Is there life on Mars?

Answer 1

When we ask "Where might we find extraterrestrial life", the first place many scientists turn to, because of its similarity to the Earth, is Mars. Mars may have been like the Earth in its past. Although no signs of life on Mars have been found, scientists will continue to search because they are aware of the potential for life in extreme environments.


What is Life? This tour wouldn't be complete without looking at...What is life? Does this sound like a strange question to you? Of course we all know what is meant by the word "life", but how would you define it?

Do all living things move? Do they all eat and breathe? Even though we all seem to know what is meant by saying something is "alive", it's not very easy to describe what "life" is. It's almost as hard as describing where life came from.

Even the biologists (people who study life) have a tough time describing what life is! But after many years of studying living things, from the mold on your old tuna sandwich to monkeys in the rainforest, biologists have determined that all living things (at least living things on Earth) do share some things in common:

Living things need to take in energy
Living things get rid of waste
Living things grow and develop
Living things respond to their environment
Living things reproduce and pass their traits onto their offspring
Over time, living things evolve (change slowly) in response to their environment
Therefore, in order for something to be considered to "have life" as we know it, it must possess these characteristics.

Life on Earth...Life Elsewhere? Life as we know it on earth requires a certain environment to survive. Even so, there are creatures on earth which seem to be able to survive in harsh environments, where the temperatures are very cold, or where there is little water or oxygen. It is environments like these which are similar to those found on other planets.

Sophisticated life forms are relative newcomers on Earth compared to bacteria. Because the environment of other planets is more primitive, life on other planets (if it exists) may be primitive and unsophisticated. If not, life would have developed the ability to withstand otherworldly environments as well as finding material for nutriment. We might have to imagine what such creatures would be like.

In 1996, scientists mistakenly thought that they had discovered life on Mars. But, there has not been any concrete evidence as of yet of life anywhere in the solar system besides Earth.

Life on Mars? In July, 1996, it was announced that Dr. David McKay, along with a team of scientists at Johnson Space Center (a division of NASA), had discovered possible fossils of bacteria in a meteorite named ALH84001 that came from Mars. It was found in the Allen Hills in Antarctica in 1984 after having landed there 12,000 years ago. While many scientists were excited at first, much of the proof offered fell apart. NASA said that after two years of study "a number of lines of evidence have gone away".

Several different chemicals and molecular structures were exciting because they looked similar to byproducts of life on Earth. However, these chemicals and structures can also be created without life. Some are even present in deep space on comets, and scientists do not think that they came from Martian life anymore.




Exploratour: Life on Mars?

10.15.03


Introduction


This is a Viking image of the surface of Mars. The footpad of the Viking lander is visible in the corner of the image.
Image from: NASA
When we ask "Where might we find extraterrestrial life", the first place many scientists turn to, because of its similarity to the Earth, is Mars. Mars may have been like the Earth in its past. Although no signs of life on Mars have been found, scientists will continue to search because they are aware of the potential for life in extreme environments.

What is Life?

This tour wouldn't be complete without looking at...What is life? Does this sound like a strange question to you? Of course we all know what is meant by the word "life", but how would you define it?

Do all living things move? Do they all eat and breathe? Even though we all seem to know what is meant by saying something is "alive", it's not very easy to describe what "life" is. It's almost as hard as describing where life came from.

Even the biologists (people who study life) have a tough time describing what life is! But after many years of studying living things, from the mold on your old tuna sandwich to monkeys in the rainforest, biologists have determined that all living things (at least living things on Earth) do share some things in common:

Living things need to take in energy
Living things get rid of waste
Living things grow and develop
Living things respond to their environment
Living things reproduce and pass their traits onto their offspring
Over time, living things evolve (change slowly) in response to their environment
Therefore, in order for something to be considered to "have life" as we know it, it must possess these characteristics.

Life on Earth...Life Elsewhere?

Life as we know it on earth requires a certain environment to survive. Even so, there are creatures on earth which seem to be able to survive in harsh environments, where the temperatures are very cold, or where there is little water or oxygen. It is environments like these which are similar to those found on other planets.

Sophisticated life forms are relative newcomers on Earth compared to bacteria. Because the environment of other planets is more primitive, life on other planets (if it exists) may be primitive and unsophisticated. If not, life would have developed the ability to withstand otherworldly environments as well as finding material for nutriment. We might have to imagine what such creatures would be like.

