Life on Mars - but 'we sent it'

[TXlib]

Life on Mars - but 'we sent it'


10:29 25 March 04

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There is life on Mars, a researcher has announced at a conference - unfortunately it is just spaceship-borne contamination.

"I believe there is life on Mars, and it's unequivocally there, because we sent it," Andrew Schuerger of the University of Florida told the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Houston, Texas, recently. He has been granted funding from NASA's planetary protection office to help develop better sterilisation techniques for future missions.

Schuerger says that of all the space probes sent to Mars, only the two Viking craft in 1976 were adequately heat sterilised. The procedures used for all missions since then, including NASA's twin rovers and Europe's Beagle 2, would have left some microbes aboard.

After testing whether terrestrial organisms can survive simulated Martian conditions and the procedures used to sterilise spacecraft, he reckons there is a good chance some made it to Mars and might still be living there.

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[chelsea0011]

1. Oh good. In 6 billion years when they evolve they can visit us.

[NEOBuckeye]

2. Nah, in 6 billion years, we'll be visiting them.

Unless we figure out a way to refuel it, our Sun isn't going to make Earth a pleasant place to be in a couple of billion years, when it goes "Red Giant."

[SmileyBoy]

3. In 6 billion years, the Sun will engulf Mars too.

When it novas in 5.5-6 billion years, the diameter of the Sun will be past the orbit of Mars.

[TXlib]

4. The Sun will not end in a nova, or supernova

Here is a pretty good link describing what will happen:

http://www.whitedwarf.org/index.html?education/sunwd/&0

It is not entirely clear whether our Sun will engulf Mars, too; most likely, it will not. However, Mars will not be able to sustain life, if established there, when this occurs.