4 ms·

What is your gut instinct for microbial life on Mars? And in the past? Are we going to fine fossils?

overcast 8y ago
Probably. Make them pay for their own discovery.
Symmetry 8y ago
Life appeared really quickly on Earth as soon as there were oceans so I'm pretty bullish on the idea that there were microbes on Mars at one point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_h...
wongarsu 8y ago
Life in the past: probably Fossils: probably not, those require fairly specific conditions to form Life now: probably not, but there's a chance. We have multiple moons with liquid oceans in our solar system. That's where I would place my bets.
- EthanHeilman 8y ago
  I'd be interested in hearing more about why Mars would be a bad place to find fossils? We have found fossils from 3.5 billion year ago on Earth [0]. Assuming life formed and lived from Noachian - Hesperian periods what would prevent the conditions for fossilization happening at least one place over this very long period of time. I don't know much about Mars geology so what might be obvious to others may not be obvious to me. [0]: https://news.wisc.edu/oldest-fossils-found-show-life-began-before-3-5-billion-years-ago/ https://news.wisc.edu/oldest-fossils-found-show-life-began-b...
  - hermitdev 8y ago
    Watched a show recently that indicated that it's likely that Mars encountered a similar event to the presumed Earth/Moon collision, but Mars didn't fare so well. Mars was left lacking a singular large moon to protect it and a fairly unstable wobble of its rotation. It apparently moves between a global ice age to a far more temperate climate around every 120K years. Coupled with a lack of a magnetic field to protect its atmosphere, it's been stripped of most of what we think of life harboring facilities such as atmosphere and prevailing liquid water. This is mostly a recap of what I saw a Science Channel show, so don't judge me too hard - just trying to recap. Definitely not my area of expertise.
bhnmmhmd 8y ago
I know a bunch of mysterious Mars images were debunked in the past, but I'd very much like to know real explanations about these: https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150828091203-mars-pyramid-super-169.jpg https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150828091203-mars-pyr... https://i0.wp.com/planetaria.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/3EABCDC100000578-4352386-image-m-17_1490605514591.jpg https://i0.wp.com/planetaria.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/3... http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ox53f235bf.jpg http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ox53f235bf.jpg
- colordrops 8y ago
  They look like rocks. Rocks that happen to be shaped like other objects we are familiar with, but rocks nonetheless. The following are all natural formations on earth. No reason that funky shapes couldn't form naturally on mars as well: https://media.wired.com/photos/5932899f4dc9b45ccec5ecc7/master/w_2048,c_limit/Giants_Causeway_d%C3%A9tail_de_la_chauss%C3%A9e.jpg https://media.wired.com/photos/5932899f4dc9b45ccec5ecc7/mast... https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/d0/ae/e4d0ae2f92fe13e20564c44b0e110186.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/d0/ae/e4d0ae2f92fe13e20564... http://takeyourbackpackandgo.com/wp-content/gallery/turkey-3/p1000741.jpg http://takeyourbackpackandgo.com/wp-content/gallery/turkey-3... https://steemitimages.com/DQmbxS1aPuPcUQ8cFhYKea6Po9si9XgZfixMwmWTjXxmRNS/IMG_6401.JPG https://steemitimages.com/DQmbxS1aPuPcUQ8cFhYKea6Po9si9XgZfi... http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h1dmTrqoj4w/Tmawblc-q7I/AAAAAAABhsk/DsstSi-c6KA/s800/e5ywgfdsfdsfdsfsdfdf.jpg http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h1dmTrqoj4w/Tmawblc-q7I/AA... http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HwJr24FabWE/Tmb4cFoxI5I/AAAAAAABhuQ/7AMCtnK9VCo/s800/r5yw4etfrewfdsfdsfsdfd.jpg http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HwJr24FabWE/Tmb4cFoxI5I/AA... http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y2hOy9AYewo/TmawM-0NUrI/AAAAAAABhsA/H4iulR6YosE/s800/e54twefsdfdsfsdfsdf.jpg http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y2hOy9AYewo/TmawM-0NUrI/AA... https://cdn2.wanderlust.co.uk/media/7651/magazine-1186.jpg?width=2048&slimmage=true https://cdn2.wanderlust.co.uk/media/7651/magazine-1186.jpg?w... https://www.intltravelnews.com/images/2013/11/big/bolivia7.jpg https://www.intltravelnews.com/images/2013/11/big/bolivia7.j...
leot 8y ago
I would happily bet good money we will find strong evidence for life on Mars within 10 years of humans' landing (and staying) there.

