NASA Mars Mission Shocker: Astronauts Reveal What Aliens On Mars Could Look Like

Humans have been trying to learn as much as they can about Planet Mars since 1965, ever since the first Mars flyby was done by NASA. Since then, various international space agencies have contributed to what we know about the Red Planet so far.

Today, most scientists have a pretty good idea of Mars’ geological and atmospheric makeup. First, Earth’s cousin is a very dry, dusty and cold planet. Next, the Red Planet’s atmosphere only has one percent of the Earth’s density and the air is 95 percent composed of carbon dioxide.

Mars also has no magnetic field like the ones on Earth that protect us which means that the planet can’t deflect dangerous radiation from space. This is one of the major hurdles that humans have to face should the time comes for human colonies to be set up on the alien planet. Mars is also known for its extreme temperatures and brutal storms so not only would it be difficult for humans to survive but it’s also difficult to fathom how any life could still be existing there at the moment.

Alluding to this, NASA astronaut and physiologist Dr. James Pawelczyk said in a report that understanding the planet’s geological and atmospheric components is the best way to understand what kind of living organisms to look for in Mars.

“Once we move outside the Van Allen belts - the magnetic field around our earth - then we're exposed to a much higher energy radiation forms. We also have the solar wind galactic cosmic radiation. And those really wreak havoc on the biology. When a high energy event hits DNA it pretty much shatters, and we don't have DNA repair mechanisms that can deal with that. So that's one of our big concerns for planetary exploration is how we shield from cosmic radiation.”

Despite this, Pawelczyk said that some sort of protection would make it possible to survive on the Red Planet. “You can certainly use exotic forms of shielding like magnetic shielding that really would be the best way. (But) the idea of terraforming Mars is - at least with current technology - kind of unrealistic,” he said in a video interview.

But putting this argument in place, the NASA scientist said that this is already a clue on knowing what to look for when searching for life on Mars - and scientists should start looking from beneath its surface.

“Survival on Mars really means going underground,” the scientist said. Taking this into consideration, life on Mars could mean aliens with tough shells or protection that could shield life not only from radiation but also from the extreme heat underground. This is also another way of seeing what life would be like for humans who are starting a colony on the Red Planet.

“Possibly identifying lava tubes of creating our own thick-walled structures but using the Martian surface. Normally, we take everything with us when we go explore a planet. But now we'll be using the resources of that planet to help us stay there. So that's why one of the big efforts for looking for water. We know there's a lot of water on Mars…but what we want to do is get to those points to study that water see what it's all about but also understand how to use that in the fractional gravity environment so that we can make oxygen. We can combine it with CO2 and we can make other fuels so that we don't have to take it with us from Earth,” he said.