likely hot flows stimulated by volcanic
18:17activity that emerged into the fissures
18:20of what was apparently a dried-up lake
18:24bed.
18:25So, three times in total. Well, at least
18:27there were three eras of minerals being
18:30washed by water on Mars.
18:33Which of them could have—or actually did
18:35—serve as a catalyst for the development
18:37of life, future research will show.
18:40But, at the very least, water appeared
18:42repeatedly. Where it disappeared to
18:45later, we have a fairly accurate idea.
18:48The main source, or more precisely, the
18:52main thief of water on Mars, is, of
18:56course, space.
18:58The thing is, Mars lost its magnetic
19:00field a long time ago, and the
19:03magnetosphere is what protects the
19:05atmosphere from drying out. Here on
19:08Earth, the magnetic field guards our
19:10atmosphere from solar plasma streams;
19:13otherwise, they would have dried up our
19:15Earth very quickly.
19:17And as long as Earth has a magnetic
19:19field, we can hope that our oceans and
19:21atmosphere will be preserved.
19:23Mars once had a magnetic field, but it
19:26disappeared quite a long time ago. Today
19:29, only residual magnetization remains in
19:32the rocks, which says: "Yes, there was a
19:35magnetic field, but it is long gone."
19:38For what reason? Well, the reason is
19:40almost obvious. Mars has a very small
19:43metallic core. And, most likely, it is
19:46already solid. Earth also has a solid
19:49metallic core, but it also has an outer
19:52liquid part. And a liquid conductor of
19:55electricity—metal—is the region where
19:57the magnetic field is generated.
20:00Mars lost its magnetic field, and along
20:02with it, it nearly lost its atmosphere
20:05and the oceans, seas, and lakes that
20:07evaporated into the atmosphere.
20:10But that is not all the water.
20:13Some of it went underground and froze
20:15for the same reason.
20:17Having lost its atmosphere, Mars lost
20:21its greenhouse effect.
20:23As you know, an atmosphere preserves the
20:25surface heat of any planet very well,
20:27especially Venus.
20:29And on Earth, the greenhouse effect is
20:31quite important, too.
20:34If our atmosphere did not have a
20:36greenhouse effect, Earth's average
20:38temperature today would be minus 25 ° C
20:41.
20:42The greenhouse effect adds another 40,
20:45almost 40 degrees.
20:46And today, Earth's average temperature
20:49from pole to equator is + 15 ° C.
20:51Thanks to the greenhouse effect. But
20:54Mars cannot say such a "thank you"
20:56because the greenhouse effect there is,
20:58well, minimal.
21:00The atmosphere there is so thin that,
21:02according to calculations, the
21:04greenhouse effect on Mars adds only
21:06about 7-8 degrees to the planet's
21:08average temperature, which is almost
21:10nothing.
21:12So, today's temperature on Mars is deep
21:15in the negative, and naturally, the
21:18water that remained near the surface has
21:22frozen and lies there as permafrost. But
21:25still, in the polar regions, there is
21:27water on the surface in the form of ice
21:29.
21:29And what kind of ice is it?
21:31Generally speaking, ice is an attractive
21:33resource. Imagine you have flown to Mars
21:36, dug up some water ice, heated it up,
21:40and it melted. Now you have water in
21:42your hands.
21:43But what kind of water will it be?
21:46Clean, dirty, or salty?
21:50That, of course, needs to be determined
21:52. Actually, we have already found out a
21:54few things about Martian water.
21:57The ice beneath the soil, the water ice
21:59, is quite salty and not very pleasant.
22:02There are a lot of perchlorates there.
22:04In short, it would need serious
22:07purification. But the ice that lies in
22:10the polar regions is practically snow.
22:15It is water condensate. It is always
22:18sterile, almost perfect, if not for the
22:21fact that there is a lot of dust in the
22:24Martian atmosphere.
22:27And here is an interesting story.
22:29Scientists have reviewed quite a lot of
22:33data on how Martian ice reflects light
22:36and how it changes the quality of
22:39reflected light during winter and summer
22:42. That is, as it thaws and refreezes
22:45slightly. And it turned out that Martian
22:48ice, water ice in the polar regions, is
22:52incredibly clean. There was almost no
22:55hope for this, but we remember well how
22:58the work of the first Mars rovers ended
23:01on Mars. Spirit, Opportunity, and the
23:04recent Chinese rover.
