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 temporarysubsurface habitatshydrothermal thatsystems can(which formmay afterexist volcanicon eruptionsMars andthough largenot meteoriteyet impactsdetected). butIt 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 onaround salt / ice interfacespermafrost. There is life therein these hyper arid locations, but it is rare, in low numbers, and often hidden below the surface of rocks (endoliths), making the life hard to detect. Indeed,The thesehyper sitesarid arecore of the Atacama desert is often used for testing the 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.