--- title: "Here’s Why NASA Suspects Mars Life Could Be Hiding Underground" description: "If there's life on Mars, experts agree, it's probably beneath the surface. Finding evidence could require some lateral thinking -- or boots on the ground." date: "2020-02-21" modified: "2020-02-21" authors: - name: "Jon Christian" job_title: "Executive Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jonc" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-mars-life-hiding-underground" categories: - "Astronomy" - "Mars" - "NASA" - "Space" tags: - "exobiology" - "life" - "mars" - "the digest" --- # Here’s Why NASA Suspects Mars Life Could Be Hiding Underground ![If there's life on Mars, experts agree, it's probably beneath the surface. Finding evidence could require some lateral thinking -- or boots on the ground.]() *\Image: USGS\* ## Mars Life This summer, NASA plans to launch the most sophisticated Mars rover in history — a [2,260-pound behemoth]() which, if all goes well, will eventually send samples from the Red Planet back to Earth. A key hope is that the rover will gather new evidence of life, alive or extinct, on our planetary neighbor. But *Space.com* [attended a recent conference]() about potential astrobiology on Mars, and found that almost all attendees think that if there's life there, it's probably deep underground. ## Surface Tension At the Mars Extant Life conference, according to *Space.com*, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory research scientist Vlada Stamenković backed up the idea that if Martian life exists, it's [probably beneath the surface](). "The surface of Mars is a very oxidizing, radiation-heavy environment where liquid water is not really stable for an extended amount of time," Stamenković said. "It's the worst place to look for life-sites on Mars." ## Cave Canem Some scientists advocate building nimble robots that could explore Martian cave systems, but that'd be an enormously complicated technical project. More realistic, Stamenković says, would be for the agency to land equipment that can sense groundwater and chemicals associated with possible life — from the safety of the surface. Or, of course, to plumb the mysteries of subsurface Mars, we may have to wait until NASA's long-awaited plans to send humans to the Red Planet, [currently slated]() for the mid-2030s. **READ MORE:** [Scientists eye the Martian underground in search for alien life]() \[*Space.com*\] **More on Mars:** [*University Deletes Press Release Claiming Evidence of Bugs on Mars*]() ## Author I'm responsible for editing, assigning, and scouting at Futurism, as well as occasionally writing for the site. That work involves keeping an eye on a wide range of narratives and issues, but over the past few years I've become increasingly interested in how AI is shaping the future of media, the web, and information itself. My day-to-day often involves collaborating on reporting and commentary projects bylined by my colleagues, but I try to find time to do my own reporting as well; stories I've broken for Futurism have been cited by publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, the New Yorker, Wired, Ars Technica, New York Magazine, the Columbia Journalism Review, Bloomberg, and more. I grew up in Southern Vermont and attended Vanderbilt University. Prior to Futurism, I contributed to outlets including the Boston Globe, Vice, Wired, Slate, the Atlantic, the Outline, Ars Technica and more, and did stints in farming and food service. I currently live in Brooklyn, New York, and in my free time I enjoy pinball, word games, cycling, running, and music production. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()