In 1996, scientists mistakenly thought that they had discovered life on Mars. But, there has not been any concrete evidence as of yet of life anywhere in the solar system besides Earth.

Life on Mars?


This is a picture of the meteorite ALH84001.
Image from: NASA
In July, 1996, it was announced that Dr. David McKay, along with a team of scientists at Johnson Space Center (a division of NASA), had discovered possible fossils of bacteria in a meteorite named ALH84001 that came from Mars. It was found in the Allen Hills in Antarctica in 1984 after having landed there 12,000 years ago. While many scientists were excited at first, much of the proof offered fell apart. NASA said that after two years of study "a number of lines of evidence have gone away".

Several different chemicals and molecular structures were exciting because they looked similar to byproducts of life on Earth. However, these chemicals and structures can also be created without life. Some are even present in deep space on comets, and scientists do not think that they came from Martian life anymore.

Small spheres were observed in the meteorite which the scientists in 1996 claimed were the fossilized remains of bacteria. However, they are roughly 1000 times smaller than the smallest bacteria on Earth, so don't resemble any life thought to be possible. Organic (carbon containing) compounds were found with the spheres, but it turned out that the organic compounds became a part of the meteorite after it landed on Earth (possibly when water seeped in a couple times over the 12,000 years the rock laid in Antarctica). Carbon 14, an isotope found on Earth is present in the organic compounds, but not in the spheres.


The environment of Mars in the past was very different than it is today. Conditions then may have been favorable for the existence of life. Even though the Mars meteorite does not prove life once existed on Mars, it does not disprove the possibility.

The Search for Life on Mars. The Viking program of the 1970's was the first to return data that there is currently no evidence of life on Mars.

As part of a more thorough search, the Mars Surveyor Program was put in place. Five spacecraft in all were to be sent to Mars between 1996 and 2005. Those spacecraft were to include the Mars Global Surveyor, and the Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander. Unfortunately, the Mars Climate Orbiter and Polar Lander have been lost. Scientists still hope that after all the information is gathered, they might know more about the evolution of Mars and its potential to harbor life.

Life that Survives in Harsh Environments.
So far we've taken a look at what life is and at some of the negative results in looking for life in a Martian meteroid and on the planet itself. It doesn't seem like there is life now on Mars. But maybe there is life that could live in an extreme environment like on Mars...or maybe Mars was different in the past. This is what we'll look at now.

On Earth, we know that there are many kinds of life which can live in difficult environments. An example of one such creature is shown in this picture. These are smokers, and they live on the bottom of the ocean floor. There it is very cold, it is completely dark, and there is a lot of pressure (think of how your ears feel when you dive to the bottom of the swimming pool).
Maybe lifeforms like these could live on Mars or other planets with extreme environments.

Mars in the Past
In the past, Mars was much different than it is today. Liquid water used to flow on the surface, as shown in this picture. Both the Earth and Mars should have been frozen in their early history because the sun was weak at first, but both planets show that water was flowing, which suggests that they both must have had thick atmospheres in place to keep the surface warm. In this environment life may have once existed.

The atmospheres on both planets came out of volcanoes. There were not many volcanoes on Mars, and those volcanoes were never very active. Compare this to the Earth where volcanism continues today.

The volcanic eruptions produce a lot of water. The water eventually falls to the ground or into the oceans. Mars is small, and so cooled off very rapidly. Mars was sufficiently cold for water to be absorbed into the ground and freeze like tundra in the Canadian northwest. Today scientists estimate that a large amount of water is frozen into the surface of Mars. They estimate this happened by 2.8 billion years ago.

So it is not likely that Mars will become a haven for life in the future...unless it is life unlike that which we know?


What would life need to exist on Mars?

