NASA'S Opportunity Rover, older brother to the Curiosity Sends Back a new Pic. Is it a Breakthrough Discovery about Former "Life on Mars"? Or is it just another Pic of "Blue Barrie's" on Mars?. Looks like that Depends on Which Scientific Camp you Believe... Or Time Will Tell...

Don

September 14, 2012

Image of the Day: Blue Spheres Found at Mars' Crater --Were They Shaped by Microbial Life?

A discovery at The University of Western Australia that microbes helped shape rare spheres of iron-oxide on Earth may aid the newly landed Curiosity Rover in its search for the first verifiable signs of extra-terrestrial life in similar rocks on Mars. The spherical iron-oxide concretions shown above - dubbed "blueberries" - were first found on Mars in 2004 by an earlier NASA robotic probe - Opportunity Rover - providing some of the first evidence for liquid water on Mars.

Earth-based analogues for these "blueberries" are found in the Jurassic Navajo Sandstone near the Colorado River, Utah, where the concretions range in size from small marbles to cannonballs and consist of a hard shell of iron oxide surrounding a softer sandy interior. Previous theories suggested these concretions were formed by simple chemical reactions without the help of life.

However, new UWA research shows clear evidence that microbes were essential in their formation. This raises the possibility that Martian "blueberries" may not only reveal that water was present on Mars - but life too. UWA scientists David Wacey and Matt Kilburn used high-resolution NanoSIMS technology at the University's Centre for Microscopy, Characterisation and Analysis to show clear relationships in the Utah concretions between microbe-like forms and concentrations of biological elements such as carbon and nitrogen.

Mars 'Blueberries': Iron Baubles Spotted By NASA Opportunity Rover, Suggests Life Existed On Red Planet

The Huffington Post | By Sara Gates Posted: 09/14/2012 8:24 am Updated: 09/14/2012 8:36 am

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It's a question that has plagued scientists for decades: Is there, or has there ever been, life on Mars?

While the answer to that question has often swayed from a slight "maybe" to a definitive "no," the recent discovery of iron 'blueberries' -- small, spherical hematite balls -- by the NASA Opportunity Rover indicates that life may have existed on Mars millions of years ago.

These 'blueberries,' as they have been dubbed, were initially thought to provide evidence of water on Mars, according to LifeScientist. However, researchers from the University of Western Australia and the University of Nebraska found that similar iron-oxide spheres analyzed on Earth are formed by microorganisms. If the same holds true for Mars, the iron 'blueberries' could not have plausibly been created without the existence of microbes on Mars.