More on NASA's "Life on Mars" Controversy -What's Your Bet?

The Mars Phoenix mission has finally managed to bring NASA back in to the spotlight. The hype is beginning to rival the days man would set foot on the moon, but this time, we’re hoping that we find life on another planet.

But over the weekend, as NASA spokesman Duane Brown describes it, a mass of “speculation and rumor” cropped up regarding a discovery that the Phoenix Lander had made. The Phoenix Lander had discovered perchlorates in the soil of Mars, and this sparked rumors that there was the possibility of life on Mars, as well as the opposite, that there was a hindrance to life on Mars.

And so NASA dragged their scientists in to a press-conference with the intention of shedding a little light on what was happening behind the scenes. But due to the fact that there are literally no confirmed results, let alone peer-reviewed, the scientists were doing so begrudgingly. Mike Meyer, the head of NASA's Mars efforts, said, "We’re here today to announce a nonannouncement—more experiments and time are needed to resolve the results of the science experiments."

The leader of the project, Peter Smith, was a little more relaxed about the move. He described the decision to hold this press conference as a “break with scientific tradition” but that it was akin to "opening a window to allow the public to see the scientific process in action."

Perchlorates are the salts that are derived from perchloric acid, and are found naturally on Earth, in such places as Chile’s hyper-arid Atacama Desert. The compound is stable, according to NASA’s press release, and does not destroy organic material under standard circumstances. In fact, some microorganisms on Earth are fueled by processes that involve perchlorates. But most importantly to the discovery on Mars, is that perchlorates are oxidants, in other words, they can release oxygen.

"Finding perchlorates is neither good nor bad for life, but it does make us reassess how we think about life on Mars," said Michael Hecht of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., lead scientist for the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), the instrument that includes the wet chemistry laboratory. If confirmed, the result is exciting, Hecht said, "because different types of perchlorate salts have interesting properties that may bear on the way things work on Mars if -- and that's a big 'if ' -- the results from our two teaspoons of soil are representative of all of Mars, or at least a significant portion of the planet."

Samples of dirt had been taken from two locations, the Dodo-Goldilocks trench on Sol 25 (June 25) and Snow White trench on Sol 41 (July 6). When the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) heated a sample of the soil from the Dodo-Goldilocks trench, it detected a release of oxygen. According to TEGA lead scientist William Boynton of the University of Arizona, perchlorates are one of several possible sources for this release of oxygen.

However Boynton and his team are unsure what they are dealing with. Though some perchlorates will not release chlorine when heated, some will, and the lack of chlorine being emitted by any of the samples run through TEGA are muddying the waters.

Which brings everything back to the fact that no one is really quite certain just what any of this means. NASA may very well have found perchlorates on Mars, and they may not have. What has to happen now, and what NASA scientists probably wanted to do anyway before they made any of this public, is nail down just what it is they have found in the Mars soil.

Posted by Josh Hill.

Source:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoenix/news/phoenix-20080805.html

Comments

[martin weiss]

Mars is a good example of our future under a growth economy industrial and materialistic regime. It is possible Mars was once a blue planet which humans utterly ruined and had to leave. Fortunately the collapse/evolution of our culture is not that far away, when the only survivors will be making arrowheads of flint, growing corn and squash, catching salmon and gathering wild rice from northern lakes once again, as they have for thirty thousand years. Maybe we should take a lesson-- small self-sufficient communities endure longer than industrial civilizations, and don't utterly ruin the ecosphere.

[Joe]

I laughed when I heard the media jumping to all kinds of conclusions.

"We found oxygen on Mars and possibly a bit of rocket fuel."

Now let's run with it:
There may be life on Mars!
We've polluted Mars!

I'm waiting for a little green man to jump into camera range. Thanks for filling me in on actual scientific facts.

[Hamy]

While there is absolutely no possibility that 'we humans' actually came from Mars, there is the distinct possibility that 'we humans' could soon recreate its current environment here on earth; which, of course is why NASA, the American Government and all the rest of them are so keen to make Mars into somewhere where we can try again. Doubtless, though, even if we succeed in that particular quest, we are most likely to have restored it to its original condition in a remarkably short amount of time. Anyone for Titan?

[Barrie O'Leary]

thank you, Daily galaxy, for an absolutely wonderful explanation concerning the perchlorates(?)on Mars. Thank you, NASA, for sharing an amazing episode of human endeavour with the interested parties of the world. I think it is such a pity that they seem to leave making comments to morons. I do wish they would ask themselves something like: "What benefit can I be to my country for the millions wasted on my education?"

[knoxvilledaniel]

If there IS life on Mars, it's going to be because Earth people put it THERE. Mars may not be the kind of place to raise your kids, but we can hope that maybe someday it can happen.

& I've got a feeling that if a future expedition goes to Mars, or even if we send an elaborate unmanned probe ( " M.A.L.P. " anyone ? ) we might find evidence of primitive life forms, if not an advanced civilization or outpost of intelligent life.

Then we go to Europa & Titan, either with government funding or private funding.

[steve ohley]

I agree Barrie, we should all be ashamed of our resource priorities, DUH.