[meteorite-list] Martian Find Raises Chances of Life

From: Rob McCafferty <rob_mccafferty_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri, 8 Dec 2006 01:45:11 -0800 (PST)
Message-ID: <20061208094511.7403.qmail_at_web50912.mail.yahoo.com>

Apologies if this has been said already.

Mars looks dead. I believe it is and probably always
has been. Fred Hoyle has a lot to answer for. Why
should life be "spontaneous"? Ideal conditions
(whatever they may be, in the case of life) do not
necessarily lead to a specific outcome.
Just because you want something to be so, does not
make it so.
Do we even agree what defines life? We can't even
agree on what defines planets except in the extremes.
There are better places to look than a cold, dry,
barren rock. It should not be a surprise to find it
sterile.

Mars should be explored thoroughly but it ought to be
with an expectation that it's dead.
A null result is a valid conclusion if the experiment
is performed correctly.

Marvelous work by the boffins to spot dynamic effects
on a distant world. Great pictures and a priveledge to
live at a time when we can witness it. I'm happy to
leave the deeper philosophy for another time.

Rob McC


--- mark ford <markf at ssl.gb.com> wrote:

>
>
> >>Life seems to be unstoppable!
>
> Yes it is unstoppable, but the question is how
> 'un-startable' is it?!
>
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Pete Pete [mailto:rsvp321 at hotmail.com]
> Sent: 07 December 2006 14:33
> To: mark ford; meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Martian Find Raises
> Chances of Life
>
> >>on earth it took billions
> of years and a lot of near perfect environmental
> factors, to even start it
>
> Hi, Mark,
>
> Actually, it only took life < one billion years to
> sprout, and under very
> hostile and poisonous conditions!
>
> Life seems to be unstoppable!
>
>
http://www.news.harvard.edu/gazette/2004/10.07/15-origins.html
>
> http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/neo/life.html
>
> Cheers,
> Pete
>
>
> From: "mark ford" <markf at ssl.gb.com>
> To: <meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com>
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Martian Find Raises
> Chances of Life
> Date: Thu, 7 Dec 2006 13:39:19 -0000
>
>
>
> Yes, agreed naturally, and I am not saying there
> possibly isn't life out
> there, and we should be interested in Mars
> absolutley, BUT - caution, a few
> wet streaks down a hillside is a million miles away
> from there being alien
> life forms on mars. I bet there are planets out
> there in space with entire
> oceans but no life...
>
> I just feel there should be much more direct
> evidence of life on mars, it's
> everywhere you look on earth, if there is martian
> life it's certainly doing
> its best to not show itself - it's just a very thin
> case at the moment
> (imho)
>
> The difference with the advanced, well adapted
> extremophiles on earth is,
> basically there is little evidence that they evolved
> before other life
> forms, So it is reasonable to assume they evolved
> from other life forms to
> thrive in these harsher environments, therefore you
> would need an earth like
> place to start life off in the first place (as far
> as we know it), mars is
> looking quite different, but interesting none the
> less.
>
> Really I just question the assumption that's being
> made, 'that anywhere in
> the solar system with a patch of water' will spawn
> life - on earth it took
> billions of years and a lot of near perfect
> environmental factors, to even
> start it, then it is still quite fragile even after
> billions of years of a
> good atmosphere and plenty of stable environmental
> factors, and <an
> atmosphere> don't forget mars is very very hostile,
> very very low pressure,
> very cold, high UV, high radiation, and [mostly]
> dry.
>
> Just my 2 cents worth.
>
> Mark
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Greg Redfern [mailto:gredfern at earthlink.net]
> Sent: 07 December 2006 11:58
> To: mark ford;
> meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: RE: [meteorite-list] Martian Find Raises
> Chances of Life
>
> Hi List,
>
> I just want to point out that a whole class of
> life here on Earth -
> Extremophiles - have been found to be living in the
> most hostile places
> such as ocean thermal vents and other places with
> extreme cold and heat.
> There is also a search underway for life within the
> interior of the
> Chesapeake Bay Impact Crater (CBIC) which would
> mimic in many ways a
> Martian crater with liquid water underground as the
> NASA MGS photos
> suggest may be happening.
>
> A biologist on last year's CBIC core sample
> expedition stated that the
> life forms they are "99% sure" exist within CBIC
> would eat rock using
> enzymes, live in extreme pressure and heat in an
> anaerobic environment.
> The lead biologist on the team is using this
> research and possible
> findings to apply to a similar search for life on
> Mars.
>
> The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the
> August 2007 lift off the
> Phoenix Lander will give us more data on this whole
> question. After all,
> extraordinary claims need extraordinary evidence.
> But I for one believe
> that life is a very powerful force that finds a way
> to exist in a wide
> variety of circumstances.
>
> Personally, and I emphasize personally, I am pretty
> sure that MGS
> recorded an outburst of underground water in those
> craters at Centauri
> Montes and Terra Sirenum. Disturbances caused by
> dust devils, wind and
> our own Rovers leave DARK traces of their activity.
> It is very hard to
> make light toned artifacts on Mars. Even looking at
> the new impact
> craters revealed they were for the most part dark
> impact sites - even
> the ejecta, although one new crater in Arabia Terra
> had light toned
> ejecta.
>
> Bottom line is that Mars is a very, very interesting
> and dynamic planet
> to explore. I can hardly wait for the more powerful
> MRO camera nd its
> suite of instruments to return data on these two
> gullies.
>
> All the best,
>
> Greg Redfern
> NASA JPL Solar System Ambassador
> http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/ambassador/index.html
> WHAT'S UP?: THE SPACE PLACE
> http://www.wtopnews.com/?sid=600113&nid=421
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com
> [mailto:meteorite-list-bounces at meteoritecentral.com]
> On Behalf Of mark
> ford
> Sent: Thursday, December 07, 2006 5:41 AM
> To: meteorite-list at meteoritecentral.com
> Subject: Re: [meteorite-list] Martian Find Raises
> Chances of Life
>
>
>
> Well, reading between the sensationalist headlines,
> it could very well
> be liquid co2 or even just dust, they don't know, -
> (but as usual people
> seem to be staring past the other options in favour
> of 'here's water
> therefore there's life' ). Not true - water does not
> mean there is life.
>
>
> Water is one tiny component needed to support life,
> yes. But an
> ATMOSPHERE and some ATMOSPHERIC PRESSURE would be a
> good start too...!.
>
> mark
>
> ________________________________________
>
=== message truncated ===



 
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Received on Fri 08 Dec 2006 04:45:11 AM PST