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Palomar

Member

From: USA

Registered: 2002-05-30

Posts: 9,734

Re: Mat of Marsian Microbes?

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/m … .html]Read me

*Discusses "Magic Carpet" and "...result of airbag retraction. Pattern of perturbed martian soil might be indicative of a microbial mat that covers the landing area..."

--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)

atomoid

Member

From: Santa Cruz, CA

Registered: 2004-02-13

Posts: 252

Re: Mat of Marsian Microbes?

It would have to be a very recent microbial mat, since anything old would have either been eroded or buried in the last few hundred or thousand years.And if microbial mats are so common on Mars that we landed right on top of one, how come the trenchning didnt seem to find any more around the same area (or did it?). I have to fault NASA for going straight to Adirondack and never looking back to check out the magic carpet which at the time was being talked about quite a bit. You don't even need a "life experiement", as it would seem that you can get good enough info on soil structure with the MI to narrow down any theories as to what it is. At the time I was imagining filamentous fungal roots holding the magic carpet together.

I'm glad someone's bringing this up again, I think microbial mats might explain the labrinthine hollowness and unlikely complex structure of the erosion of the ancient bedrock, but regarding the magic carpet, While I think microbes certainly do survive on Mars, I don't see any other evidence that they are all that close to the surface. I think it was "merely" electrostatic dragging of the topsoil areas that were in contact with the airbags as they retracted, those airbags could have picked up quite a static charge bouncing around in the low humidity as they did (any electrical experts care to comment?). Which, microbes aside, is quite interesting in itself.

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"I think it would be a good idea". - [url=http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Mahatma_Gandhi/]Mahatma Gandhi[/url], when asked what he thought of Western civilization.

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: Mat of Marsian Microbes?

Thanks for posting this, Cindy! I had a notion to do likewise but you beat me to it.   

    Something that struck me about Dr. McKay's comments was this part: "Talk about the Magic Carpet just went away. I don't think it should have gone away."

    I think I detect considerable frustration behind these bland well-chosen words! And it's nice to see someone of his calibre sharing in the frustration I've felt for years regarding NASA's oh-so-coy behaviour with respect to enigmatic martian geology. I know it's essential to maintain strict scientific detachment but NASA's unwillingness to discuss their thoughts on things like the Magic Carpet (for fear of stirring up the wild-eyed fanatics I suppose) gives me the feeling we, the public, are being kept out in the cold.
    I wish there were more frank and open talks about the amazing images from the MERs, what they may mean, and how they're shaping future mission architecture.

    On a more positive note, it's gratifying to see Dr. McKay adding his considerable weight to the proposal that Mars may still harbour life. There's no incontrovertible evidence, of course, and he doesn't suggest there is, but his comment: "It's hard to kill off life once it has started" is, I think, fundamental to the argument for life on Mars today. In fact, I couldn't have put it better myself!
                                  

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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