Is There Really Life on Mars?
We can answer that question with a conclusive "maybe."
If you want to start an argument among a group of space scientists, one of the easiest ways is to ask whether the evidence suggests that there is life on Mars. I know, because I’ve asked that question, off and on, since the Viking landers reached Mars in July of 1976.
The question became interesting again last week, when Michael Mumma and others at NASA published a paper in Science. In the paper, they described their observations of methane in Mars’ atmosphere. The formal announcement at the NASA website for Mars exploration is titled “Martian Methane Reveals Red Planet is not a Dead Planet.” It was reported in the press as if life had definitely been found. Look closely at the announcement, though, and you find it really says that the results show either that there is life on Mars or Mars is geologically active.
Methane, composed of four hydrogen atoms attached to one carbon, CH4, is the simplest possible hydrocarbon; when we use it at home, it’s called “natural gas.” As millions of teenagers have demonstrated, it’s the flammable component of the gases produced by digestion.
These new results are certainly suggestive and interesting. To understand them, we ought to think about the conditions on Mars a bit.
At one time, it was almost commonplace belief that there was at least some life on Mars, based on its similarity to Earth and on seasonal changes that could be observed through telescopes. But as our observations got better, that all changed.
Mars had less atmosphere, and was a lot less similar to Earth, than we had thought. In fact, the pressure on Mars is quite a bit less than the pressure in a vacuum-packed can of coffee. There is no open water, there are no canals.
There is ultraviolet radiation that would kill Earthly life in minutes and no water on the surface at all. In fact, the soil on the surface of Mars is saturated with oxidizers. It’s as if you soaked the surface with hydrogen peroxide from the drug store.
Opinion quickly changed, and the results from the Viking landers made it seem even less likely there was life, although there have always been a few planetary scientists who dissented.
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Charlie Martin is a Colorado computer scientist and freelance writer. He holds an MS in Computer Science from Duke University, where he spent six years with the National Biomedical Simulation Resource, Duke University Medical Center. Find him at http://chasrmartin.com, and on his blog at http://explorations.chasrmartin.com.
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25 Comments
1. Adam:Of course there’s no life on Mars. Since a fetus isn’t considered to be “life” then why would we expect that a few odd microbes to constitute life?
Jan 22, 2009 - 6:23 am 2. e:1. Adam:
Ah, but don’t you understand? Mars microbes are the Gaia spirit of the Red Planet. They help that planet unlike human vermin who only kill and destroy. Our greenhouse gasses are destroying that precious life and Mars needs to be protected from us…
Ugh, I can’t type any more of this sarcastic BS. Ask enough idiots and you’ll find more than a few who will believe such trite. Sometimes I hope people who advocate such suicidal mindsets provide an example of what they preach.
Hopefully the methane is from geologic processes that might be useful to sustain a surface base.
Jan 22, 2009 - 6:58 am 3. Chip:Once we found extremeophile bacteria it became obvious to me that microbial life is everywhere. But advanced life seems to be much more delicate and requires a number of lucky coincidences including our large moon, Jupiter protecting us from debris, and choice position from the sun.
Of course the acid-loving hyperthermophile worm people of Crackassis disagree.
Jan 22, 2009 - 10:08 am 4. Phineas:I’m still disappointed Voyager 2 missed the Lost City of the Neptune Men during its flyby. I mean, they appeared in a Japanese science fiction movie, so it’s not as if we don’t know they’re there.
Jan 22, 2009 - 11:35 am 5. Erik:“3. Chip:
Once we found extremeophile bacteria it became obvious to me that microbial life is everywhere. But advanced life seems to be much more delicate and requires a number of lucky coincidences.”
For life to arise you need energy(vucanism)and liquid water imo. Single cell life forms within the first 100 million years of Earths formation. It took another 3.8 billion years for multicellular like to form. Earth is a garnden spot and It still took 3.8 billion years to get multiceller life. Then it took another 600 milion years for a multiceller speaces to arise on earth that could master Radio comunication (Humans, duh).
Multiceller life is the real hard barrer. I think any planet you can find lava flowing or venting (energy rich inorganic compounds) into water you will find singel cell life. Mars does not have these conditions now. You can find moons of Jupiter and Saturn that do.
Methane is so simple it can come from many sorces.
Jan 22, 2009 - 1:29 pm 6. Knighst13:“Since a fetus isn’t considered to be “life” then why would we expect that a few odd microbes to constitute life?”
lol…….goodnight, the discussion is over.
Jan 22, 2009 - 1:36 pm 7. Charlie (Colorado):I saw something just today suggesting that life is easy, but multicellular life with mitochondria is hard.
Jan 22, 2009 - 9:41 pm 8. SaraforAmerica:This picture of Mars looks a lot like a massive kidney stone removed from a guy yesterday. Really. Ponder that.
Jan 23, 2009 - 7:55 am 9. Alex Bensky:I thought the question had been answered already. Is there life on Mars? Well, a little on Saturday night but the rest of the week it’s pretty dead.
Jan 23, 2009 - 10:23 am 10. L. Riofrio:Interesting and balanced article. Please note that it was Dr. DAVID McKay of NASA who in the 1990’s found evidence indicating microbial life on Mars. We would be pleased if you could change this.
Jan 23, 2009 - 11:01 am 11. Siva Narain:Why not NASA send some morons to Mars and start life there instead of peeking in the cracks. The microbes in the cracks will release methane and the morons will find life unbearable there.
