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Martian soil appears able to support life.

Started by afreethinker30, July 02, 2008, 07:25:15 PM

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afreethinker30

QuoteLOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Flabbergasted" NASA scientists said on Thursday that Martian soil appeared to contain the requirements to support life, although more work would be needed to prove it.

Scientists working on the Phoenix Mars Lander mission, which has already found ice on the planet, said preliminary analysis by the lander's instruments on a sample of soil scooped up by the spacecraft's robotic arm had shown it to be much more alkaline than expected.

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past present or future," Sam Kounaves, the lead investigator for the wet chemistry laboratory on Phoenix, told journalists.

"It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. ... It is very exciting for us."

The 1 cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inch) of soil was taken from about 1 inch below the surface of Mars and had a pH, or alkaline, level of 8 or 9. "We were all flabbergasted at the data we got back," Kounaves said.

Pressed on whether there was still any doubt that life existed on Mars in some form, Kounaves said the results were "very preliminary" and more analysis was needed.

But he added: "There is nothing about the soil that would preclude life. In fact, it seems very friendly ... there is nothing about it that is toxic."

The $420 million Phoenix lander touched down in the north pole region of Mars on May 25 after a 10-month journey from Earth. It is the latest NASA bid to determine whether water -- a crucial ingredient for life -- ever flowed on the planet and whether life, even in the form of mere microbes, exists or ever existed there.

Scientists said last week they had definitive proof that ice was on the planet after eight dice-sized chunks were seen melting away in a series of photographs.

Analysis in the past 24 hours of soil placed in the spacecraft's wet chemistry laboratory showed it to be less acidic than many scientists expected. It also contained traces of magnesium, sodium, potassium and other elements, they said.

When told the pH levels, one colleague "jumped up and down as if he had the winning lottery ticket," mission soil analysis specialist Michael Hecht told a telephone news conference.

"It is a huge step forward," Hecht said, adding the "wet chemistry" technique, which involves mixing Martian soil with water brought from Earth, was aimed at discovering what native Martian microbes might be able to live, survive and grow in the soil.

The mission scientists said levels of salt were reasonable and the calcium levels appeared to be low but they warned that the composition of the soil could change at deeper levels below the surface.

They also would not be drawn on what form of life the Martian soil might have supported.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/space_mars_dc;_ylt=Ap._geC1VUlMMUd_fQDUuHcDW7oF

Promethium147

Although this Martian News is very stimulating - BEWARE.

We have a mandate from Bush for a manned mission to Mars - an incredible waste of resources at a time when we really need to get it together in local space.

It was nothing more - and nothing less - than GW jerkin' off the rotting corpse of JFK.

This mandate implies and presupposes the possibility of terraforming the red planet, but - that is quite hopeless, and I'll tell you why...

The problem is not soil, water, or even atmosphere - it is radiation. Mars has an extremely weak magnetic field due to a cooled and solidified core, and thus lacks the protection Earth enjoys from the Solar Wind. Not only does this douse the Martian surface with lethal doses of radiation, it also boils off the atmosphere quite rapidly - an atmosphere that is not replenished by volcanism.

The only possible solution is to re-liquefy the Martian core - Good Luck. The only plausible method is to deeply inject Mars with unimaginably vast and unobtainable quantities of radioactive material - and wait a few eons.

- and if you did, Mars is much smaller than Earth, with a much higher surface area to volume ratio, and it would cool relatively quickly - that's why it's cool now.

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What we need is the Space Elevator. Near-earth objects are quite rich in resources - once established in local space, we could build with the materials there, and even export materials from local space to earth far more cheaply than obtaining them here - important basic materials, such as iron. This also depletes the objects that might strike Earth - at a profit.

It further stimulates an industry for Fullerene carbon fiber - a thing of inestimable value. But planned obsolescence would be threatened; not only is this the strongest (and potentially cheapest) structural material known to man, it is self-healing when damaged on a molecular level, and has a useful lifetime of over 4 billion years. The Powers that Be might object.

Due to the local resource, totally closed biosphere systems are not necessary for local space colonies - but again, radiation is the big problem.

If we want manned missions to Mars, they would be far cheaper and easier to mount from local space than the surface of Earth. Let's wait until the venture is profitable, and we are no longer faced with the immanent decline and fall of western civilization. Careful budgeting is a must.  :raised:

afreethinker30

But it's still very cool news.I couldn't see anyone actually going there not only because of radation but how long it would take to get there and the cost.Plus how dangerous it would be.NASA doesn't have the greatest track record.

mrwynd

I work for a company that makes the rockets they use to shoot stuff into space - so - keep up the crazy ideas NASA!

afreethinker30

Quote from: "mrwynd"I work for a company that makes the rockets they use to shoot stuff into space - so - keep up the crazy ideas NASA!

Cool job.  :beer: