Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

WonderWoman · 2004-01-14 11:17:33

Hello Everyone,

I am new here and very much intrigued with Mars. When the Mars rock story first surfaced, some years ago, I was sceptical. I didn't think it would make anyone any more willing to accept the science behind the exploration of another world.
However, lately it seems everyone is talking about Mars. And I mean EVERYBODY-from the mailman to the guy in accounting who doesn't pay attention to anything.
Anyways, the reason I started this topic is because I, for the life of me, cannot understand how the true motivation of the SPIRIT's endeavor is solely for the purpose of determining whether or not earth will follow the same path. Is that it really? Millions of dollars, spent just so they can work out a hypothesis of what may NOT even happen? Does anyone else believe this bull?
If I am going to spend so much money on a project to another planet, it will have nothing to do with comparison of worlds and EVERYTHING to do with finding life.
I am just thinking logically here, but if my world were dying and I didn't have the technology to go to the stars, I would definitely go down, below in the depths. I'd live in a cave, or I would use whatever technology I did have, to create a habitable world beneath the surface. Has anyone at NASA pondered this? Isn't anyone going to say, "Well, maybe there is life on Mars. Maybe they live underground." How else would you explain the pyramidal shapes in Cydonia?
Why is it so easy to accept the Superstring theory and yet so hard to think, just for a second, that Earth isn't the only inhabited planet. Sorry for ranting, but as a lover of all things astronomical and cosmological in nature, I am thoroughly perplexed and even annoyed at the way this has all been explained to the public.
Finally, Bush said the whole mission had to do with finding life.
Why can't the big heads at NASA say the same? Or, did I miss that program.
Anyone want to discuss this with me? I could sure use some other opinions on this. Thanks.

WW

RobertDyck · 2004-01-14 12:47:13

Welcome WonderWoman,

I have to admit I'm skeptical. The "face" on Mars was the result of computer enhancement software. After Viking, NASA was not given the funds to send any more probes so they tried to get all the data they could from the probes they had. They used image enhancement software to get as much as possible from the Viking pictures. However, the only image enhancement software available at the time was from the CIA. That software was optomized to look for human faces and geometric shapes. Furthermore, they took the output and ran it back in again. The ran the image through the software 5 times. After all that, I'm surprised they didn't find more faces or geometric shapes. The reality is that the "face" is just a mountain. Any resemblance to a face is just an artifact of the CIA software. Likewise, the "piramids" are just mountains. Any resemblence to 5-sided pyramids is just geology. Mount Everest on Earth is a 3-sided pyramid, as are many other mountains. The lesson here is to not use anything from the CIA.

NASA would love to find some alien artifact. That would give them a reason to get more funding to go explore. Most people at NASA have wanted a manned mission to Mars since the Apollo program, the problem is money. In fact, when NASA was going to replace the US habitation module on ISS with TransHab, which would use technology applicable for Mars, Congress cancelled it. NASA needs a mandate from the US government to go explore. Hopefully the President will provide that in today's press conference.

As for any other evidence of life; if monuments were there they would have been found by by now. Mars Orbital Camera on Mars Global Surveyor has mapped the entire surface in medium resolution, and interesting spots in high resolution. If you want a high resolution image of a particular spot, you can send a request to JPL.

This thread should really be moved to the "Intelligent Alien Life" folder. (Adrian, could you move it?) As for the probability of intelligent life out there somewhere, read my posts to the thread "The Drake Equation".

jadeheart · 2004-01-14 14:07:16

If I am going to spend so much money on a project to another planet, it will have nothing to do with comparison of worlds and EVERYTHING to do with finding life.

Well, my impression from reading the mainstream media IS that this is being driven by the search for possible ET life. Every article leading up to Spirit's landing mentioned "searching for signs of past water... which may indicate the possibility of past life." Or some such info-bit. The thing is, none of the landers on Mars since Viking has explicitly searched for organic signatures-- life. So there is a tendency on the part of scientists to maybe downplay the 'life' thing a little. The MERs are not looking for life, but for geological indications that conditions were right for it in the past. Explicit experiments for actual life will be in the future, depending on what MERs & other missions find.

But finding LIFE is certainly the holy grail of space exploration, and very few would deny it. Some folks are just trying to be circumspect and avoid sensationalism. Probably a good idea until there's something to get really excited about, like petroglyphs on the side of a Mars rock.

Finally, I would add that exploration is an end unto itself. This stuff is worth doing just to see what's out there, whether life is found or not. It's just a question as to how much such an abstract edification is worth in terms of dollars. To me it's worth a lot, but I can speak only for myself.

Welcome to NM.

Dook · 2004-01-14 23:28:07

Actually the first landers to visit mars, Viking 1 and 2, had experiments to find life. The initial experiments showed positive signs but further experiments didn't so the debate continues.

[http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/ … 728-1.html]http://www.space.com/news/spacehistory/ … 728-1.html

Just thought I'd add this. If you've ever seen the Hubble deep field picture then you have to admit that somewhere out there in all those galaxies a gazillion miles from us there has to be some other form of intelligent life. Or is all of it just for us? If it is then I want the one to the left, the red one, with auto transmission and air conditioning.

rgcarnes · 2004-01-15 23:30:02

It would be very ironic if we find irrefutable signs of life (well defined microbes, or colonies of microbes would be sufficient) on Mars and thereby show where the water is (and has been) rather than following the water to find life.

Lets continue to watch the "air bag tracks/magic carpet" area.

Does anyone have a key to the spectral filters used for each raw image of the pan-cam?

Yang Liwei Rocket · 2004-03-04 04:50:50

check the post " Could these be hatching from the spheres?? " good photo

I don't think we should get ahead of ourself yet, can we be so sure it looks like this

remember, it was NASA that first said that this might be a "FACE". And think of all the madness it cause

atomoid · 2004-03-05 06:04:31

Does anyone have a key to the spectral filters used for each raw image of the pan-cam?

you can find some good info about the PanCam near the bottom of the [http://www.lyle.org/mars/]lyle.org website and [http://www.atsnn.com/NASAIsNotAlteringM … tory=30048]here too.
the camera and filter number used in the image can be found in the filename. for example on [http://www.lyle.org/mars/imagery/1M1316 … 1.JPG.html]this page youll notice it says "Microscope, Filter 2" in the caption and then see where "M2" exists 4th and 3rd to last digits in the filename "1M131649297EFF0544P2933M2M1.JPG"... likewise its L and R plus filter numbers for the Left/Right stereo pairs from the pancam. i used to tediously make the anaglyphs myself then i found that lyle.org has the whole process scripted and automated so they appear there even before they go on NASA's raw site. here are the [http://www.marsunearthed.com/OMIndex/Ma … sIndex.htm]best aligned and cropped anaglyphs.

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#1 2004-01-14 11:17:33

Re: Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

#2 2004-01-14 12:47:13

Re: Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

#3 2004-01-14 14:07:16

Re: Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

#4 2004-01-14 23:28:07

Re: Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

#5 2004-01-15 23:30:02

Re: Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

#6 2004-03-04 04:50:50

Re: Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

#7 2004-03-05 06:04:31

Re: Life on Mars - Extraterrestrial and Terrestrial (?)

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