Jan 23, 2009 - 11:38 am 12. Marc Malone:What a silly debate! Of course there’s no life on Mars! Life is messy. It’s vibrant. It’s active. It leaves signs of its existence wherever it goes. You know it when you see it. This is not complicated. Stupid scientists are looking to fulfill some narrow, academic definition. They have no common sense. If there were life there, it would be abundant. That’s the way living things are. They proliferate! They’d be everywhere. Sheesh.
Jan 23, 2009 - 1:30 pm 13. Horace Wells:I was hoping for some intelligent life on this discussion board but I found the usual microencephelactics. Their brains died but their bodies haven’t realized since they hardly worked when they were alive anyways.
Jan 24, 2009 - 12:00 am 14. Marc Malone:Once again, I see that most conservatives are mainly petty, small minded people with no imagination or curiosity. But they know all about Saddam’s plots against us and how everyone in the world is hates them cause they are so morally pristine, strong and intelligent.
#13 Horace Wells – Pointless criticism. Many of those posting are just having a bit of fun with it. Just because the article is about a supposedly brainy subject, doesn’t necessarily mean that it was written in an evocative manner. Your supposition is flawed. You’re setting up a straw man. Kinda microencephalactic of YOU.
Furthermore, while it is true that the college-educated whites tend to vote Dem, and those not college-educated tend to vote Pub, it doesn’t mean that the latter group are all stupid rednecks and the former are smart. Educated doesn’t mean smart; it means educated, and formally educated at that. To believe otherwise is just ignorant/stupid. You are committing the sin of underestimating your opponent by pigeonholing him or by buying the meme.
In my case, I had one year of college. I stopped, because the pace was just too glacial for someone with my IQ. I’m not formally-educated, but I am educated. I have a very active mind, but this article stirred me not at all. Sorry that we disappointed you, but we didn’t actually cause that. Your own faulty basis did.
You have been taught that those not college-educated are lesser men. This is false. It confuses educated with smart. (The universities proffer this meme, because it increases the sense of the value of the product they sold you.) This is the “elitism” that Pubs complain about. You demonstrated this trait with your foolish comment. You are not superior to me, unless you’re one of those approximately 2,000 people in the world with a higher IQ than my 200, so be careful about lobbing charges of stupidity.
Jan 24, 2009 - 2:00 am 15. FunnyCave:Instead of asking “is there any life on Mars?” We should be asking “Is there any interesting life on Mars?” I’m not talking microbes here. I’m talking about space aliens that look like the ones from movies. Or even like Roger the alien from Family Guy. That’s what I’m interested in. But unfortunately for the question “Is there any interesting life on Mars?”, the answer is moving closer and closer to “No.”
Jan 24, 2009 - 9:14 am 16. Boogey_Man:It’s probably even moved past “No” to “Hell, No!”
More importantly, will the microbes that may/may not be on Mars pose any hazard to Earths biosphere? Finding single celled life on the red planet would be cool but it could be a terrible road block to settling the place.
Jan 24, 2009 - 4:19 pm 17. John Link:It’s a shame to a see this thread hijacked by morons.
Science, Mr. Horace Wells, is inherently “conservative”, in the sense that it does not multiply hypotheses unnecessarily. You conflate political conservativism, sir, with…some other idiosyncratic standard, known only to you. I suggest you cut your pony tail, remove yourself from your garbage-strewn cubicle, and release yourself from your bigotries.
Snide comments about “Saddam’s plots” mark you as a person who lacks the intellectual wherewithal to make an intellectural argument. This thread is about Mars.
As for conservative voters being less educated: say what? you think lower class urban dwellers voted for McCain?
Face it, Horace: deep down, you’re shallow.
As to the issue here: Once again, as we have been ever since we started landing probes on Mars, we are faced with inferences and not evidence.
Methane exists in the atmospheres of Earth, Jupiter, Saturn and on some moons, so its presence on Mars, absent other signs of organic matter, is hardly dispositive. saying “It’s gotta be” due to life is not a scientific finding; it’s every bit as lame as Creationists saying life is so complex “It’s gotta be” due to divine intervention.
Jan 24, 2009 - 9:18 pm 18. Rob:Life on other places? who really cares. its worthless to consider. why do you meatheaded journalists even waste time to write about it. The point is you and NASA and everyone else will never ever do anything with it even if you could muster up any facts about the question. That crap about giai existing there is childlish garbage is just a bunch of the same worthless noises.
Jan 25, 2009 - 8:41 am 19. Chip:Horace,
You progressives should probably skip re-education this time and move straight to death camps. We’re just not worth the effort.
Jan 25, 2009 - 9:10 am 20. Ian Thorpe:There’s life Jim, but not as we know it.
Jan 25, 2009 - 11:56 am 21. Cybergeezer:There’s a lot of methane production in Congress, but not much life support. I think these projects should stay covert for four years, and out of public eye, so as not to become victims of the funding cuts that are coming from “His Emptiness” and his administration.
Jan 26, 2009 - 7:34 am 22. Cybergeezer:And, oh; This just in from “His Emptiness”: another term for economic justice: “common purpose”. BOHICA
Jan 26, 2009 - 7:38 am 23. Charlie (Colorado):Jeez, folks, this is a completely non-political article. Give it a rest, would’ja?
Jan 26, 2009 - 1:24 pm 24. gie ann:is there any more info u cant put about mars
Feb 8, 2009 - 10:03 pm 25. alan:no life on mars because how can a ufo fly 250 million miles to earth?
Feb 21, 2009 - 11:47 pm