New Mars Forums

Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Mars: Very Long, Bitter Freeze

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20050721/ … gtime]Read me

*Am pressed for time, will copy and paste pertinent (IMO) stuff:

A new study of gas in meteorites suggests Mars was bitterly cold for pretty much all of the past 4 billion years, putting the freeze on hopes that the red planet had any extended wet periods during which life could have flourished.

While the findings don't rule out the possibility of life on Mars, they indicate that biology's best shot would have come in the first 500 million years of the red planet's 4.5-billion-year existence.

"Our research doesn't mean that there weren't pockets of isolated water in geothermal springs for long periods of time, but suggests instead that there haven't been large areas of freestanding water for four billion years," said Caltech graduate student David Shuster.

--Cindy

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We all know [i]those[/i] Venusians: Doing their hair in shock waves, smoking electrical coronas, wearing Van Allen belts and resting their tiny elbows on a Geiger counter...

--John Sladek (The New Apocrypha)

C M Edwards

Member

From: Lake Charles LA USA

Registered: 2002-04-29

Posts: 1,012

Re: Mars: Very Long, Bitter Freeze

It's been proposed that the earliest organisms on Earth began their existence during the first 500 million years of Earth's existence - before the planet had even had a chance for its crust to cool properly.  I don't see why requiring the same of life on Mars should be a show stopper.

Higher animals probably couldn't exist under those conditions, of course.  I suppose I'll miss Marsian fish.   :cry:   But that's all right - we can bring our own.

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"We go big, or we don't go."  - GCNRevenger

flashgordon

Member

Registered: 2003-01-21

Posts: 314

Re: Mars: Very Long, Bitter Freeze

The channels on mars may have been carved by liquids other than water as on earth; mars was never warm enough for liquid water.

Does this mean no life on mars?  An interesting question we could only find out by going there I suspect.

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: Mars: Very Long, Bitter Freeze

There have been countless reports about possible Martian histories, most of which disagree with many of the others. It's apparent to me that our current understanding of Mars is akin to a graph with just two or three known points - from these points, it's impossible to detect a trend or derive much useful information about the shape of the curve.

- Some reports are adamant that Mars is geologically dead and has been so for maybe 2 or 3 billion years. Other reports indicate probable major lava flows in the past 10 million years.
- Some investigations suggest strogly that Mars once had enormous quantities of water, which flowed in rivers and streams and vast outflow channels into a planet-girdling northern ocean. Yet, spectroscopic information from the surface shows substantial deposits of olivine scattered all over the Martian surface, olivine being a mineral which rapidly breaks down in contact with moisture or even ice.
- Crater counting has given us tentative dating for many different Martian surfaces, based on our understanding of lunar and terrestrial cratering epochs. But even that, on Mars, has been questioned and we may actually be at sixes and sevens when it comes to how old anything on the Martian surface actually is!

    This report about a long-frozen Red Planet is just one more set of data which contradicts other work about Mars. Obviously, it's good that new information is being compiled all the time, however confusing it may appear. And I'm sure that, one fine day, we'll arrive at a reasonably complete picture of how Mars evolved.
    But I think it'll be a good while before that day dawns and I very much doubt I'll be around long enough to enjoy it! 

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

Commodore

Member

From: Upstate NY, USA

Registered: 2004-07-25

Posts: 1,021

Re: Mars: Very Long, Bitter Freeze

Well, at least when it comes time to colonize, we won't have to worry about stepping on any natives.

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"Yes, I was going to give this astronaut selection my best shot, I was determined when the NASA proctologist looked up my ass, he would see pipes so dazzling he would ask the nurse to get his sunglasses."
---Shuttle Astronaut Mike Mullane

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: Mars: Very Long, Bitter Freeze

Commodore:-

Well, at least when it comes time to colonize, we won't have to worry about stepping on any natives.

Yeah, well, you may be right - though I still think there's at least microbial life in the subsurface. But, being a terraformer, and knowing the power of the 'green' lobby, we'd be better off if Mars turns out to be sterile.
Either way, it'll be interesting.
What am I saying?! ... Anything to do with Mars is interesting!! 

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

srmeaney

Member

From: 18 tiwi gdns rd, TIWI NT 0810

Registered: 2005-03-18

Posts: 976

Re: Mars: Very Long, Bitter Freeze

still would have thought that the methane was a bit of a giveaway.

http://www.astrobio.net/news/modules.ph … =0&thold=0