Climate model gives
clues to types of life forms that might have
evolved on planet
"There
is ample evidence from photographs provided
by Viking, Mars Pathfinder and Mars Global
Surveyor of deep channels on the surface of
Mars, presumably cut by flowing liquid water.
How could Mars -at Pathfinder's landing site
a chilly minus 100F- once have been warm
enough to have liquid water on its surface?
The answer ... is reflective carbon-dioxide
ice clouds that retain thermal radiation near
the planet's surface.
-- University of Chicago, 11/20/97
Why Mars
"The
group is presently involved in building
instruments for the Mars Surveyor-98 Mission
to Mars and the 2001 Athena Mission.'
-- Niels Bohr Institute for Astronomy,
Physics and Geophysics, Ørsted Laboratory,
University of Copenhagen
Gaia on Mars?
"...noting
the absence of extensive cratering on the
northern plains of Mars, suggests that some
2-3.5 billion years ago these plains were
covered with oceans. These ancient seas,
perhaps as much as 700 meters deep, protected
the plains from direct impacts."
-- Science Frontiers, 3/91
Searching for
Yellowstone on Mars
"There
is increasing evidence that widespread
hydrothermal activity played an important
role in the geologic evolution of
Mars...Recent findings by other scientists
suggest hydrothermal sites on Earth were
crucial to the earliest evolution of
life."
-- NASA Ames Research Center, 10/8/96
The Geological History
of Mars
"Mars
is a geologically diverse planet with heavily
cratered terrains, huge volcanoes, enormous
canyons, extensive dune fields, and numerous
different kinds of channels seemingly cut by
running water. The geologic record preserved
at the surface includes..."
--Center for Mars Exploration, Nasa Ames
Research Center
Seeds, soup and the
meaning of life
"If
NASA's Martian microfossils really are the
remnants of past life on the Red Planet, then
the implications for life and how it got
started are profound. The first thing that
would have to be explained is why ancient
microorganisms on Earth and on Mars are
apparently so similar."
--New Scientist, 8/17/96
Life On Mars May Still Exist
"Microbes
deep inside the Earth's crust get oxygen from
rocks and use it to oxidize hydrocarbons that
come streaming up from below, receiving
energy by this process. It now seems probable
that life evolved by such processes from the
inside out, rather than commencing at the
surface ... The same scenario is likely to be
true for Mars..."
-- Eukalert, 2/3/96
Rock-Eating Microbes Could
Signify Life On Mars
"...evidence
of rock-eating microbes living nearly a mile
beneath the ocean floor in conditions which
suggest similar life could exist on Mars
..."
-- Eukalert, 8/13/98
Life In Antarctic Ice May
Compare To Mars
"Bacterial
colonies are thriving underneath ice on one
of the coldest, driest deserts on Earth,
researchers have discovered, in conditions
that might compare to those on Mars or Europa
and provide insights for life forms that
could be found elsewhere in our solar
system."
-- Eukalert, 6/25/98
USGS Scientist Describes
Possibilities For Life On Mars
"There
is mounting evidence that Mars is a
water-rich planet that may have experienced
warmer climates ... early terrestrial life
may have evolved in hydrothermal environments
resembling those in Yellowstone Park and
along mid-ocean ridges and such environments
were likely common on early Mars."
Eukalert, 2/13/97
Researchers Assess Biological
Potential Of Mars, Early Earth And Europa
"...modeled
geochemical reactions from rock weathering
...
also estimated Martian volcanic activity over
time and the associated activity of
hydrothermal vents."
--Eurkalert, 8/25/98
ASU Discovery is first evidence
of hydrothermal activitty on Mars
"...found
evidence of a large deposit of mineral
hematite, a rock with implications for the
possible development of life."
-- Arizona State University, 5/27/98
Life on Mars
Overview
of history of thought about life on Mars
-- Malin Space Science Systems
Viking Experiments for Life on
Mars
"both
Viking missions carried equipment designed to
look for evidence of life. There were five
different types of instruments"
-- Private site
Close-up: Where and how does
life form? Maybe Mars, maybe with ease
"Regardless of whether last week's
theory about 3-billion-year-old fossilized
bacteria on a Martian meteorite holds up,
many scientists have come to regard the
notion that life once existed on Mars as a
reasonable possibility."
-- The Seattle Times, 8/13/96
Warm havens for life on
Mars
"Hot
springs could be just the right places for
life on Mars"
--New Scientist, 5/4/96
The Search for Evidence
of Life on Mars
"Did
life ever exist on Mars? A multi-disciplinary
group of scientists brought together by the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
[NASA] is currently developing a strategy to
seek the answer to that question."
