Scientists look to Hawaii in the search for life on Mars

Earth is the only known planet in our solar system with life. In fact, it is teeming with it. But astronomers and scientists around the world hope to one day find life elsewhere. The only challenge is figuring out where to look.

That's where Hawaii comes in.

ScientistsGregSlaterandAllysonBradyfromMcMasterUniversity, with support from theCanadian Space Agency, are working alongside international researchers on the slopes of the Kilauea volcano in an effort to determine where future astronauts should look for pastor present signs of life on Mars. The research is part of NASA's Biologic AnalogScience Associated with LavaTerrains(BASALT) program.

While Saturn's moon Enceladus and Jupiter's moon Europa are also excellent candidates in the search for life bothhave water their distance from Earth makes them impractical targets.

• Elon Musk reveals plan to get humans to Mars within 10 years
• Check out this 360-degree view of Mars from the planet's surface

But then there's Mars the planet next door. Scientists believe that, about 4.3 billion years ago, an ocean covered a large part of the red planet's northern hemisphere, and rivers and streams flowed. Most importantly, its magnetic field which is barely there today was healthy, allowing for the possibility of life to thrive on its surface.

If life did once exist on Mars (or still does), it hasn't made itself readily visible. Some scientists believe that if life exists in the present environment, it may lie far below the surfacein order to protect itself from the harsh radiation that rains down on the planet, a result of Mars' weak magnetic field.

Buton a planet where thesurface is an expansive rocky desert, the challenge becomes ascertaining which rocks might hold the marker of life within them.

"If we're going to send humans to the moon to search, [and] we tell them, 'Go grab a rock,' they're going to say,'Great..which rock?'" said Allyson Brady, a post-doc fellow atMcMasterUniversity. "You have the whole planet to choose from."

It's all about basalt

The life the scientists are searching for isn't the type created by photosynthesis. Rather, it might present itself as bacteria trapped in basalt rock.

On Mars basalt rock was formed billions of years ago by volcanic eruptions, and is similar to more recently formed rocks at Kilauea,making the area a great proving groundfor researchers.

"We're making some assumptions, but you have to start somewhere," said Brady.

The challenge is determining if the bacteria is biotic orabiotic biologicalrather than physical. Some proteins, such as amino acids found on meteorites, can beabiotic. So the scientists need to look for biomarkers, specifically those using chemical compounds as energy. Rather than take in sunlight and convert it into energy the way plants and animals do, these types of "extremophiles" live in harsh environments utilizing other chemicals around them.

Many challenges

The Hawaiian mission was designed to simulate anactual Mars mission. The teams used aerial data similar to whatthey might get from a satellite orbiting Mars. Then, "astronauts" searchedfor basalt rocks, while themission control team that would be on Earth had to endure the time-delay that could be anywhere from five to 15 minutes to communicate with the astronauts.

To compensate for the delay,the teams were tasked with various assignments throughout that day toensurethey weren't just sitting around awaiting an answer to a question about a particular task.

Another challengeis determining which types of basalt rock porous or non-porous, for example are most likely to contain evidence ofbacterial life.

This is the second such mission, with an earlier one having taken place in Idaho's Craters of the Moon National Parkin 2015.

• Mars: from God of War to habitable planet: Bob McDonald
• Liquid water found on Mars's surface

While there are no firm plans to send humans to Mars in the near future, NASA is aiming to send the Orion spacecraft to Mars by the 2030s. SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk also outlined a bold vision to send humans to the red planet. But even if there are no human missions planned near-term, the research being conducted this month could still help future Mars-bound spacecraft, providing engineers and scientists with a better idea of where to set a rover or spacecraftdown.

"There's a lot of good evidence that Mars was like Earth a long time ago," said Brady"I think it would be surprising if some microbial life somewhere didn't exist in the universe."

• Scientists exit Hawaii dome after yearlong Mars simulation
• The coolest Mars rover pics