Warmth?
It seems that the temperature on Earth (room temperature, so to speak) is just right for life. More importantly, chemical reactions take place at just the right speed in temperature ranges found on Earth. The speed at which chemical reactions take place is relevant to the formation and existence of life. Really extreme temperatures such as -300 F or 5000 F won't work. Thus an habitable planet can't be too cold or life won't be able to get started. Billions of years might pass before the relevant chemicals are exchanged because the chemical reactions take too long. And a planet can't be too hot or molecules won't stay together long enough to form solid matter.
Oxygen?
seems to be essential for life
Water?
water is a source of oxygen
Protection from Ultra Violet rays
Ultra Violet light breaks molecules apart

Answer 2

Scientists have long speculated about the possibility of life on Mars due to that planet's proximity and similarity to Earth. It remains an open question whether life exists on Mars now, or existed there in the past.
History

It has long been speculated that there may be life on Mars, due to the many similarities the planet has with Earth. Mars' polar ice-caps were observed as early as the mid-17th century, and they were first proven to grow and shrink alternately, in the summer and winter of each hemisphere, by William Herschel in the latter part of the 18th century. By the mid-19th century, astronomers knew that Mars had certain other similarities to Earth, for example that the length of a day on Mars was almost the same as a day on Earth. They also knew that its axial tilt was similar to Earth's, which meant it experienced seasons just as Earth does - but of nearly double the length owing to its much longer year. These observations led to the increase in speculation that the darker albedo features were water, and brighter ones were land. It was therefore natural to suppose that Mars may be inhabited by some form of life.

Answer 3

Very likely, but only microbial.

There is methane gas on Mars that should be gone within a century or so, therefore there is acontinuous supply leaking into the atmosphere there.

Mars is almost completely geologically inactive, (the other possible source of highly volatile methane gas) so subterranean (Submartian?) microbes would seem to be a strong front runner for explaining this anomally.

The Methane gas seems to be unevenly distributed and easier to detect near canyon and crater walls, again, suggesting the microbes.

Liquid water covered wide areas of mars for millions of years in teh past, long enough for simple life to either evolve or be transplanted from meteorite impacts from Earth.

There are bateria on/under Earth's surface called extremophiles that survive in environments just as bad as Mars.

Answer 4

Mars had harboured life before the Earth came into existence with life.But it was also destroyed before the Earths lifes came into existence.Life on Mars was for very short period.Now the Mars is totally without any type of life forms.Period of life in Mars is over now it is nothing more than just a red planet.

Answer 5

No evidence of any life has so far been found. It is being conjectured that there may be some kind of primitive life form but there is not such evidence to prove it. The similarities between the earth and mars is the main reason for such thinking.

It is also being thought that life may have once existed on the planet and for some reason got destroyed long long back. So far in history was it that no clear evidence of it remains. Scientists believe that excavation on the planet may reveal evidence of life

Answer 6

Mars never could and CANNOT ever support life. There is not enough mass on Mars to support life. Source: true science and true scientists. There are a lot of pseudo-scientists! Life is NOT possible on any planet or any star, asteroid or comet because of 1Peter 3:18: For CHRIST hath once suffered for sins, the Just for the unjust, that HE might bring us to GOD: Being put to death in the flesh but raised according to the Spirit.

Answer 7

I will present what evidence I have. Mars was an ocean covered world ages ago, but its weak gravity and thin atmosphere allowed much of the water to be lost to space. It is also in a cold phase so a lot of water is in the form of permafrost and ice.

There are aquatic fossils of simple organisms which you can see on the NASA site (but you will have to look through tens of thousands of images) or you can see the summaries here:

http://xenotechresearch.com/marsgal2.htm a fossil gallery
http://xenotechresearch.com/spsol913.htm two sea shells
http://xenotechresearch.com/opshell166.htm more sea shells

There are hundreds more images that confirm this.

Answer 8

No because in order for a life form to live in Mars it needs air to breath, it needs water to drink, and needs a warm temperature to live in.

Answer 9

The only life form on Mars, according to scientists, are microbia from Earth, transported by the probes that landed on martian surface.

Answer 10

Even abortion proponents won't argue that a zygote isn't "life", what's at question is while an embryo is a "individual" with blood, a heartbeat, annoying gadget, and the opportunity of survival outdoors the womb no longer to show the brink of unsleeping concept. Many abortion warring parties does not quit their efforts would desire to all abortion grow to be unlawful. they could make better their energies to prosecuting people who do no longer take care of their bodies to "their" standards. Morality could be very subjective and as such, our government should not be interior the corporation of legislating morality.

Answer 11

Could be at molecular level that's why there's so much intrest in mars.