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Water on Mars May Not Mean Life, but May Mean Trouble
By Mark Whittington | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Sep 10, 2012
It has been an axiom that where there is water, particularly on Mars, there may well be life. Microbial life has been found to have survived in even the most extreme environments, according to JPL, as long as water is present.
Thus the hope persists that if scientists can find liquid water on Mars, life might be present. However a couple of stories suggests that not only that may not be the case, but if, say, the Curiosity rover were to find water on Mars, it could be more trouble than not.
Why water may mean life on other worlds
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains that since the 1980s, scientists have noted that life can exist in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, in areas of extreme heat, extreme cold, or extreme pressure that are inhospitable to humans or complex animals. From this insight, it has been extrapolated that extraterrestrial life might exist in tiny niches, say in sub surface bodies of water. Thus the search for life on Mars has actually been the search for water, which may have mixed with minerals crucial for the formation of life billions of years ago.
Water may not mean life on Mars
A new theory, reported in the Los Angeles Times, suggests that water may not mean life on Mars after all. According to a new paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, clay deposits on Mars, which have been cited as evidence that Mars at one time had liquid surface water, may have been formed by volcanic magma that was rich in water. Such magma would have been too hot for any kind of life, even microbial, to have survived. This goes against the two prevailing theories that the clays were formed by relatively cool water, either on the surface or underground, warmed by Mars's internal heat. On the other hand, all three theories may hold true, depending on what part of Mars one is looking at.
http://news.yahoo.com/water-mars-may-not-mean-life-may-mean-184000993.html
By Mark Whittington | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Mon, Sep 10, 2012
It has been an axiom that where there is water, particularly on Mars, there may well be life. Microbial life has been found to have survived in even the most extreme environments, according to JPL, as long as water is present.
Thus the hope persists that if scientists can find liquid water on Mars, life might be present. However a couple of stories suggests that not only that may not be the case, but if, say, the Curiosity rover were to find water on Mars, it could be more trouble than not.
Why water may mean life on other worlds
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory explains that since the 1980s, scientists have noted that life can exist in some of the most extreme environments on Earth, in areas of extreme heat, extreme cold, or extreme pressure that are inhospitable to humans or complex animals. From this insight, it has been extrapolated that extraterrestrial life might exist in tiny niches, say in sub surface bodies of water. Thus the search for life on Mars has actually been the search for water, which may have mixed with minerals crucial for the formation of life billions of years ago.
Water may not mean life on Mars
A new theory, reported in the Los Angeles Times, suggests that water may not mean life on Mars after all. According to a new paper published in the journal Nature Geoscience, clay deposits on Mars, which have been cited as evidence that Mars at one time had liquid surface water, may have been formed by volcanic magma that was rich in water. Such magma would have been too hot for any kind of life, even microbial, to have survived. This goes against the two prevailing theories that the clays were formed by relatively cool water, either on the surface or underground, warmed by Mars's internal heat. On the other hand, all three theories may hold true, depending on what part of Mars one is looking at.
http://news.yahoo.com/water-mars-may-not-mean-life-may-mean-184000993.html