23:07All of them used solar panels as their
23:10source of electricity.
23:13There were calculations, which were
23:15confirmed, that tiny dust particles are
23:18constantly falling onto the surface from
23:20the Martian atmosphere.
23:22In general, there is quite a lot of dust
23:24in the Martian atmosphere. By the way,
23:26it is one of the reasons why Mars looks
23:29red.
23:30Any dusty air absorbs violet rays and
23:34lets red ones pass through.
23:38And so we see the Martian surface
23:41illuminated by red light. So, dust
23:44covered the solar panels quite
23:47intensively.
23:49For instance, the Chinese rover only
23:51worked for a year, as did Spirit and
23:52Opportunity.
23:53Well, Spirit didn't last very long
23:55either, just a few years.
23:56Opportunity got lucky.
23:59Dust covered its solar panels with a
24:02thin layer.
24:04They were almost out of commission, but
24:07strong winds during certain periods of
24:09Martian weather would blow this dust
24:11layer away, and the battery would work
24:14again.
24:16But, for example, some stationary
24:19landers with their solar panels didn't
24:21work for long.
24:23Well, they were unlucky. There was no
24:25wind, and dust covered their batteries.
24:28Therefore, there was an assumption that
24:30snow at the Martian poles was also mixed
24:33with Martian dust.
24:35In short, it would be some rather
24:37unpleasant frozen water. It would need
24:40to be filtered and somehow purified.
24:42What do you think? It turned out that
24:45according to calculations, if dust fell
24:49in the polar region as intensively as it
24:52does in equatorial areas, then Martian
24:55snow should have contained about 22%
24:58dust. Well, a whole lot. Dirty snow.
25:02Observations showed there is about half
25:06a percent of dust.
25:09And in some areas, well, for example, in
25:11the Korolev crater, a large crater named
25:14after our rocket engineer Sergey
25:16Pavlovich Korolev.
25:18So, the percentage of dust in the snow
25:21there is a fraction of a percent. Well,
25:23I don't know, it's hard to imagine any
25:26cleaner snow at all. Go there, scoop up
25:29the snow, melt it, and you'll have
25:32almost distilled, no, not almost, but
25:35exactly distilled water.
25:38So, there is snow in the polar regions
25:40of Mars.
25:41And it's clean. That's good.
25:45>> This is an unearthly podcast. New
25:47episodes with Vladimir Surdin every week
25:50here. Even aliens have already
25:52subscribed. Have you?
25:54>> Let's return to the great Northern Ocean
25:57of Mars. Calculations show that its area
26:00was almost equal to our Arctic Ocean.
26:04Wow. Yes, Mars is half the size of Earth
26:07, and its northern ocean was almost the
26:10same as our Arctic Ocean in area, but
26:13not in depth. In general, Earth's oceans
26:16are quite deep. You remember, of course
26:18, that the average depth of the world's
26:21ocean on Earth is 3.5 km.
26:24Well, there are shallower and deeper
26:26places like the Mariana Trench, but the
26:28average depth of our ocean is 3.5 km.
26:31And calculations show that the ocean on
26:34Mars was not that deep, about 300-400
26:37meters average depth. Well, you know,
26:40almost half a kilometer of depth for
26:42such a vast ocean is a large amount of
26:45water.
26:46Geologists had some doubts that this
26:50flat, low-lying area, the ocean bed, was
26:54really an ocean once.
26:57Do you know why? Measurements revealed a
27:00certain curvature of the coastline. And
27:05we understand that if it was ocean water
27:07, then the shore should have been, well
27:10, practically at water level. That is,
27:13everywhere at the same level.
27:16This confused geologists a bit, such a
27:18strange shore that is sometimes higher,
27:20sometimes lower, by several kilometers.
27:24But then geologists realized that this
27:26was a long time ago, about 4 billion
27:28years ago.
27:30And since then, as I told you, the
27:32geological history of Mars has been
27:34quite complex, quite active, and many
27:37processes, especially the shifting of
27:39the Martian surface, must have been
27:41linked to the deformation of the
27:43coastline.
