A new NASA study hints that alien life may be closer to home than we thought.

For decades, Mars has been the subject of scientific study when it comes to finding extraterrestrials.

It’s also been the focus for many in Hollywood, with countless TV shows and films produced hypothesising the existence of other life forms on the planet closest to Earth.

Putting Mars Attacks! and Pierce Brosnan’s head on a dog’s body aside, though, and it seems like we’re heading back in a direction where little green men could be a real thing.

NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover on the Red Planet as we speak (NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS)

The big difference, in reality, is that they are likely to not be green, and will in fact be very, very small.

A new study by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) at NASA has looked in to whether we should be once again actively investigating if there is life on Mars.

And according to the paper’s lead author, Aditya Khuller, the answer is 100 percent yes. Just not on its surface.

He says: “If we’re trying to find life anywhere in the universe today, Martian ice exposures are probably one of the most accessible places we should be looking.”

Mars has for some time known to be home to water, and ot’s believed to once have been full of the stuff.

On the planet, it manifests itself in to ice, of which there are two kinds: frozen water and frozen carbon dioxide.

The white edges here are thought to be home to dusty frozen ice, which could unlock the secrets of life elsewhere in the universe (NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of ArizonaFull)

For their paper, published in Nature Communications Earth & Environment, Khuller and colleagues looked at water ice, large amounts of which formed from snow mixed with dust that fell on the surface during a series of Martian ice ages in the past million years.

That ancient snow has since solidified into ice, still peppered with specks of dust – dust that is dark in colour and can absorb more sunlight.

The theory here is that this could potentially warm up the ice, causing it to melt up to a few feet below the surface.

From that, ancient life in the form of microbes could be surviving, and maybe even thriving, under the frozen water ice on Mars’ surface, where photosynthesis could be happening.

Pools of water similar to those that could be on Mars exist on Earth and are full of life, from fungi to algae and microscopic cyanobacteria.

Maybe Bowie was right after all (Getty Stock Images)

The concept of whether ice can actually melt on the Martian surface remains up for debate, due to a terrible thin and dry atmosphere that is not like Earth’s.

But, critically, the atmospheric effects that make melting difficult on the Martian surface wouldn’t apply below the surface of a dusty snowpack or glacier.

Co-author Phil Christensen, of Arizona State University in Tempe, said that ice melting from within is ‘a common phenomenon on Earth’.

He said: “Dense snow and ice can melt from the inside out, letting in sunlight that warms it like a greenhouse, rather than melting from the top down.”

The team now hope to re-create the dusty ice from Mars in a lab to study it under similar conditions to what you would find up on the Red Planet.

A crew of four NASA astronauts were sent to hospital on their return from space and we don’t fully know why.

The group were brought back down to Earth on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on 25 October after spending more than 200 days on the International Space Station (ISS).

After a successful landing down near Pensacola, Florida, however, a NASA astronaut ‘experienced a medical issue’, the space agency said.

It was then announced that NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin were taken to the Ascension Sacred Heart Pensacola in Florida.

Three of the crew members left the hospital and arrived at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, while the ‘one astronaut who remained at Ascension was in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure’.

Thankfully, the astronaut involved was released after a night in hospital.

“To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared,” NASA added.

“During its return to earth, the SpaceX Dragon executed a normal entry and splashdown.

Four NASA astronauts were rushed to hospital on their return to Earth (Joel Kowsky/NASA via Getty Images)

“Recovery of the crew and the spacecraft was without incident.

“During routine medical assessments on the recovery ship, the additional evaluation of the crew members was requested out of an abundance of caution.”

In a post-splashdown news conference, NASA provided little update on the situation, saying the hospital visits were done ‘out of an abundance of caution’.

It didn’t specify any details in regard to the health concerns.

This comes after NASA astronauts on board the ISS were being issued safety precautions because of 50 ‘areas of concern’.

The US space agency and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos say they have been aware of a leak on the ISS since 2019.

The group were brought back down to earth on SpaceX’s Dragon capsule on 25 October after spending more than 200 days on the ISS (Paul Hennessy/Anadolu via Getty Images)

But following various safety concerns, they have been taking a look at four cracks and 50 other ‘areas of concern’ on board.

NASA has since told the Washington Post that Roscosmos has used ‘a combination of sealant and patches’ to cover up the cracks, with internal risk assessments scoring it a five out of five.

“We have conveyed the seriousness of the leaks multiple times, including when I was in Russia earlier this year,” NASA associate administrator, Jim Free, told the outlet.

In the short-term, they’ve recommended to astronauts to keep the hatch closed as much as possible ‘in the evening’.

Though when the hatch is open, NASA’s space experts have been instructed to remain on the US side of the space station in the case of an emergency.

They remain adamant that the ISS is still safe enough for the remaining 11 people onboard.

LADbible Group has contacted NASA for comment.

NASA astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are being issued safety precautions with 50 ‘areas of concern’ on board.