-- NASA, Office of Space Science
An Exobiological
Strategy for Mars Exploration
"...
we can divide the scientific issues involved
in the exobiological exploration of
Mars into three general categories: (1) To
what extent did prebiotic chemical evolution
proceed on Mars? (2) If chemical evolution
occurred, did it lead to synthesis of
replicating molecules, i.e., life, which
subsequently became extinct? (3) If
replicating systems arose on Mars, do they
persist anywhere on Mars today?"
-- NASA, Exobiology branch at ARC
Prebiotic Chemistry on
Mars
"If
life arose on Mars, it would have been
preceded by a period of prebiotic chemistry
in which the molecular building blocks of
life were formed and self-assembled into
replicating systems. Implicit in the view
that Martian life could have emerged in a
warmer wetter climatic era is that many of
the same prebiotic processes operated there
as they did on early Earth."
-- NASA, Exobiology branch at ARC
Hydrothermal Systems on
Mars and Their Potential Analogs on Earth
"Hydrothermal processes have been
suggested to explain a number of recent
observations for Mars, including hydrous
mineral assemblages and D/H ratios of water
extracted from SNC meteorites, the removal of
CO2 from the atmosphere and its sequestering
in the crust as carbonates, and the presence
of nontronite clays in Martian dust and iron
oxide-rich spectral units on the floors of
some chasmata."
-- NASA, Exobiology branch at ARC
Exopaleontology at the
Pathfinder Landing Site
"...
aqueous mineral deposits have a high priority
for Mars Exopaleontology (3). The high rates
of mineralization typically observed in such
settings, driven by outgassing and declining
tempertaure, provide an important mechanism
for entrapping and preserving organisms and
their byproducts. If Mars harbors a
subsurface microbiota, it is likely that
organisms were delivered to the surface by
such outflows."
-- NASA, Exobiology branch at ARC
Optimization of an '05
sample return for Mars exopaleontology
"... the exploration for a fossil record of life on Mars
requires a much different strategy than the
search for extant life ... and this strategy
is presently embodied in Mars
exopaleontology, a new subdiscipline of
geology that borrows its scientific heritage
from Precambrian paleontology, microbial
ecology, biosedimentology, biogeochemistry
and Mars surface science."
-- NASA, Exobiology branch at ARC
Biology on Mars; Before
and After Viking
"The
data accumulated by the Viking landers failed
to provide convincing evidence for the
presence of an extant biota on Mars ... would
appear to preclude the existence of
indigenous organisms in that environment.
Nevertheless, several hypothetical scenarios
have been proposed for specialized
environmental niches wherein microbial
existence might still be occurring."
-- NASA, Exobiology branch at ARC
Life on Mars (again)
"
Scientists are claiming that they have found
new evidence of life on Mars. Researchers at
Glasgow University say a huge rock formation
on the planet's surface is probably a giant
fossil created billions of year ago by
microbes.
-- BBC News, SciTech, 4/11/98
Mars risks are low but
not zero, says NRC
"A potential threat to plans for a
spacecraft mission to bring back samples from
Mars has been removed by a report which
concludes that Mars landers will not
necessarily need to undergo an expensive
sterilization process."
-- Nature, 3/13/97 (requires free
registration)
Tectonic Past for Mars?
"So did Mars once have plate tectonics,
similar to those on Earth? If that could be
proved, it would be a considerable discovery
because, unless one counts the ice plates of
Jupiter's moon Europa, there is no planetary
body -- apart from the Earth -- with evidence
for plate tectonics."
-- Nature, 7/17/97 (requires free
registration)
The Center for Mars Exploration
Links and resources
-- NASA, Ames Research Center
Reaching for the Red Planet (curriculum 4-6)
"a multi-purpose curriculum focusing on
planning a Mars colony. The project entails
learning general facts about the planets,
learning about the Earth's environment,
choosing a purpose for a colony on Mars, and
planning and designing a colony on Mars. The
students will use drawings, creative writing,
research skills, team work, math, and the
scientific method to explore their own
environment, and design an artificial one for
Mars. "
-- Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences
Department, University of Colorado at Boulder
Mars Team Online (curricular middle school)
"By participating in the Mars Team
Online project, you and your students can
join the Mars team in their exploration of
the Red Planet! The project is targeted at
the middle school grade levels, but will have
appeal above and below that range."
-- NASA Quest Project
Mars Spacecraft Data
Linked listing of historical mars missions
-- NASA, Earth Science and Solar System
Exploration Division
Mars Today
"Mars
Today ... is a poster produced daily ...
depicts current conditions on Mars and its
relationship to Earth in four panels."
