Present day Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth: Difference between revisions

'''Present day Mars habitability analogue environments on Earth''' are environments that share potentially relevant [[astrobiological]] conditions with Mars. These include sites that are analogues of potential surface habitats, deep subsurface habitats and temporary habitats that can form after volcanic eruptions and large meteorite impacts but excludes sites that are thought to be analogues only of conditions on early Mars, geological analogues, or analogues used only for testing engineering details for landing systems and rovers.<ref name=PlanetaryAnalogues/> For analogues more generally see [[Terrestrial Analogue Sites]].

A few places on Earth, such as the hyper-arid core of the high Atacama desert and the McMurdo dry valleys in Antarctica approach the dryness of current Mars surface conditions. In some parts of Antarctica, the only water available is in films of brine on salt / ice interfaces. There is life there, but it is rare, in low numbers, and often hidden below the surface of rocks (endoliths), making the life hard to detect. Indeed, these sites are used for testing sensitivity of future life detection instruments for Mars. Other analogues duplicate some of the conditions that may occur in particular locations on Mars. These include ice caves, the icy fumaroles of [[Mount Erebus]], hot springs, or the sulfur rich mineral deposits of the Rio Tinto region in Spain.