• NASA study finds ancient life could survive 50 million years in Martian ice If life ever existed on Mars, its best hiding place may be frozen deep within the planetâ s ice • Future missions to Mars may want to dig into ice rather than rock • Scientists say ancient microbes, or traces of them, could be locked inside Martian ice deposits, preserved for tens of millions of years • Researchers from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center and Penn State recreated Mars like conditions in the laboratory to test that idea • They found that pieces of amino acids from E • coli bacteria, if trapped in Martian permafrost or ice caps, could survive more than 50 million years even under constant cosmic radiation

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  • NASA study finds ancient life could survive 50 million years in Martian ice If life ever existed on Mars, its best hiding place may be frozen deep within the planetâs ice. - Date: - February 25, 2026 - Source: - Penn State - Summary: - Marsâ frozen ice caps may be time capsules for ancient life. Lab experiments show that key building blocks of proteins can survive tens of millions of years in pure ice, even under relentless cosmic radiation. Ice mixed with Martian-like soil, however, destroys organic material far more quickly. The findings point future missions toward drilling into clean, buri

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