27:45And this is exactly what geologists
27:47today believe explains why the shore of
27:50the dried-up ocean is not as level as it
27:53should have been.
27:55And the question of whether this is
27:58really a shore, it turned out, could be
28:00solved.
28:02You remember that not only American
28:05rovers worked on Mars, but the latest
28:09one to arrive was Chinese.
28:12The Chinese rover, which is called
28:15Zhurong, landed in the spring of 2021
28:18and actively worked until the spring of
28:212022 along the supposed coastline of the
28:25Martian ocean.
28:27And what did it find out? It discovered
28:29a very important thing.
28:32The thing is, it was equipped with a
28:34unique instrument called a geolocator,
28:37that is, a radar that probes the soil to
28:40a certain depth.
28:42Well, Chinese scientists say up to 80
28:45meters, but I saw reliable results from
28:4830 to 50 meters deep.
28:51Maybe it did scan the ground down to 80
28:53meters in some places, but it certainly
28:55did for several dozen meters.
28:57And what did it discover?
28:59That this was indeed a coastline.
29:02It was a beach.
29:05First, it detected features there, well
29:08, I would call them dunes, which we
29:10usually encounter on the shores of seas
29:13, and sometimes even lakes, when water
29:15rolls in and out, leaving behind these
29:18little mounds.
29:21Second, the slope of the coastline
29:25itself matches exactly the slope of the
29:28shores of our own earthly oceans.
29:33There is no doubt that this really was a
29:35former beach where the Chinese rover was
29:38driving.
29:39Admittedly, these coastal formations are
29:42now covered by a ten-meter layer of
29:44sedimentary soil, mostly Martian dust.
29:48But calculations show that over 3
29:51billion years, 10 meters of dust should
29:53indeed have covered the shore of an
29:55ancient ocean.
29:58So there is no doubt left that
30:00underneath a ten-meter layer of dust
30:03lies the former shore of the Martian
30:06ocean.
30:07This is now a scientific fact.
30:10Moreover, the way radio waves reflected
30:14off this ground indicates to us the size
30:18of the grains of sand lying there.
30:22Their size turned out to be from
30:24fractions of a millimeter to 1-2
30:25millimeters.
30:27This is typical sand on our beaches, as
30:30you can see.
30:31The Chinese rover did some very useful
30:33work. Although it was short, only one
30:35year, the ground-penetrating radar did
30:38its job. By the way, the same kind of
30:40ground-penetrating radar works on
30:41Chinese lunar rovers. Two rovers worked
30:43there, on the visible and the far
30:45hemispheres. And both of them also had
30:47ground-penetrating radars. As you can
30:49see, the instrument turned out to be
30:51very useful.
30:58We can draw some conclusions.
31:01There is water on Mars, but so far it
31:04has only been found as ice on the
31:06surface or permafrost that binds the
31:08Martian soil.
31:11By the way, the water-richest permafrost
31:14was found at the bottom of the giant
31:17canyon, Valles Marineris.
31:21This is an incredible crack in the
31:23Martian surface nearly 4,000 kilometers
31:25long and up to 800 kilometers wide in
31:28some places.
31:30And it's up to 10 kilometers deep in
31:32some areas; generally, it's from 5 to 8
31:34kilometers, with some parts reaching 10
31:37.
31:37Can you imagine? You could put our
31:39Everest into this fault, and it would
31:42disappear inside.
31:43The origin of this giant scar on the
31:46surface of Mars is not very clear, but
31:49it is obvious that it once contained a
31:52lake inside it.
31:54Well, in a way, it reminds me of our
31:56Lake Baikal. After all, Baikal is also a
32:00crack in the Earth's crust, into which
32:03water drains from the surrounding rivers
32:06. But the Martian Baikal, the Valles
32:09Marineris, is of course much larger and
32:12much deeper than Baikal.
32:15Water was once there, and judging by the
32:18geography, it seems the Valles Marineris
32:21was connected to the Northern Ocean, and
32:23most likely, water circulated between
32:26these valleys and the main northern
32:29ocean on Mars.
32:31But later, when the ocean was drying up
32:33—and it wasn't very deep, just hundreds
32:36of meters—water was preserved for much
32:39longer in the very deep valleys of the
32:41Marineris.
32:43Well, imagine, a multi-kilometer layer
32:45of water wasn't so easy to evaporate
32:47into space.
32:48That is why there was hope to find the
32:51most water-rich soil specifically there
32:55.
32:55And that is where it was found.
32:58It was a Russian instrument, a neutron
33:00detector, that discovered a very high
33:03water content in the soil along the
33:05floor of the Valles Marineris, from 15
33:08to 20%.
33:11And in some of the deepest places, up to
33:1440%, meaning that almost half of the
33:17soil there is water ice.
33:20Unfortunately, no spacecraft has flown
33:23to this location yet. It is very
33:25difficult to land there. Truly, it is an
33:27extremely complex task for engineers.
33:30But one day, we will definitely send a
33:33flying probe there. You remember that
33:36one electric helicopter has already
33:37operated on Mars. For a short time, it
33:40proved that one can fly in the Martian
33:42atmosphere.
33:43And now the most desirable destination
33:46for it is, of course, the floor of the
33:48Valles Marineris, where large remnants
33:51of water might be preserved in a frozen
33:54state, and where radiation is weakened
33:56because the high canyon walls provide
33:59good protection against cosmic radiation
34:01streams.
34:03They can only come from the zenith, but
34:05not from the right or the left. In short
34:07, the Valles Marineris is a promising
34:10place for astrobiologists, and I think
34:12helicopters will help them in this.
34:22But the question is, is there any liquid
34:24water on Mars?
34:27There have been some indirect
34:29indications that it occasionally appears
34:32, for example, on the slopes of
34:35volcanoes, on the slopes of steep
34:37inclines, Martian ravines, or deep
34:40meteorite craters.
34:43In the spring, when the sun warms things
34:46up, strange dark streaks appear that
34:49resemble a stream of water flowing down
34:52sandy ground.
34:55But the temperature is still well below
34:57freezing. What kind of water could that
34:59be?
35:00Calculations show that if this water is
35:03heavily saturated with salts, for
35:06example, certain perchlorates that lower
35:08its freezing point at low temperatures—
35:11just like how we scatter salt on ice and
35:14snow in winter, and it begins to melt at
35:17-15 ° C—then it could be water.
35:20But it doesn't last for very long anyway
35:22.
35:23Even if it has thawed and started
35:25flowing, it almost immediately
35:27evaporates and freezes.
35:30The thing is, Mars has very low
35:32atmospheric pressure, 160 times lower
35:35than on Earth.
35:37At such low pressure, liquid water
35:39cannot exist at all.
35:42It simply doesn't have a liquid state
35:44under those conditions.
35:46At low pressure, it is either ice or
35:49vapor.
35:51Both are present in the Martian
35:53atmosphere: there is water vapor, ice in
35:55the soil, and snow at the polar caps,
35:57but liquid water cannot exist at such
35:59low pressure.
36:00But what if the pressure is higher, and
36:02where could it be higher? Under the soil
36:04, at depth, and by the way, the
36:06temperature is higher there too. Every
36:09planet is structured so that it is
36:11hottest at the center and coldest at the
36:14surface. There is a temperature gradient
36:17as you descend; even on Earth, when
36:20miners go into a deep mine, the
36:22temperature is very high, and the deeper
36:25you go, the higher it gets.
36:28Therefore, there was hope that at great
36:30depths on Mars, the temperature and
36:31pressure would be higher, and liquid
36:33water might exist there.
36:36There was even a moment when we thought
36:38we had discovered a lake under the
36:41Martian surface.
36:43This discovery is linked to the European
36:46Mars Express orbiter.
36:49On board, it carried a long-wave radar.
36:53Since the radio wavelength was long, it
36:56could penetrate quite deeply beneath the
36:58surface.
37:00And there was a report that in the
37:03region of the Martian south pole, at a
37:06depth of about one and a half kilometers
37:09, a region resembling liquid water was
37:12detected.
37:14The reflection of radio waves was just
37:16like that from liquid water.
