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New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

discover.lanl.gov

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Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#181

Post by JumpCrisscross »

jl6 wrote: post #69
adastra22 wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mars had 3/4 billion more years to develop, compared with the Earth. Mars formed first, and cooled first due to its smaller size. One of the outstanding problems in astrobiology I mention is that the Earth was inhospitable until 3.8Gya, and the oldest fossils of presumably DNA based life (since it matches existing life we can study) was 3.7Gya. Mars was hospitable ~4.5Gya. So either life emerged IMMEDIATELY on Earth…

> Earth was inhospitable until 3.8Gya There is much uncertainty about this. The early Earth was a volatile place with a lot of raw materials and energy available, and a lot of chemistry happening. I wouldn't rule out that some part of Earth may have had the right conditions for life right from the beginning. Certainly if we expect life to be able to survive a ride on a piece of ejecta from Mars, it's plausible to ima…

> wouldn't rule out that some part of Earth may have had the right conditions for life right from the beginning

Even if it was, it wouldn't have survived the impact that created the Moon.

Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#182

Post by ordu »

adastra22 wrote: post #27
pjmlp wrote: post #9

Maybe we are about to discover that we came to Earth after messing up Mars.

You jest, but I seriously believe we are likely martians. Early panspermia from Mars settles a LOT of astrobiological questions about origin of life and LUCA complexity. To be clear, Mars’ descent into inhospitality was totally natural and the result of a smaller planet with stripped atmosphere just outside the habitable zone as the Sun cooled. I doubt Martian life developed to be multicellular. But I bet when we go…

> as the Sun cooled

Sun becomes hotter with time passed, not cooler.

> Early panspermia from Mars settles a LOT of astrobiological questions about origin of life and LUCA complexity.

Does it solves questons or just moves them to another planet?

Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#183

Post by Dr_Birdbrain »

ffhhj wrote: post #163
wvbdmp wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wernher von Braun himself also wrote probably the first serious treatise on human missions to mars as well as a science fiction novel on the topic in 1948. Apparently the original German novel remains unpublished, but there is an English translation available. It’s set in 1980. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mars_Project https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Mars:_A_Technical_Tale Check out the second link’s secti…

"Elon Gates to reach the stars"

Are the Elon Gates made of sugar, I. E. Zucker? Elon Zucker Gates to reach the stars?

Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#184

Post by dan_mctree »

caseyy wrote: post #74
ethbr1 wrote: post #52

It really was Earth all along...

I can just imagine Elorp Munk building a space company on Mars a billion years ago to colonize the frozen and inhospitable Earth. Bringing over some germs and then failing to establish a colony… that could make for some great sci-fi.

I wonder if there'd be any good way to confirm or rule out an ancient Martian civilization. Would Martian surface structures be able to last a few billion years? Or would Martian processes be able to make all of them disappear? And how about underground structures?

Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#185

Post by mkl »

codedokode wrote: post #153
iamflimflam1 wrote: post #72

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly worth also including just how controversial Wernher von Braun is. Von Braun is a highly controversial figure widely seen as escaping justice for his Nazi war crimes due to the Americans' desire to beat the Soviets in the Cold War https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun

Does this mean that Americans helped a criminal to escape justice?

Not one, many. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Paperclip, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unit_731#:~:text=those%20captu...

Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#186

Post by jl6 »

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #181
jl6 wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Earth was inhospitable until 3.8Gya There is much uncertainty about this. The early Earth was a volatile place with a lot of raw materials and energy available, and a lot of chemistry happening. I wouldn't rule out that some part of Earth may have had the right conditions for life right from the beginning. Certainly if we expect life to be able to survive a ride on a piece of ejecta from Mars, it's plausible to ima…

> wouldn't rule out that some part of Earth may have had the right conditions for life right from the beginning Even if it was, it wouldn't have survived the impact that created the Moon.

Bear in mind that hypothesized impact is estimated to have occurred around the 4.5Gya mark. That’s still a lot further back than 3.8Gya. And I still wouldn’t categorically rule out microscopic life/life-precursors surviving the event somehow.

Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#189

Post by xyst »

elorant wrote: post #175

This is scary on two fronts. One, whatever happened to Mars could happen to Earth, and two, it puts the Great Filter probably in our future. If our solar system had two hospitable planets then there should be plenty of Earth like planets around in our galaxy. In which case we end up with the Fermi Paradox. If life is so abundant in the Universe how come we haven’t been in contact with aliens?

That’s easy. Earthling tech is just too behind the curve and society is stuck in a state where we are considered primitive.

Re: New findings point to an Earth-like environment on ancient Mars

#190

Post by emporas »

prox wrote: post #60
tokai wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't remember where I read it, but somebody wrote that a geologist with a hammer could do more science in an afternoon than all our mars probes have done combined. Its hard to do science with a rc car, even if said car is cutting edge.

What if we send a humanoid drone next?

Is it possible to fly on such a thin atmosphere? Doubt it.
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