[meteorite-list] Life on Mars: New Evidence from Martian Meteorites

From: Robert Verish <bolidechaser_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun, 18 Apr 2010 05:15:51 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <870910.55824.qm_at_web51706.mail.re2.yahoo.com>

Life on Mars: New Evidence from Martian Meteorites

<http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/403089main_7441-1.pdf>

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It was the recent findings regarding the Nakhla meteorite that brought McKay and his Allan Hills meteorite back into the "news":

<http://www.areavoices.com/astrobob/?blog=65300>

and here is one of my recent articles on this subject:

<http://meteorite-recovery.tripod.com/2010/mar10.htm>

Opinions are still varied, so in no way is there any consensus on this subject.? But there is one point that most of us can agree upon:
Martian meteorites are vastly understudied.

Look how long it took for these findings to be made on Nakhla!
Granted certain crucial technological advances were only recently made, but we still don't see any (NASA) effort to acquire Mars rocks from outside of Antarctica.? The analytical techniques are advancing, the game is changing, and the old excuses about using only pristine rocks from Antarctica are no longer justified - given the billions of dollars being spent on the ever more delayed objective of going to Mars.

If researchers (NASA) are going to be taking the position* that "viable microbes could have been transferred between the two planets" (based in part on calculations of meteorite trajectories and magnetization studies supporting only mild heating of meteorite cores), then they (NASA) should be acquiring every Mars rock (meteorite) that they can get their hands on.

*see SETG - the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Genomes
<http://web.mit.edu/setg/SETG/Mainpage.html>

-- Bob V.

For more details on this "new evidence" here is the original NASA report:

<http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/pdf/403089main_7441-1.pdf>

Life on Mars: New Evidence from Martian Meteorites

David S. McKay1 Kathie L. Thomas-Keprta2 Simon J. Clemett2
Everett K. Gibson1, Jr., Lauren Spencer,1 and Susan J. Wentworth2
1NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston TX USA; 2Jacobs
Technology, NASA Johnson Space Center, 2101 NASA Parkway, Houston TX USA 77058
ABSTRACT
New data on Martian meteorite 84001 as well as new experimental studies show that thermal or shock decomposition of carbonate, the leading alternative non-biologic explanation for the unusual nanophase magnetite found in this meteorite, cannot explain the chemistry of the actual martian magnetites. This leaves the biogenic explanation as the only remaining viable hypothesis for the origin of these unique magnetites.
Additional data from two other martian meteorites show a suite of biomorphs which are nearly identical between meteorites recovered from two widely different terrestrial environments (Egyptian Nile bottomlands
and Antarctic ice sheets). This similarity argues against terrestrial processes as the cause of these biomorphs and
supports an origin on Mars for these features.

---------- Recent News ------------

Oldest Martian Meteorite Not as Old as Thought

Read More http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2010/04/allan-hills-meteorite-age/#ixzz0lNVV7ka4
Received on Sun 18 Apr 2010 08:15:51 AM PDT