Researchers are creating advanced simulations that will provide a deeper understanding of Mars's climatic history and help to determine whether it was once able to sustain life.
The icon indicates free access to the linked research on JSTOR. An international team of researchers is developing a model of Mars's evolution that could unlock some of its long-held secrets, including whether it once harbored life. François Forget, a space scientist from the Pierre Simon Laplace Institute in France, is the man looking for those answers. He is not a time traveler, but is hoping to do the next best thing. His team of researchers, gathered under the name "Mars through time" and supported by EU funding, is trying to piece together different periods of the planet's history. The aim is to answer the question that has long perplexed scientists: was Mars once habitable? "Mars was a place where life could have emerged, so it's very fascinating," said Forget, the principal investigator of Mars through time. The work of his team is being coordinated at the French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris. The six-year initiative, ending in November 2025, aims to shed light on the possible timeframes during which Mars might have been warm and wet, covered in glaciers, and maybe even suitable for life. Previous missions to Mars have given a tentative look into its history, but have not shown what the planet was actually like. Robotic exploration has revealed that Mars was not always the desert planet it is today. It has witnessed eras conducive to rivers and lakes, as well as ice ages. "We are trying to invent a new model, to build a virtual planet that evolves through time." Yet we still know little about the climatic processes that have shaped its surface. This is where Forget's team comes in. "We are trying to invent a new model, to build a virtual planet that evolves through time," said Forget. "It's a super ambitious project." Work to develop this model has been underway since 2019, and proved more difficult to develop than initially thought—in part because of the large amount of computing power required. But the end is in sight. "Now I…