Life on Mars may have evolved more than we thought

Researchers from Harvard University (USA) have discovered an "era of life" lasting 200 million years on Mars.

According to an article published in the scientific journal Nature Communications, a research team led by Dr. Sarah Steele from Harvard University (USA) discovered that Mars' magnetic field could last up to 200 million years longer than previous calculations.

That provides a decisive factor for the evolution of extraterrestrial life.

Mars may have more advanced life than we thought - (Photo: NASA).

Previous studies have shown that Mars was born similar to Earth, including abundant liquid water and a magnetic field powerful enough to protect everything — including life — from the harmful effects of cosmic radiation.

According to Space.com , planetary scientists once thought that Mars' global magnetic field died more than 4.1 billion years ago. This is because large impact basins were formed during a period of bombardment between 4.1 and 3.7 billion years ago.

However, Dr. Steele and her colleagues argue that those signs have been misinterpreted.

Their analysis of parts of the famous Allan Hills 84001 meteorite on Mars shows evidence of magnetic field reversals recorded by iron-magnetic minerals.

A computer model has reinforced this hypothesis, showing that the lack of magnetic field at the time of impact basin formation was not because the field had been turned off, but simply a temporary weakening due to a magnetic pole reversal, which has also happened many times to Earth.

The study also shows that with the new data, Mars' magnetic field must have existed until 3.9 billion years ago.

That's important, because those 200 million years overlap with the time when the planet's river and ocean systems were submerged in water.

So life here had another 200 million years to live in a favorable environment and may have had enough time to evolve further than we once thought.

Furthermore, if the magnetic field had disappeared later, the Martian atmosphere would have retained a similar state to Earth's significantly longer.

'This means that scientists' timeline of changing conditions on Mars may need some refinement ,' the team said.