-- NASA, Ames Research Center, Center for
Mars Exploration, Mars Global Circulation
Model group
The big question about life on
Mars
" Researchers set strategies for seeking
out extraterrestrial microbes"
-- MSNBC News, 7/3/96
Definition
of Exobiology Experiments for Future Mars
Missions
Research abstracts
-- SETI Institute Current Research Projects
The Case for Mars
International Conference for the Exploration
and Colonization of Mars
-- University of Colorado at Boulder, July
17-20, 1996
Life on Mars
"The announcement by NASA of the
possible discovery of signs of early life on
Mars could prove one of the most important
scientific discoveries of all time.
Confirmation of these findings will take
time, and a careful analysis of the available
data. This web site is tracking new and
breaking developments and providing pointers
to related online resources. "
-- Federation of American Scientists
The Case for Relic Life on Mars
"Of all the scientific subjects that
have seized the public psyche, few have held
on as tightly as the idea of life on Mars.
Starting not long after the invention of the
telescope and continuing for a good part of
the past three centuries, the subject has
inspired innumerable studies, ranging from
the scientific to the speculative. But common
to them all was recognition of the fact that
in our solar system, if a planetother than
Earth harbors life, it is almost certainly
Mars."
-- Scientific American, 12/97
Viking Labeled Release
Experiment
"In 1997, Biospherics' President and
CEO, Dr. Gilbert V. Levin, announced his new
conclusion that his 1976 Viking Labeled
Release (LR) life detection experiment found
living microorganisms in the soil of Mars.
Objective application of the scientific
process to 21 years of continued research and
to new developments on Mars and Earth forced
this conclusion. Of all the many hypotheses
offered over the years to explain the LR Mars
results, the only possibility fitting all the
relevant data is that microbial life exists
in the top layer of the Martian
surface."
-- Biospherics Inc.
Mars Missions
Links to project sites
Exploring Mars.org
themarsbookstore.com
A New Case for Liquid Water on
Mars
"A
father-son team of scientists, including one
who worked on the Viking missions in the
mid-1970s, believe that liquid water -- in
limited amounts and for limited times -- can
exist on present-day Mars."
-- Spaceviews.com, National Space Society,
7/23/98
Mars
--
National Air and Space Museum
Mars Colonies
"Mars
is the most likely candidate for long-term
colonization plans. As a whole, it offers a
far more hospitable climate than the
moon..."
-- Private website
Questions and Answers
--
MarsTeamOnline, Nasa
Weather, climate and
life on Mars: Frequently asked questions
The Lunar and Planetary
Institute
"The
Lunar and Planetary Institute is a focus for
academic participation in studies of the
current state, evolution, and formation of
the solar system ... includes a computing
center, extensive collections of lunar and
planetary data, an image-processing facility,
a scientific visualization facility, an
extensive library, publishing services, and
facilities for workshops and
conferences."
-- Center for Advanced Space Studies, Johnson
Space Center, Nasa
Haughton-Mars Project
"...by
studying the Haughton crater and it's
surroundings, we hope to learn more about
Mars, ... and an extreme environment in one
of the most rarely visited corners of our
planet. While investigating Haughton, we will
also learn how to best explore Mars, by
testing robotic and human exploration
technologies and strategies, and by
optimizing interactions between the two.
"
-- Nasa
The Rivers of Mars :
Searching for the Cosmic Origins of Life
Mars books
-- Amazon.com
The Mars Bookstore
-- in
association with Amazon.com
Mission to Mars Academy
"...
contains three short lessons about the
history of Mars, about its similarity to
Earth and about its potential for life. Our
history lesson begins some 3.5 billion years
ago and ends with present-day exploration.
"
-- Thinkquest Library of Entries
Life on Mars?
links, including full transcript Nasa
briefing (250+ K file)
-- University of North Dakota
Archaebacteria--A Life
Form On Mars?
"Could
archaebacteria (or perhaps another type of
eubacteria) possibly survive on Mars? Some of
these bacteria need no organic nutrients to
live, only inorganic ions and light. Some
don't even need light--they simply oxidize
inorganic minerals to get their energy (ATP).
Some can thrive in the crushing pressures of
the deepest oceans, and others at a pH as low
as 1 or as high as 12. Some can even survive
high doses of radiation or starvation for
hundreds of years. With the possible
exception of extreme subzero temperatures,
could any of these remarkable bacteria
survive in the extreme environmental
conditions on the red planet?"
-- Private website
