Martian Soil Very Telling
By tony leather, 13th Jun 2012 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutNewsScience
The Mars Phoenix Lander, sent by NASA to the red planet, has discovered the surface there consists of dirt very similar to moderate soils that found on Earth
Martian Soil Very Telling
When HG Wells wrote the iconic War of the Worlds, basing his novel on the idea that there was life on Mars, he may not have been too wide of the mark. New information gleaned from studies suggest that Martian soil may be more capable of supporting life than previously thought..
It had long been speculated that the building blocks of life as we know it might exist there, and data gathered by the Mars Phoenix Lander, sent by NASA to the red planet, has discovered the surface there consists of dirt very similar to moderate soils that found on Earth
Lead study author Richard Quinn, Ames Research Center and SETI Institute, has said that the data analysis was quite revealing, showing with some degree of certainty that life could quite possibly have gained a foothold on Mars in ancient times
The $420 million Phoenix mission touched down close to the north pole on the planet May 2008, gathering, over a five month time-frame, many varied pieces of data, including the revelation that soil at the landing site held chemicals providing nutrients for life-forms, suggesting Martian soil being more hospitable to microbial life.
Since the Phoenix mission famously confirmed the existence of water in the form of ice on the red planet, the onboard laboratory results from the mission, showing the composition of the Martian dirt to be comparable to terrestrial soils, then the conditions for life to emerge are all there, though it would be life that had no reliance on oxygen.
Other recent finds, such as the evidence provided by the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment camera, located on the NASA Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, that in the very recent past liquid water may have flowed just beneath the Martian surface, gives scientists more belief that the outlook for life on Mars is very positive in terms of potential. Science fiction writers may have had something all along.
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