Mars was habitable in its early history, but the consensus is that it is quite inhospitable today, in particular because its modern climate cannot support stable liquid water at the surface. Here, we report the presence of magmatic Fe/Mg clay minerals within the mesostasis of the martian meteorite NWA 5790, an unaltered 1.3 Ga nakhlite archetypal of the martian crust. These magmatic clay minerals exhibit a vesicular texture that forms a network of microcavities or pockets, which could serve as microreactors and allow molecular crowding, a necessary step for the emergence of life. Because their formation does not depend on climate, such niches for emerging life may have been generated on Mars at many periods throughout its history, regardless of the stability or availability of liquid water at the surface.

中文翻译：

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火星岩浆粘土矿物形成囊泡：新兴生命的完美利基？

火星在其早期历史上是宜居的，但人们一致认为它今天非常不适宜居住，特别是因为它的现代气候无法在地表支持稳定的液态水。在这里，我们报告了在火星陨石 NWA 5790 的中间稳态中存在岩浆 Fe/Mg 粘土矿物，这是一种未改变的 1.3 Ga nakhlite 火星地壳原型。这些岩浆粘土矿物表现出水泡状结构，形成微腔或口袋网络，可作为微反应器并允许分子聚集，这是生命出现的必要步骤。由于它们的形成不依赖于气候，因此无论火星表面液态水的稳定性或可用性如何，火星上可能在其历史上的许多时期都产生了这种新兴生命的生态位。