This week, the Mars Rover is taking its first steps to look for life on the Red Planet. Some scientists believe that Mars once had seas that have since dried up. As these seas dried, small pockets of salty water may have remained where life could have existed. A group of researchers at Washington State University is looking at a similar environment near Soap Lake, hoping to give clues to where life on other planets might exist.
In Soap Lake, located about 20 miles north of Interstate 90 in eastern Washington, the water is five times saltier than the ocean, with naturally occurring, high concentrations of carbonate, chloride, sulfate and sulfide. The researchers are examining the tiny bacteria that make their home in Soap Lake, a harsh environment that is toxic to most higher life forms. The microorganisms, bacteria called extremophiles, get their name because they live in highly unpleasant places where few other creatures can live.
With an $840,000 National Science Foundation grant, Brent Peyton, WSU associate professor of chemical engineering, Holly Pinkart, faculty member from Central Washington University and Melanie Mormile, faculty member at the University of Missouri, Rolla, are studying the lake as an NSF Microbial Observatory, exploring life in natural extreme communities. Data from Soap Lake will also be used to help improve satellite-based searches for similar areas on other planets. As part of the project, the researchers are providing data for the Virtual Planet Database being developed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, which will be used in the search for extraterrestrial biological systems. For more information, contact Peyton at 509.335.4002 or e-mail at bmp@wsu.edu.
