A new study on Planet Mars shows that “simple life” may have once thrived three to four billion years ago when the Red Planet was warm enough to have big rainstorms and vast bodies of water.

What’s more, these life forms could have existed at just around the same time when the young Earth was also developing. According to Space.com, the idea of water on Mars is already old news. However, the new study conducted by the team of Purdue University professor Briony Horgan on the Mars 2020 mission gave an insight into whether or not the water is liquid or frozen. This is a major concern for scientists who are trying to prove that life indeed existed on the Red Planet before. The study was presented at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Barcelona, Spain.

“We know there were periods when the surface of Mars was frozen; we know there were periods when water flowed freely. But we don't know exactly when these periods were, and how long they lasted,” Horgan said in a statement.

“We have never sent unmanned missions to areas of Mars which can show us these earliest rocks, so we need to use Earth-bound science to understand the geochemistry of what may have happened there. Our study of weathering in radically different climate conditions such as the Oregon Cascades, Hawaii, Iceland, and other places on Earth, can show us how climate affects pattern of mineral deposition, like we see on Mars.”

The scientist also said that they have discovered silica deposition in glaciers which are present in melting water. Based on this, they have also identified similar silica on the Red Planet in its younger areas but “we can also see older areas which are similar to deep soils from warm climates on Earth.”

Using these findings, the team estimated that Mars had a general flow of warm to cold water with periods of thawing and freezing for about three to four billion years ago. This theory makes it very possible that life indeed thrived on the planet.

“We know that the building blocks of life on Earth developed very soon after the Earth's formation, and that flowing water is essential for life's development. So evidence that we had early, flowing water on Mars, will increase the chances that simple life may have developed at around the same time as it did on Earth. We hope that the Mars 2020 mission will be able to look more closely at these minerals, and begin to answer exactly what conditions existed when Mars was still young,” Horgan said.

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