Post by Top Secret on Aug 18, 2004 18:20:58 GMT -5
NASA-funded team found the first organic molecules thought to be of Martian origin, several mineral features characteristic of biological activity, and possible microscopic fossils of primitive, bacteria-like organisms inside of an ancient Martian rock that fell to Earth as a meteorite – the often-called "Mars Rock" or as scientists like to professionally label it: ALH84001.
"I’ve seen the saga move from 20 or 30 years ago when virtually no one believed there was life on Mars…or that there was even water on Mars," McKay said last week at the International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, the 49th annual meeting of Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). "Now the whole pendulum is swinging."
Microbial mat
McKay said it is now clear water flowed across Mars. A lot of water, in fact. Furthermore, there may still be water spurting out onto the planet at certain times. "The same pendulum may be swinging back toward life," he said. "We’ll wait and see. These are exciting times."
The Mars rovers represent an incredibly successful mission, McKay said. Moreover, they seemingly have "uncovered" a major find. He points to pictures taken by the rovers that show areas of the martian surface disturbed by the retraction of landing airbags.
Patches of surface "acted as a cohesive blanket of some sort" when the airbags pulled back, McKay explains. "It wrinkled…and pulled along rocks with it. It didn’t simply crack apart like a dried-up crust."
Why the soil reacted in such a manner remains obscure, McKay admits. "But one possibility is that this is the fossilized remains of a biological mat of some sort," he speculated. The mat would be made up of bacterial parts and pieces.
That claim can’t be proven at this point, McKay said. "That’s one reason you have to go get samples to be sure."
Swept under the Magic Carpet
Mars has all the conditions for life: water, energy, and organic substances, McKay pointed out.
"It is very clear that Mars was a habitable place in terms of life as we know it. In addition to that, from the meteorites, we think there’s evidence that, in fact, there was microbial life on Mars," McKay said. "And for all we know, there still could be. It’s hard to kill off life once it has started."
Early in the mission of Spirit at Gusev Crater, scientists dubbed the region messed up by landing bags as the "Magic Carpet." The crumpled portion of the soil appeared to have been peeled away, as noted by rover scientists.
"I think there’s really something there," McKay told SPACE.com. "There is some cohesiveness to that material. Talk about the Magic Carpet just went away. I don’t think it should have gone away."
He pointed to work being done at Guerrero Negro, Baja California by NASA’s Ames Research Center on the evolution of a microbial community functioning in microbial mats.
"They’ve also produced some in the lab. You pick that stuff up and it’s kind of like a fabric. It is fairly cohesive. A crusty material like dura crust breaks up immediately,".
"I’ve seen the saga move from 20 or 30 years ago when virtually no one believed there was life on Mars…or that there was even water on Mars," McKay said last week at the International Symposium on Optical Science and Technology, the 49th annual meeting of Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE). "Now the whole pendulum is swinging."
Microbial mat
McKay said it is now clear water flowed across Mars. A lot of water, in fact. Furthermore, there may still be water spurting out onto the planet at certain times. "The same pendulum may be swinging back toward life," he said. "We’ll wait and see. These are exciting times."
The Mars rovers represent an incredibly successful mission, McKay said. Moreover, they seemingly have "uncovered" a major find. He points to pictures taken by the rovers that show areas of the martian surface disturbed by the retraction of landing airbags.
Patches of surface "acted as a cohesive blanket of some sort" when the airbags pulled back, McKay explains. "It wrinkled…and pulled along rocks with it. It didn’t simply crack apart like a dried-up crust."
Why the soil reacted in such a manner remains obscure, McKay admits. "But one possibility is that this is the fossilized remains of a biological mat of some sort," he speculated. The mat would be made up of bacterial parts and pieces.
That claim can’t be proven at this point, McKay said. "That’s one reason you have to go get samples to be sure."
Swept under the Magic Carpet
Mars has all the conditions for life: water, energy, and organic substances, McKay pointed out.
"It is very clear that Mars was a habitable place in terms of life as we know it. In addition to that, from the meteorites, we think there’s evidence that, in fact, there was microbial life on Mars," McKay said. "And for all we know, there still could be. It’s hard to kill off life once it has started."
Early in the mission of Spirit at Gusev Crater, scientists dubbed the region messed up by landing bags as the "Magic Carpet." The crumpled portion of the soil appeared to have been peeled away, as noted by rover scientists.
"I think there’s really something there," McKay told SPACE.com. "There is some cohesiveness to that material. Talk about the Magic Carpet just went away. I don’t think it should have gone away."
He pointed to work being done at Guerrero Negro, Baja California by NASA’s Ames Research Center on the evolution of a microbial community functioning in microbial mats.
"They’ve also produced some in the lab. You pick that stuff up and it’s kind of like a fabric. It is fairly cohesive. A crusty material like dura crust breaks up immediately,".
