Researchers found that Mars is not only evidence of the existence of liquid water, but also rich in magnesium sulfate. One question that researchers are trying to answer is whether microbial life on the earth can grow in a high concentration of magnesium sulfate environment.

Mark Schneigt, an associate professor at Wichita State University, recently published a paper in Astrobiology. His paper focuses on bacteria living in saline environments, but does not contain sodium chloride, the kind of salt we are used to. This is related to magnesium sulfate, also known as Epsom.

Researchers found that Mars is not only evidence of the existence of liquid water, but also rich in magnesium sulfate.

One of the questions Schneiger is looking for is whether microbial life on the earth can grow in a high concentration magnesium sulfate environment.

"This affects our understanding of what ancient or modern life might look like on Mars," he said. "What discovery can have a greater impact on our philosophy and culture and on how we view ourselves in the universe than the discovery of life on another planet?"

Discover life on Mars?

Other issues covered in his paper and research include:

• Are there microorganisms on Earth that can live on Mars?

• When the spaceship lands, how can we prevent terrestrial microorganisms from infecting Mars, so as to protect us from searching for life on Mars?

• Did the epso resistant microorganisms give us a glimpse of what life might look like on Mars?

Schneegurt said that it was assumed that living in a high magnesium sulfate environment might be the most difficult part on Mars, but his argument was that it was not as difficult as some scientists thought.

Part of his research also focused on searching for life in lakes with high magnesium sulfate content, and searching for similar life in the cleanrooms of spacecraft assembly facilities.

Schneigt and his research team have been working in Hot Lake in Washington and Basque Lake in British Columbia, and isolated hundreds of microorganisms growing in the environment of high concentration magnesium sulfate. Their goal is to identify the characteristics of these microorganisms and see if they can also be found in spacecraft assembly facilities.

He said: "If we bring life, it can grow on Mars, which is more difficult to determine that any life we find on Mars really comes from Mars." "It will also affect our efforts to protect the planet in the future. When the spacecraft lands, life from the Earth will pollute Mars."

Is this research important? NASA and the astrobiology community think so, Schneigt said.

After receiving the grant of NASA EPSCoR (Stimulating Competitive Research Experiment Program) from Kansas in 2009, Schneegurt received the grant from NASA through ROSES program and the planetary protection team of Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Schneider said that his research can not only let us know more about life on Mars. It can let us know our own planet.

He said: "Our work is related to the origin of life on earth, because life may have originated from a salty tidal pool."