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More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

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Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#11

Post by nkrisc »

sgt101 wrote: post #9
hughw wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they found actual life on Mars the NASA budget would multiply many times, so I don't understand your thinking.

I think the opposite - unless the discovery of life was preceeded or coincidental with the discovery of some other hyper interesting thing (for example, if Martian life has some sort of utility for medicine, maybe) then I think that would be that for Mars exploration missions. Of course there would be many announcements and excited political agreements around "continuing to explore the new frontier" but I think that…

But why? Why would there be no money for that but there’s money now when there’s no conclusive evidence of life, past or present, on Mars? It makes no sense.

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#12

Post by voakbasda »

api wrote: post #4
dvh wrote: post #3

Mineral that can be only formed by life, or under special conditions when water flows over rock, has been found on Mars, where water had been known to flow over rock. NASA doesn't want to find life on Mars. They want to find evidence, so that the next probe can be more complex and more expensive than the previous one. NASA will never send wet microscope to Mars, you know, the kind you used in school to show bacteria…

Sending a microscope is easier said than done. Many natural structures can look like bacteria, and vice versa. If there's more complex single celled life then we might see stuff swimming around but that's considered unlikely close to the surface where there's a decent amount of solar and cosmic radiation. If complex life does exist it's probably deep underground or in caves and lava tubes where we can't reach it yet.…

What reasons do you think exist that lead you to believe Earth is special for having evolved complex intelligent life?

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#13

Post by altern8 »

dvh wrote: post #3

Mineral that can be only formed by life, or under special conditions when water flows over rock, has been found on Mars, where water had been known to flow over rock. NASA doesn't want to find life on Mars. They want to find evidence, so that the next probe can be more complex and more expensive than the previous one. NASA will never send wet microscope to Mars, you know, the kind you used in school to show bacteria…

A little far-fetched..?

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#14

Post by Larrikin »

dvh wrote: post #3

Mineral that can be only formed by life, or under special conditions when water flows over rock, has been found on Mars, where water had been known to flow over rock. NASA doesn't want to find life on Mars. They want to find evidence, so that the next probe can be more complex and more expensive than the previous one. NASA will never send wet microscope to Mars, you know, the kind you used in school to show bacteria…

Do you really think that all the scientists view NASA as a make work program? That so many people spent years in schools getting advanced degrees and there is no one there who wants to make the most significant discovery in the history of humanity? That nobody wants the instant Nobel prize?

It also doesn't make sense from any kind of financial perspective. The budget for NASA would explode for all kinds of missions. They would have free reign to go wherever and do anything.

The discovery team would instantly create brand new fields of study and career paths, and anyone on the team that discovered life would become experts in the field with unlimited investment opportunities to continue their research.

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#15

Post by isomorphic_duck »

Tangential, but really looking forward to what Europa Clipper[0] finds in its flybys.

The delay in communication makes ambitious manoeuvres challenging - perhaps advances in AI (and by extension robotics) helps build much more autonomous space rovers. This could enable us, for example, to evaluate the samples by sending wet microscopes with the rover itself.

[0]: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper/

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#16

Post by nephihaha »

Viking 1 & 2 returned positive results in the seventies but these have been played down or hand waved. I think there is good evidence of microbial life in the soil or underground. We should be wary of bringing Martian microbes back to Earth, because they may find our environment too hospitable and end up invasive species.

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#17

Post by nephihaha »

nkrisc wrote: post #10
dvh wrote: post #3

Mineral that can be only formed by life, or under special conditions when water flows over rock, has been found on Mars, where water had been known to flow over rock. NASA doesn't want to find life on Mars. They want to find evidence, so that the next probe can be more complex and more expensive than the previous one. NASA will never send wet microscope to Mars, you know, the kind you used in school to show bacteria…

I’m curious why you seem to believe that all exploration of Mars would cease as soon as life is discovered there? It would be one of the biggest scientific discoveries of all time and would open up a huge number of possible future missions, for the next few centuries at least. It would also make for good justification for missions to other worlds that could harbor life.

Scientists can string out things. It is a means of securing funding for long periods.

I think there has been evidence of life in the Venusian atmosphere since the 80s and on/in Mars since the 70s.

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#18

Post by nephihaha »

api wrote: post #4
dvh wrote: post #3

Mineral that can be only formed by life, or under special conditions when water flows over rock, has been found on Mars, where water had been known to flow over rock. NASA doesn't want to find life on Mars. They want to find evidence, so that the next probe can be more complex and more expensive than the previous one. NASA will never send wet microscope to Mars, you know, the kind you used in school to show bacteria…

Sending a microscope is easier said than done. Many natural structures can look like bacteria, and vice versa. If there's more complex single celled life then we might see stuff swimming around but that's considered unlikely close to the surface where there's a decent amount of solar and cosmic radiation. If complex life does exist it's probably deep underground or in caves and lava tubes where we can't reach it yet.…

There is a lot of abrasive dust on Mars as well, which poses a problem to any microscope.

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#19

Post by root-parent »

isomorphic_duck wrote: post #15

Tangential, but really looking forward to what Europa Clipper[0] finds in its flybys. The delay in communication makes ambitious manoeuvres challenging - perhaps advances in AI (and by extension robotics) helps build much more autonomous space rovers. This could enable us, for example, to evaluate the samples by sending wet microscopes with the rover itself. [0]: https://science.nasa.gov/mission/europa-clipper/

Too much radiation for anything close to Jupiter. You will find life on Venus clouds and in Titan....

Everybody looking at the wrong targets. Mars is a dead, radiation cooked, burned, poisonous place. Forget about it, leave it to the trillionaires.

Re: More evidence is consistent with possible ancient life on Mars (2025)

#20

Post by neuroticnews25 »

el_io wrote: post #5
dvh wrote: post #3

Mineral that can be only formed by life, or under special conditions when water flows over rock, has been found on Mars, where water had been known to flow over rock. NASA doesn't want to find life on Mars. They want to find evidence, so that the next probe can be more complex and more expensive than the previous one. NASA will never send wet microscope to Mars, you know, the kind you used in school to show bacteria…

What mineral can only be formed by life?

You know what they say, sufficiently advanced geological process is indistinguishable from life.
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