37:18For a while, we were almost certain that
37:21we had found a liquid lake under the ice
37:24cap, under the southern ice cap of Mars
37:26.
37:27It was very exciting. It somewhat
37:30resembled Lake Vostok in Antarctica on
37:33Earth.
37:35You know, under the ice dome of
37:37Antarctica at a depth of 3 km, there is
37:39a liquid lake, which is currently being
37:42studied as an example of what liquid
37:44lakes might be like on other planets
37:46underground.
37:48Well, we haven't found microorganisms in
37:51our Lake Vostok yet, and there was hope
37:54that they exist on Mars, but recently
37:56doubts have arisen.
37:59Perhaps it is not a space filled with
38:02liquid water, but soil saturated with
38:04liquid water.
38:06Like some kind of wet clay.
38:09In that case, radio waves would reflect
38:11in a similar way.
38:12But, after all, wet clay is not an ocean
38:15, it is not a lake where life can
38:17develop. Although biologists might
38:19correct me. In short, there are doubts
38:22for now, but it still seems that liquid
38:26water exists on Mars just below the
38:29surface, literally in the first few
38:32millimeters or centimeters of depth.
38:35Well, you might say: "But it's cold
38:37there, that can't be possible."
38:39It turns out that a mineral environment
38:41, that is, a rocky environment, can be
38:44permeated with thin channels where water
38:46—especially if enriched with
38:48perchlorates—does not freeze, and
38:50microorganisms can develop within it.
38:53Well, tiny bacteria. And there is hope
38:56for this as well. We need to search just
38:59below the Martian soil for the presence
39:02of liquid water and, consequently,
39:04living space for microbes. I would like
39:08to remind you that such an experiment
39:10almost took place.
39:12The point is that a drilling rig needed
39:15to be delivered to Mars to penetrate to
39:17a depth of about a meter, where cosmic
39:20radiation no longer reaches and where
39:22conditions for life—and thus living
39:25organisms—could exist in the soil.
39:28Such an experiment was conceived and
39:31almost implemented.
39:33For many years, Russian and Western
39:35European Mars researchers have been
39:37working together and preparing the joint
39:40ExoMars experiment.
39:42Its first part was carried out. A
39:44Russian rocket sent a European
39:46spacecraft, a Mars satellite, to Mars
39:49and placed it into orbit around the Red
39:52Planet. And it, equipped with both
39:54Russian and European instruments, is
39:57still operating today, over 10 years
40:00later.
40:02We have obtained wonderful experiments
40:04and remarkable results from studying the
40:06Martian surface and atmosphere over
40:08these years.
40:11The second stage of the ExoMars program
40:14involved a Russian rocket and a Russian
40:16lander, which was supposed to deliver a
40:19small European rover to the Martian
40:22surface equipped with our instruments
40:25and European ones, but most importantly
40:27, with a drilling rig capable of taking
40:30samples from a depth of one to two
40:33meters and testing them for the presence
40:36of living microorganisms.
40:39The launch of this mission was scheduled
40:43for August 2022.
40:45Of course, it did not take place. It is
40:48a great pity that politics interfered
40:49with science once again. And we are
40:52waiting for this experiment to happen
40:54someday. Well, perhaps not with our
40:58participation.
41:00Maybe our European colleagues will be
41:02able to, although they still haven't
41:04been able to carry out this experiment
41:06without our help.
41:08Maybe our Chinese colleagues will do
41:10something similar. In a word, we must
41:13drill into the Martian soil. We hope to
41:16retrieve living microorganisms from a
41:19depth of several meters.
41:21But for now, only traces.
41:23And it is interesting that just a few
41:26months ago, this summer, an article was
41:29published in the journal Nature that
41:31continued the investigation of strange
41:34spots on the surface of Martian rocks,
41:37which were first discovered by the
41:39Perseverance rover in 2024.
41:43They were given the provisional name "
41:46poppy seeds"—these are very small black
41:49dots or larger spots that were called "
41:52leopard spots" or patches.
41:55And they look very much like the result
41:58of microorganism activity. Of course,
42:00they are on the surface, and it is
42:03impossible to find any living organisms
42:06there.
