<i>Earth used to exist as one giant hot ball and only after it cooled down life could have started to evolve. But Mars may have never gone through such an evolution and the question is – what does that mean for its atmospheric and the chance of life evolving there.</i>

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There was at least one period in Earth's history when all of its surface was covered in molten lava with a temperature of more than 1000° Celsius. This could have meant that important elements needed for the later creation of life got from the bubbling rocks into the atmosphere. And now we can also start thinking about whether Mars went through such an evolution as well. We used to assume that it did but the newest research shows that the opposite might be true. Yet, the author of the study – Francis McCubbin from NASA – says that even if it were the case we cannot say for sure whether it would be positive or negative for the chances of life evolving.

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McCubbin and his colleagues studied meteorites that came from Mars and from them they found out there are two main areas on Mars differ in how much of different kinds of hydrogen they have in them. And they say that if Mars was fully hot and molten in its past the samples would not differ and would be the same no matter from what part of Mars they came.

Nonetheless, analyzing the hydrogen is only one of the ways that can tell us whether a planet was covered with molten lava in its past and we will need to try other methods to confirm this research.

McCubbin and his coworkers used to meteorites in their analysis. One of them fell in Africa and the second in Antarctica. The first should have still been on Mars about 3.9 billion years ago while the second one is much “younger” - about 1.5 billion years. The corresponding ratio of different kinds of hydrogen was found on the current surface of Mars thanks to analysis onboard the Curiosity rover and after comparing these results with the material from the meteorites that should come from deeper inside Mars the difference was shown.

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Even if Mars was never so hot that it would be fully covered in molten lava that doesn't necessarily mean that the elements needed for life to exist could not get into its atmosphere. They could have been released over time through volcanic eruptions and hydrothermal vents. And there as some big volcanoes on Mars – just look at the 22 kilometers tall Olympus Mons.

So, scientists who focus on planetary astronomy will now have to focus to show whether analyzing other elements will support the hydrogen theory or whether it will disprove it.

<h4>Sources:</h4>
* https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-020-0552-y

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