The American space agency and its Russian counterpart have been aware of a leak on the ISS since 2019.

However, in a report from September, NASA and Roscosmos have referred to the leak as a ‘safety risk’ for astronauts in the station.

They are currently looking into four cracks and 50 other ‘areas of concern’ as fixes remain ongoing.

Although NASA has told the Washington Post that Roscosmos has used ‘a combination of sealant and patches’ to cover up the cracks, internal risk assessments score it a five out of five.

“We have conveyed the seriousness of the leaks multiple times, including when I was in Russia earlier this year,” NASA associate administrator, Jim Free, told the outlet.

As a fix, they’ve instructed astronauts to keep the hatch closed as much as possible ‘in the evening’.

When the hatch is open, NASA’s employees are instructed to remain on the US side of the space station in the case of an emergency.

There are 50 ‘areas of concern’ on board the International Space Station (Getty Images via NASA)

It’s so they are close enough to their spacecraft if they were told to evacuate.

NASA’s Office of Inspector General said in April the cracks were a ‘top safety risk’ and that ‘NASA identified an increase in the leak rate to its highest level to date’.

While they don’t know the exact reason behind the leaks, Free insisted that ‘the leakage rate has gone down’ in recent months.

“We’ve asked them to minimise how long that hatch is open, and they are minimising it,” Free said.

“We’ve come to a compromise that they close it in the evening.”

The space agency believes that the ISS is still safe enough for the remaining 11 people onboard.

NASA is preparing its astronauts on the International Space Station over safety concerns (Getty Images via NASA)

This comes after a NASA astronaut was taken to hospital for an undisclosed medical issue on their return from a nearly eight-month space station mission, last week.

A SpaceX capsule carrying three Americans and one Russian parachuted into the Gulf of Mexico after undocking from the International Space Station.

NASA news chief Cheryl Warner said: “To protect the crew member’s medical privacy, specific details on the individual’s condition or identity will not be shared.

“The one astronaut who remains at Ascension is in stable condition under observation as a precautionary measure.”

While a NASA spokesperson added: “We’re grateful to Ascension Sacred Heart for its support during this time, and we are proud of our team for its quick action to ensure the safety of our crew members.

“NASA will provide additional information as it becomes available.”

The future of NASA’s plan to put astronauts on Mars is set to go under the microscope when a massive explosion on the surface of the Sun rocks the Red Planet.

2024 is a big year for the fiery ball at the centre of our solar system, with the Sun at the peak of its activity. And it’s a rare event that scientists can’t wait to study with it having the potential to decide many aspects of a first of its kind manned mission to Mars.

American space agency NASA is keen to push forward with Mars expeditions as quickly as possible, especially after finding evidence that alien life might have been erased on the planet.

But one thing that desperately needs to be studied before it becomes a reality is the huge explosions that take place on the Sun every 11 years or so.

Dubbed the solar maximum, it’s when the Sun enters the peak of its activity.

Earth is fine in these scenarios because of the huge magnetic field around the globe (mostly) shielding us from the impact of these solar bombs. But Mars doesn’t have the luxury of an electrical charge shielding it, meaning the Sun’s actions put it in a much more vulnerable position.

An explosion on the surface of the Sun captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory. (NASA/GFSC/SDO)

The reality is that these could have huge affects on robots and future astronauts on the Red Planet. Right now, we simply don’t know what they could be.

Therefore, NASA’s plan is a simple but complex one: study the Sun’s volatility in relation to Mars and whether it hurts the chances of future missions to the planet.

Two Mars spacecraft – NASA’s MAVEN [Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN] and RAD [Radiation Assessment Detector] – will spend time above the Martian surface studying the impact of these solar storms on the magnetic field-less below.

This artist’s concept depicts NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) near Mars. (NASA/GSFC)

One key aspect being analysed is how much radiation astronauts would take if they were on the planet during these flare ups and whether this could be limited by the use of caves as protection.

Principal investigator for NASA’s MAVEN orbiter is Shannon Curry, of the University of Colorado Boulder’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics.

She said: “For humans and assets on the Martian surface, we don’t have a solid handle on what the effect is from radiation during solar activity.

“I’d actually love to see the ‘big one’ at Mars this year – a large event that we can study to understand solar radiation better before astronauts go to Mars.”

CGI of an astronaut on Mars. (Getty Stock Image)

RAD’s principal investigator, Don Hassler of the Boulder, Colorado, office of the Southwest Research Institute, said: “While MAVEN’s instruments are more sensitive to lower-energy ones, RAD is the only instrument capable of seeing the high-energy ones that make it through the atmosphere to the surface, where astronauts would be.”

Another part of the exploration will focus on Mars’ history, with it once being a wet Earth-like planet some billions of years ago.

Now it is an ice cold desert and the question as to how it got like this has left astronomers baffled for decades.

While there’s little water left on Mars, with most of it now ice under the surface and at both poles of the planet, some does still circulates as vapour in the atmosphere.