In a study published in Nature Astronomy, an international group of scientists presented a model for the development of life on Mars, and scientists believe that the simple microbes that fed on hydrogen and released methane existed in large quantities on Mars about 3.7 billion years ago, and the effects of these bacteria on the planet's atmosphere and climate made it impossible to develop complex life forms.
Researchers have developed computer models that simulated the ancient atmosphere and the lithosphere of Mars, and scientists have incorporated hydrogen-consuming microbes, such as those found on Earth at the earliest stage of the planet's evolution, into model models, and have shown that the same microbes that produced methane on Earth to warm the planet have acted in the opposite direction on Mars.
The ancient Mars was richer than the Earth's carbon dioxide and hydrogen, which produced a greenhouse effect by warming the planet and making it fit for early life. Because Mars is further away from the sun than the Earth, it requires more greenhouse gases to heat it.
The first microbes started extracting hydrogen from the atmosphere and replacing it with methane, which contributed to a slowing of warming, and as a result, the surface of Mars became an inhospitable red void, and the early germs had to go deep into the planet to survive.
One of the authors of the study, Boris Sotreya of the Institute of Biology of the Higher Normal School in Paris, reported to Space.com that hydrogen was a very strong heating gas due to the absorption effect of the collision of carbon dioxide and hydrogen molecules.
On the basis of modelling, scientists have identified three locations where Mars research missions can detect traces of ancient microbes, one of which is the ancient bottom of the Lake in the Crater of Ezero, where the Perseverance is already searching for signs of ancient life, and the other two are part of Ella's low plains.