--- title: "Ancient Life Caused the Destruction of Mars, Scientists Speculate" description: "Methane producing microbes on Mars may have thrived deep underground billions of years ago, but also may have wiped themselves out, a new study suggests." date: "2022-10-13" modified: "2022-10-13" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/ancient-life-caused-destruction-mars" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "Space" tags: - "life on mars" - "mars" - "the digest" --- # Ancient Life Caused the Destruction of Mars, Scientists Speculate ![Methane producing microbes on Mars may have thrived deep underground billions of years ago, but also may have wiped themselves out, a new study suggests.]() *\Image: Getty Images\* ## Waterworld A new [study]() published this week in *Nature Astronomy* suggests that, *if* life once existed on Mars billions of years ago, the planet could've been host to subterranean microbes that produced methane as a byproduct, known as methanogenic microbes. And since methane is a climate driver, the scientists say, those microbes may have irreversibly damaged the Martian atmosphere, wiping themselves out in the process. Today, the Red Planet is a cold and barren desert, but extensive observation and exploration has long revealed that the planet was once flowing with rivers, lakes, [and maybe even oceans]() — and therefore was once habitable, too. According to the study, the abundance of hydrogen in the planet's atmosphere could have sustained the existence of methanogenic organisms four billion years ago, right around the time when the Martian climate was best suited for supporting life. ## Underground Scene From there, Regis Ferrière, senior author of the study and professor of evolutionary biology at the University of Arizona, and his team, applied several models to predict temperatures at both the surface and in the crust, and how hypothetical ecosystems would've survived within them. "Our goal was to make a model of the Martian crust with its mix of rock and salty water, let gases from the atmosphere diffuse into the ground, and see whether methanogens could live with that," Ferrière said [in a press release](). "And the answer is, generally speaking, yes, these microbes could have made a living in the planet's crust," he added. Since the surface would have been too cold, Ferrière said, the microbes would have been most comfortable in the "upper few hundreds of meters" of the Martian crust. ## Blip on the Radar But while these microbes may have been thriving underground, their success was fleeting. "According to our results, Mars' atmosphere would have been completely changed by biological activity very rapidly, within a few tens or hundreds of thousands of years," said the study's first author Boris Sauterey, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Paris, in the release. "By removing hydrogen from the atmosphere, microbes would have dramatically cooled down the planet's climate." It's a tantalizing theory that illustrates how much we still have to learn about Mars' history — but our search for ancient life is far from over. **More on Mars:** *[Chinese Rover Finds Evidence of Ancient Floods on Mars]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()