GTA researchers travel to Nunavut to study possibility of life on Mars

Two researchers from the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) have travelled to a remote part of Canada’s Arctic Circle to explore the so-called “Martian mystery.”

Toronto-based astrobiologist Haley Sapers, an adjunct professor at York University’s (YorkU) Lassonde School of Engineering along with graduate student Elisa Dong, are currently stationed at the McGill Arctic Research Station (MARS) on Axel Heiberg Island in Nunavut’s Qikiqtaaluk Region.

Sapers and Dong, who arrived there on July 4 and will be departing on July 19, are specifically studying the “tantalizing signature” of methane gas, which could give clues to the potential presence of microbial life on Mars.

Two duo will be primarily conducting their research in an area of the uninhabited polar desert island known as Gypsum Hill, which has salty, cold springs where glacier run-off streams emit this kind of greenhouse gas. The conditions there have been found to be consistent with those experienced by some microorganisms on Mars, York University said in a July 13 news release.

Sapers and Dong will also concentrate some of their research in another area of Axel Heiberg Island that has polygonally patterned ground formed by permafrost, which is very similar to patterned land observed on the red planet.

“With its permafrost-hosted methane seeps, this is really the only place in the world that you can go to study this phenomenon,” Sapers said.

“Additionally, the polygonal terrain here, which looks very similar to polygonal terrain on Mars, is a compelling geological analogue.”

The aim of this research, which is funded by the Canadian Space Agency and Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and supported by Polar continental shelf program and MARS, is to better understand the potentially life sustaining conditions that may exist in the Martian underground, Sapers told CP24.com during follow-up interview on Thursday morning.

“There's no such thing as definitive proof that we have life on Mars, unless we go there and we can shake hands with the Martians,” she said in the release.

“The fact that we see methane on Mars suggests two things: it's an energy source for microorganisms and, on Earth, it's produced by microorganisms. So it gives us more clues as to present-day habitability and clues as to where life could be.”