42:07Mars is bombarded by cosmic radiation,
42:10but the results of this recently
42:13conducted study show that there are long
42:17organic molecules, carbon-containing
42:20molecules, there.
42:23This study was done in a very
42:25interesting way: remotely, using an
42:27ultraviolet laser, the luminescence of
42:30these molecules—fluorescence—was excited
42:32.
42:34And a special method, Raman scattering,
42:37allowed us to understand that these are
42:40long chains, resembling polymers.
42:43Strictly speaking, all of our
42:46terrestrial biology consists of
42:48carbon-based polymer compounds.
42:51This includes proteins and DNA, which is
42:54also a long polymer molecule. But
42:58understanding the structure and
43:00composition of these alleged polymers is
43:02not yet possible. This is quite a
43:05preliminary research method. They must
43:08be brought to Earth. Here we have a much
43:11larger instrument base, where we can
43:13study all of this more accurately.
43:16This is just a hint that, look, maybe
43:18these are the remnants of life that once
43:20existed on Mars, but they need to be
43:22brought to Earth.
43:25And there was such a hope.
43:27You know that as part of NASA's major
43:30Mars project, it was intended—and the
43:33first stage is already underway—to
43:37collect the most interesting samples on
43:40Mars, and then deliver a small spaceport
43:44there, I would say a micro-spaceport,
43:47with a launch pad and a small rocket.
43:51To load the collected samples into this
43:53rocket.
43:55The rocket would head to Martian orbit,
43:57transfer these samples to another rocket
44:00, which would then send them to Earth.
44:05It was a very interesting experiment
44:07from a technical point of view, but a
44:09very expensive, multi-stage one, which
44:11NASA, unfortunately, canceled.
44:14There isn't enough money for it.
44:17Chinese engineers are trying to repeat
44:19this story, but naturally, it will take
44:22them many years to create this entire
44:24system.
44:25And whether they will have enough money
44:28for such a complex, multifaceted
44:29experiment is also unclear for now. So,
44:32there is no point in waiting for Martian
44:34soil samples on Earth in the coming
44:36years. We need to work there. And some
44:39things have already been achieved.
44:41Besides these polymers, I came across
44:43another interesting piece of work.
44:46The same Perseverance rover, which is
44:49operating very successfully in Jezero
44:51Crater, an ancient lake, discovered
44:54something.
44:55I will read it directly.
44:59In the western part of Jezero Crater, a
45:02former lake, deposits of nickel have
45:04been found—nickel similar in properties
45:08and structure to Earth rocks formed as a
45:11result of microbial activity in the
45:13Archean and Paleoproterozoic eras.
45:18Well, you know that microbes often
45:20gather certain rare chemical elements
45:23into denser concentrations.
45:26Actually, thanks to this, we find
45:28deposits of metallic and other ores on
45:30Earth. I will quote to you what one of
45:33the researchers in this group said.
45:36While studying this region, the
45:38Perseverance rover encountered deposits
45:41of iron, sulfur, and organic compounds
45:44containing a record amount of nickel for
45:47Mars, with a share reaching over one
45:50percent of the total mass of these rocks
45:53.
45:54Nickel plays an important role in the
45:57life processes of Earth's living
45:59organisms, and its presence alongside
46:02sulfur and organics underscores the need
46:05to bring these samples to Earth.
46:08In other words, so far we have only
46:11stumbled upon something interesting, but
46:14the relatively simple field instruments
46:17operating on board the rovers are unable
46:20to provide a definitive answer as to
46:23whether these rocks are the product of
46:25ancient Martian life or the product of
46:28modern life—the kind of life hiding
46:31beneath the Martian surface and perhaps
46:34lurking at a shallow depth,
46:37just waiting for us to dig.
46:40I hope this happens soon.
46:43I wish the first drilling rigs would
46:45arrive on the surface of Mars soon to
46:48potentially retrieve actual
46:50extraterrestrial Martian life from under
46:53the soil.
46:54I truly hope for that.
46:57>> To ensure you don’t miss new space
46:59stories from Vladimir Surdin, subscribe
47:01to the Unearthly podcast and hit the
47:02notification bell.
47:04Let’s find each other in the cosmic
47:06vacuum.

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