Is there life on Mars?

Beeker

Perhaps there is or at least was. New reserch on the famous "Mars Rock" {Meteorite Allen Hills ALH 84001} shows that the initial results announced 13 years ago may in fact have been correct. A new public announcement is due in a few days.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0911/24marslife/

Sleipnir

Interesting. Very, very interesting.

Beeker

Sleipnir wrote: »

Interesting. Very, very interesting.

Oh yes this would be great news. It might also help with NASA's budget!!:)

Turtwig

This would be cool if it were true because then the odds of finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe suddenly start to look a whole lot better.:)

jumpguy

I think there is no doubt there was life in Mars. The conditions are the best in the Solar System, after Earth. Another interesting question is what destroyed this life?

Turtwig

jumpguy wrote: »

I think there is no doubt there was life in Mars. The conditions are the best in the Solar System, after Earth. Another interesting question is what destroyed this life?

Nibiru

I'll get me coat.

Beeker

Malty_T wrote: »

Nibiru

I'll get me coat.

Easy now, dont bring the loopers in to this!!!!!:D

namloc1980

jumpguy wrote: »

I think there is no doubt there was life in Mars. The conditions are the best in the Solar System, after Earth. Another interesting question is what destroyed this life?

While Mars is a likely place for microbial life in the past I think that Europa is possibly somewhere that life exists in the solar system today:



It's basically covered in a global ice sheet and there is very strong evidence that there is a water ocean beneath which regularly wells up and freezes:



Looks very much like frozen blocks of ice like we see in Antartica:



And where there's water.......there may be life.

Back to Mars......MSL should tell us a lot more when it gets there in 2012 about life on Mars.

Calibos

jumpguy wrote: »

I think there is no doubt there was life in Mars. The conditions are the best in the Solar System, after Earth. Another interesting question is what destroyed this life?

Mars being a lot smaller than earth meant that its molten core cooled and solidified several billion years ago while ours is still bubbling away. No moltern iron core means no magnetic field. No magnetic field means the surface gets irradiated and the solar wind strips the atmosphere.

marco_polo

Cool visualisation of how a 4 billion year old Mars may have looked based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter(MOLA).

Beeker

Looking better for the little green men:)

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1001/09marslife/

ynotdu

Does this mean that vikings 1&2's that landed on mars in 1976{fantastic crafts}can also have their results analysed again?They had scoops and onboard labs to test the soil dropped into them?Also the polar lander they are going to try soon to get a signal from again but doubt they will.
Why is the 'evidence' always from Meteorites,which may or may not have originated from Mars?Hopefully updated software can go over the Viking results again!

Beeker

ynotdu wrote: »

Does this mean that vikings 1&2's that landed on mars in 1976{fantastic crafts}can also have their results analysed again?They had scoops and onboard labs to test the soil dropped into them?Also the polar lander they are going to try soon to get a signal from again but doubt they will.
Why is the 'evidence' always from Meteorites,which may or may not have originated from Mars?Hopefully updated software can go over the Viking results again!

The results from Viking were "inconclusive" at the time, however some scientists still thing that Viking did find signs of life. We will just have to wait until we have conclusive proof.

Savage Cabbage

When there was no consensus the first time its hard to see there being general agreement this time ... still though very interesting. Some great images too there guys cheers

ynotdu

Malty_T wrote: »

This would be cool if it were true because then the odds of finding intelligent life elsewhere in the universe suddenly start to look a whole lot better.:)

Hi,ya Malty what do You mean by finding 'intelligent' life elsewhere?

Have You already found some on Earth:)

lord lucan

ynotdu wrote: »

Hi,ya Malty what do You mean by finding 'intelligent' life elsewhere?

Have You already found some on Earth:)

:pac::pac::pac::pac:

Angry Troll

that "mars rock" is interesting alright…
life on mars (or the moon or elsewhere) is a fascinating question and one i have been wondering about for decades…especially intelligent life now or in the past…but basically any life at all…
loads of potentially interesting info out there, pictures of artefacts etc. on mars…the only problem is that it is hard to tell which of those pics may have been doctored and which may be real…thinking of sites like richard hoagland’s enterprisemission and others and stuff on youtube…while surely 99.9% weird conspiracy nonsense, there are also some interesting pics that could actually show ancient ruins on mars, like in the cydonia region there, or on the moon…
to me the idea that the earth really is the only planet in the whole wide universe with life on it seems just a tad preposterous and just does not feel right…and while there may be no actual proof that there is anyone else out there, i still believe that mankind is really only just beginning to understand the cosmos…like we are discovering more and more planets in other systems etc…i would just love to live to see…so many unanswered questions…