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A 2021 study found that chemistry in some Martian rocks could provide enough energy for microbes in the planet’s subsurface—if groundwater is present. The researchers used meteorite compositions to model the potential, not to detect organisms or confirm liquid water on Mars.
What the meteorite study found
In “Earth-like Habitable Environments in the Subsurface of Mars,” published in Astrobiology in 2021, J. D. Tarnas and colleagues calculated whether radiolysis alone could supply chemical energy in groundwater-bearing environments beneath present-day Mars. The study’s conclusion is conditional: some subsurface settings could be habitable if groundwater exists there. Read the paper’s abstract.
The team used the chemical compositions of Martian meteorites to estimate what rocks in their source regions might provide. Those meteorites are evidence about rock chemistry, not direct samples of a known living habitat. The model identified differences among regions and suggested especially high potential in some settings, including rocks with abundant sulfides. A report by Chemistry World also highlights regolith breccias, meteorites derived from ancient crust, as promising in the model.
How radioactive rocks could provide microbial energy
Radiolysis is the breaking of chemical bonds by radiation. In the proposed process, radioactive elements in rock drive reactions in pore water and minerals. Water radiolysis can produce hydrogen, while oxidation of sulfides can contribute sulfate. Microbes called sulfate reducers can use these chemicals in metabolism, drawing energy from the reactions.
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The authors compared this possible energy source with microbial ecosystems in Earth’s deep continental subsurface. Their paper notes that groundwater in some such Earth settings can remain isolated for more than 106 to 109 years; that is context from Earth, not a measured duration for Martian groundwater.
What “millions of cells per kilogram” means
The paper says the modeled chemistry could provide enough redox nutrients to sustain up to millions of sulfate-reducing microbial cells per kilogram of rock. This is an estimate of potential supportable cell density based on the model—not a count of cells found on Mars, and not evidence that any organisms are present.
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What the study does not establish
- Groundwater at a specific site: the result applies wherever groundwater exists; the study does not demonstrate that it exists at any particular Martian location today.
- Life on Mars: the researchers modeled a possible energy source for microbes. They did not detect organisms.
- An inhabited meteorite source region: meteorite chemistry helps estimate what source rocks could support, but the meteorites are not samples from a confirmed living subsurface environment.
Brown University’s account of the study quotes lead author Jesse Tarnas: “wherever you have groundwater on Mars, there’s a good chance that you have enough chemical energy to support subsurface microbial life.” The groundwater condition is central to the claim.
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The result offers a way to think about where future subsurface investigations might look: assess whether groundwater is present, whether rocks contain radioactive elements that could drive radiolysis, whether sulfides can contribute sulfate, and how much redox energy the chemistry could yield. Sulfide-rich or otherwise favorable regions are model-based candidates for investigation, not confirmed oases or ranked inhabited sites. The cited accounts do not confirm a mission specifically designed to test these predictions.
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