Nasa thinks alien life might be hiding UNDERGROUND in ancient caves on Mars

02/24/2020

SCIENTISTS think if there is life on Mars it's likely to be hidden in deep underground caves.

This theory is supported by Nasa experts and the US space agency will be sending a new rover to the red planet this summer.

According to Space.com, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory research scientist Vlada Stamenković explained the Martian underground life theory at a recent space event.

Speaking at the Mars Extant Life conference, Stamenković reportedly said: "The surface of Mars is a very oxidizing, radiation-heavy environment where liquid water is not really stable for an extended amount of time.

"It’s the worst place to look for life-sites on Mars.

"Groundwater might be the only habitat for extant life on Mars, if it still exists today."

Some scientists think that agile robots should be made that could try and explore the cave systems on Mars.

More than 1,000 potential cave entrances have been mapped on Mars by the US Geological Survey's (USGS) Astrogeology Science Center.

Building nimble robots to enter all these potential caves would be costly and intricate.

However, Stamenković has proposed that Nasa could use a rover that could sense underground groundwater or chemicals associated with life from the surface.

This would make it easier to target specific areas that life is most likely to be found.

Nasa intends to send its WED rover to Mars later this year.

The plan is for the 2,260-pound space probe to gather new events of life that's alive or extinct and send Martian samples back to Earth.

Nasa also has plans to send humans to Mars in the mid-2030s.

Mars facts

Here's what you need to know about the red planet…

Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun
It is named after the Roman god of war
The landmass of Mars is very similar to Earth but due to the difference in gravity you could jump three times higher there than you can here
Mars is mountainous and hosts the tallest mountain known in the Solar System called Olympus Mons, which is three times higher than Everest
Mars is considered to be the second most habitable planet after Earth
It takes the planet 687 Earth days to orbit the Sun
So far, there has been 39 missions to Mars but only 16 of these have been successful

In other space news, a martian moon mining mission millions of miles from Earth has been given the go-ahead.

A supersonic 990mph Nasa X-plane as quiet as the "thump of a car door" is nearly ready.

And, Nasa recently revealed a surreal photo of Earth taken from 4billion miles away.

What do you make of the alien life cave theory? Let us know in the comments…

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