NASA spots 'spiderwebs' on never-before-explored region of Mars that could be linked to aliens

NASA has spotted mysterious 'spiderwebs' connected a never-before-explored portion adjacent the equator of Mars.

The agency's Curiosity rover has been dispatched to probe these bizarre structures — which screen a six to 12 mile agelong of Martian desert — arsenic the instrumentality searches for signs that this agelong desolate satellite erstwhile supported alien life.

Geologists fishy that the spiderwebs are a gigantic mentation of a benignant of crystalized minerals, known arsenic a 'boxwork,' that look wrong immoderate caves connected Earth. 

Some of America's astir spiderweb-like boxwork tin beryllium seen connected the ceiling of Wind Cave in North Dakota. Its web-like shapes are created as calcium carbonate mineral h2o seeps into cracks betwixt softer rocks, hardens into crystals, and remains arsenic webbed latticework arsenic those different rocks erode implicit time. 

But the sprawling, implicit 3,800-acre wide boxwork connected Mars differs successful that it was apt formed by Martian seawater and whitethorn person trapped fossils of past beingness successful its web.

'These ridges volition see minerals that crystallized underground, wherever it would person been warmer,' according to Rice University geologist Dr Kirsten Siebach. 

'Early Earth microbes could person survived successful a akin environment,' Dr Siebach explained — making the 'salty liquid water' that created these Martian webs an perfect determination to find lingering fossil grounds of past alien microbes.

The find comes arsenic Australian researchers person recovered that a Martian meteorite, which crashed into Northwest Africa, provides much grounds of blistery h2o connected Mars. 

A chemic investigation of that meteorite suggests conditions were ripe for aquatic beingness to make connected Earth's nearest neighbour implicit 4 cardinal years ago. 

Ever since it archetypal parachuted down to the Martian aboveground connected August 6, 2012, Curiosity has been exploring the Red Planet for signs of life — arsenic good arsenic hunting for clues astir Mars' climate, geology and where each its past h2o went.  

But NASA researchers person been intrigued by the monolithic geological spiderweb for adjacent longer, ever since their Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter satellite first captured aerial images of this haunting scenery backmost on December 10, 2006.

How specified formations could look connected Mars' aboveground is inactive a mystery, but theories constituent to the climate chaos that stripped Mars of its h2o billions of years ago.

The likelihood that grounds of aquatic microbial beingness of Mars mightiness beryllium caught successful this elephantine web arsenic fossils 'makes this an breathtaking spot to explore,' Dr Siebach noted.

This web of imaginable dormant alien microbes and bugs rests successful the shadiness of a three-mile gangly mountain, officially known arsenic 'Aeolis Mon,' but nicknamed 'Mount Sharp.' 

Past explorations by the Curiosity rover person revealed galore sedimentary layers on the cliff faces of Mount Sharp, suggesting successful affluent item that it had been formed by h2o erosion via past water deposits.

NASA scientists fishy that this erosion helped signifier the elephantine crystal spiderweb, arsenic mineral-rich pulses of h2o seeped and cascaded down Mount Sharp into fractures successful the aboveground stone and past crystallized.

According to outer mapping enactment that Dr Siebach published successful 2014, astatine slightest 113.6 cardinal gallons of salty, lukewarm mineral-laden h2o would person been required to make the immense tract of crystal webbing, which is bigger than Los Angles Airport (LAX).  

'This is simply a important magnitude of groundwater that indispensable person been present,' she and her co-author wrote successful their insubstantial for the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets.

'Mineralization,' the benignant of crystal enactment that apt occurred here, 'is known connected Earth to assistance facilitate preservation of once-habitable environments,' they noted.

And successful Australia this month, scientists moving with Martian meteor NWA 7034, discovered aft it crashed into Northwest Africa, person recovered inactive further grounds that past lukewarm oceans connected Mars could person easy supported alien life.

'We utilized nano-scale geochemistry to observe elemental grounds of blistery h2o connected Mars 4.45 cardinal years ago,' planetary idiosyncratic Dr Aaron Cavosie said successful a statement.

'Geochemical markers of water' were discovered connected meteor NWA 7034, Dr Cavosie explained, based some connected the signifier of its rocky atom patterns and its chemic composition: 'tell-tale signs of water-rich fluids from erstwhile the atom formed.'

It's believed that NWA 7034 was ejected from an asteroid interaction connected Mars that created a crater successful the northeast of the 'Terra Cimmeria-Sirenum' state successful the confederate hemisphere of Mars.

A peculiar method utilized to day the property of incredibly aged zircon minerals via hint amounts of radioactive material, called 'Uranium–lead dating,' recovered that this meteor was made up of immoderate of the oldest Martian volcanic stone ever obtained.

'The squad identified constituent patterns successful this unsocial zircon, including iron, aluminum, yttrium and sodium,' Dr Cavosie said, 'Through nano-scale imaging and spectroscopy.'

'These elements were added arsenic the zircon formed 4.45 cardinal years ago,' helium continued, 'suggesting h2o was contiguous during aboriginal Martian magmatic activity.'

This substance of blistery and mineral-rich water, not dissimilar the hydrothermal vents that enactment beingness heavy successful Earth's oceans, constituent towards the anticipation that beingness was processing connected Mars billions of years ago, amid each this volcanic activity.

'Hydrothermal systems were indispensable for the improvement of beingness connected Earth,' Dr Cavosie explained, 'and our findings suggest Mars besides had water, a cardinal constituent for habitable environments, during the earliest past of crust formation.'

The Australian planetary idiosyncratic and his squad astatine Curtin University successful Australia published their results successful the diary Science Advances this past Friday.

In its decade-plus connected the Red Planet, NASA's Curiosity rover has trekked astir 20 miles of the Martian aboveground for clues astir the beingness that whitethorn person erstwhile thrived there.

Curiosity volition statesman studying the spiderweb ridges up adjacent successful 2025, according to NASA head Bill Nelson, wherever it volition enactment for a 'monthlong travel done Mars' boxwork.'