Posted on 08/03/2004 4:22:02 PM PDT by Dallas59
DENVER, COLORADO -- Those twin robots hard at work on Mars have transmitted teasing views that reinforce the prospect that microbial life may exist on the red planet.
Results from NASAs Spirit and Opportunity rovers are being looked over by a legion of planetary experts, including a scientist who remains steadfast that his experiment in 1976 proved the presence of active microbial life in the topsoil of Mars.
"All factors necessary to constitute a habitat for life as we know it exist on current-day Mars," explained Gilbert Levin, executive officer for science at Spherix Incorporated of Beltsville, Maryland.
Levin made his remarks here Monday at the International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, the 49th annual meeting of Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE).
Provocative find
Levin has a long-standing interest in time-weathered Mars and the promise of life today on that distant and dusty world.
NASAs 1976 Viking mission to Mars was geared-up to look for possible martian life. And it was Levins Labeled Release experiment that made a provocative find: The presence of a highly reactive agent in the surface material of Mars.
Levin concluded in 1997 that this activity was triggered by living microorganisms lurking in the martian soil -- a judgment he admits has not been generally accepted by the scientific community.
Now roll forward to 2004. Consider the findings of Spirit and Opportunity, the golf-cart sized robots wheeling over Mars at Gusev Crater and Meridiani Planum.
"Those rovers have been absolutely sensational, pouring out thousands of images. Those images have lots of information in them. And Ive tried to deduce something in there relative to life...and I think I found a lot," Levin told SPACE.com.
Squeezed out of the soil
In perusing rover imagery, Levin reports there is clear evidence for liquid water existing under Martian environmental conditions. "The images should be reviewed against the background of surface temperatures as varying from below to above freezing reported by both Spirit and Opportunity," he explained.
Levin points to the potential for mud puddles on Mars, showing an image of clearly disturbed martian soil after rover airbags bounced across Mars surface. Possible standing water and sinkholes can also be seen in rover imagery, according to his analysis. In some pictures, the often-discussed "blueberries, " tiny spheres of material, disappear as if submerged underneath mud-like surroundings, he added.
Then there are tracks left by the machines as they roll across the martian terrain. Self-taken shots by the robots show what Levin said appears to be water squeezed out of the soil which then freezes into a whitish residue left in embedded tread marks.
Similarly, Levin added, are images taken by Opportunity of the results from an operation of the robots Rock Abrasion Tool, or RAT. The center of that particular RAT hole is largely white, possibly indicating the formation of frost since the hole was drilled, he noted.
Organisms there now?
"The evidence presented strongly indicates the presence of liquid water or moisture at the Mars Exploration Rover sites," Levin reported at the SPIE meeting. "Mars today could support many forms of terrestrial microbial life."
Other scientists are cautious to point out that the presence of water does not guarantee life. Rather, it means one crucial ingredient exists.
There is clear evidence for frost or ice on Mars, the former Viking experimenter stated. At some point of the day -- when temperatures climb above freezing -- theres going to be moisture..."and thats enough to support microorganisms," he said.
None of the many new findings about Mars revealed by Spirit and Opportunity, Levin concluded, conflict with, or render untenable, his long-held belief that the Viking Labeled Release experiment in 1976 detected living microorganisms in the soil of Mars.
"I contend that today you could take a great many Earth microorganisms, put them on Mars, and theyd grow," Levin said. "And I think there are organisms there now. They may have come from Earth. They may have originated on Mars. They may have come from a third place that populated both Mars and Earth."
Rocks can be kicked up from one planet by an asteroid impact, drift through space for eons, then land on the other. Other studies have shown that these rocks could potentially transport life, in a dormant phase, from one planet to the other.
Levin said that he thinks the "greatest speculation" would be to say there can be no life on Mars.
Moon used as Earth bio-shield
If indeed Mars is rife with life, care should be taken in hauling back to Earth specimens of rock and surface materials from the red planet. NASA (news - web sites) has indicated that, next decade, robotic craft could be dispatched to gather and return to Earth select samples of Mars for detailed laboratory study.
Could those bits of Mars, perhaps laden with martian microbes, act as dangerous cargo?
As a precaution, Levin advocates a kind of bio-shield strategy for Earth -- but using the Moon.
The new NASA vision to reestablish a human presence on the Moon is good timing, Levin said. "Bring samples of Mars not to Earth but to the Moon," he said. "There we would have built a scientific laboratory in which scientists could examine the samples and determine whether or not there is a hazard."
It is now known that there is life on the moon. A bug has been discovered, and it has been named a lunar tic.
We won't really know till we get there. Bush 4 More Years!
/sarcasm
(UFO's save money)
Maybe its time to learn sword-fighting and radium pistol handling skills so that I can enlist as a Panthan in the Barsoomian navy in defense of the warlord of Barsoom and his lovely Jeddara. After all, it has been over 60 years since we last heard from the land of Helium. I wish Tardos Mors, John Carter, the incomparable Dejah Thoris and the rest the best.
What's the typical temperature range at the Martian equator?
Cold.
As soon as life on Mars is documented, the 'Rats will start pandering to it.
As soon as life on Mars is documented, the 'Rats will start pandering to it.
Heh..+1F to -171F
But enough to try to take over Earth.....;P
From what I understand, Terrreee-ZAH is from Mozambique.
Why so negative? If there's life on the sun, why can't there be life on Mars? There is life on the sun, isn't there?
Did the French and Spanish surrender yet?
MARS NEEDS WOMEN
"Life on Mars likely, scientist claim."
too bad we can't say the same about John sKerry.
bahhh... this's old news!!! i saw it last friday in one of these newspapers by the checkout lines at the grocery store last friday and they even had pictures tooooo
NASA Researches Claim Evidence of Present Life on Mars
Space News | Feb. 16, 2005 | Brian Berger
Posted on 02/16/2005 2:35:13 PM EST by PresbyRev
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1344592/posts
13 things that do not make sense
New Scientist | 19 March 2005 | Michael Brooks
Posted on 03/17/2005 1:25:36 PM EST by ShadowAce
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1364833/posts
Viking Landers May Have Missed Martian Life
New Scientist | 10-23-2006 | Mark Buchanan - David L Chandler
Posted on 10/23/2006 10:14:16 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1724685/posts
Scientists Found Life On Mars Back In The 70s
The Telegraph (UK) | 8-23-2007 | Roger Highfield
Posted on 08/23/2007 8:21:58 PM EDT by blam
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1885663/posts
The Viking Labeled Release Experiment and Life on MarsMany hypotheses have been advanced and tested in attempts to account for the well-characterized activity detected in the surface material of Mars by the LR experiment. As shown above, these hypotheses have themselves been found wanting. The demonstrated success of the LR and the exquisite sensitivity with which it has detected microorganisms during its extensive test program with its record of no false positives can no longer be denied. No non-biological approach published, or known to the author, has duplicated the LR Mars data. Some laboratory experiments have produced positive responses, but the detailed thermal sensitivity exhibited by the variety of controls conducted on Mars has remained elusive in all such tests compatible with martian conditions. On the other hand, a combination of known properties of microorganisms, perhaps even those possessed by single species, could reproduce all aspects of the LR data. The biological interpretation of the Mars LR results is left standing alone. Recent discoveries of life forms thriving in extraordinarily severe environments on Earth strongly indicate that any alien organisms arriving on Mars might well and widely adapt to their new home. Application of the scientific principle leads to a conclusion: the Viking LR experiment detected living microorganisms in the soil of Mars.
by Gilbert V. Levin
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