Starship Asterisk*

Expanding Horizons

The Timmins Mine water could also help scientists understand how much of the subsurface of the Earth is actually inhabited by life. The answer to that question has implications for life on other planets, such as Mars, scientists say.

"It opens up your horizons for what's possible," Shirey said. "If you think that you can have microbial life throughout the entire crust of the Earth, then all of a sudden it becomes very possible that life could live on other planets under the right condition."

That raises questions about potential life in relatively warm rock located beneath the cold surface of Mars, where liquid water could still exist.

"We're looking at billion-year-old rock here and we can still find flowing water that's full of the kind of energy that can support life," Sherwood Lollar said.

"If we find Martian rocks of the same age and in places of similar geology and mineralogy to our site, then there's every reason to think that we might be able to find the same thing in the deep subsurface of Mars."

rstevenson wrote:Canadians appreciate anything which will "support life without sunlight."

Rob

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130517-billion-year-old-water-mine-canada-ancient-microbes-science/ wrote:
Billion-Year-Old Water Preserved in Canadian Mine
The ancient water contains chemicals that could support life without sunlight.

mjimih wrote:
That is REALLY old water! We might do well to consider warm rocky planets "near" habital zones (defined partly by the posibility of surface water) too, as potentially having life on them. Kepler has helped launch us in a new adventure of discovery, to discover life-bearing worlds, so we don't have to be alone in the vastness of space.

stephen63 wrote:
If we could get a drilling rig out to Gliese 581 d

Or the planet Koozebane