Probably. Make them pay for their own discovery.

Life appeared really quickly on Earth as soon as there were oceans so I'm pretty bullish on the idea that there were microbes on Mars at one point. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_history_of_life https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_evolutionary_h...

wongarsu 8y ago

Life in the past: probably Fossils: probably not, those require fairly specific conditions to form Life now: probably not, but there's a chance. We have multiple moons with liquid oceans in our solar system. That's where I would place my bets.

EthanHeilman 8y ago
I'd be interested in hearing more about why Mars would be a bad place to find fossils? We have found fossils from 3.5 billion year ago on Earth [0]. Assuming life formed and lived from Noachian - Hesperian periods what would prevent the conditions for fossilization happening at least one place over this very long period of time. I don't know much about Mars geology so what might be obvious to others may not be obvious to me. [0]: https://news.wisc.edu/oldest-fossils-found-show-life-began-before-3-5-billion-years-ago/ https://news.wisc.edu/oldest-fossils-found-show-life-began-b...
- hermitdev 8y ago
  Watched a show recently that indicated that it's likely that Mars encountered a similar event to the presumed Earth/Moon collision, but Mars didn't fare so well. Mars was left lacking a singular large moon to protect it and a fairly unstable wobble of its rotation. It apparently moves between a global ice age to a far more temperate climate around every 120K years. Coupled with a lack of a magnetic field to protect its atmosphere, it's been stripped of most of what we think of life harboring facilities such as atmosphere and prevailing liquid water. This is mostly a recap of what I saw a Science Channel show, so don't judge me too hard - just trying to recap. Definitely not my area of expertise.

bhnmmhmd 8y ago

I know a bunch of mysterious Mars images were debunked in the past, but I'd very much like to know real explanations about these: https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150828091203-mars-pyramid-super-169.jpg https://cdn.cnn.com/cnnnext/dam/assets/150828091203-mars-pyr... https://i0.wp.com/planetaria.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/3EABCDC100000578-4352386-image-m-17_1490605514591.jpg https://i0.wp.com/planetaria.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/3... http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ox53f235bf.jpg http://files.abovetopsecret.com/files/img/ox53f235bf.jpg

colordrops 8y ago
They look like rocks. Rocks that happen to be shaped like other objects we are familiar with, but rocks nonetheless. The following are all natural formations on earth. No reason that funky shapes couldn't form naturally on mars as well: https://media.wired.com/photos/5932899f4dc9b45ccec5ecc7/master/w_2048,c_limit/Giants_Causeway_d%C3%A9tail_de_la_chauss%C3%A9e.jpg https://media.wired.com/photos/5932899f4dc9b45ccec5ecc7/mast... https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/d0/ae/e4d0ae2f92fe13e20564c44b0e110186.jpg https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e4/d0/ae/e4d0ae2f92fe13e20564... http://takeyourbackpackandgo.com/wp-content/gallery/turkey-3/p1000741.jpg http://takeyourbackpackandgo.com/wp-content/gallery/turkey-3... https://steemitimages.com/DQmbxS1aPuPcUQ8cFhYKea6Po9si9XgZfixMwmWTjXxmRNS/IMG_6401.JPG https://steemitimages.com/DQmbxS1aPuPcUQ8cFhYKea6Po9si9XgZfi... http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h1dmTrqoj4w/Tmawblc-q7I/AAAAAAABhsk/DsstSi-c6KA/s800/e5ywgfdsfdsfdsfsdfdf.jpg http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h1dmTrqoj4w/Tmawblc-q7I/AA... http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HwJr24FabWE/Tmb4cFoxI5I/AAAAAAABhuQ/7AMCtnK9VCo/s800/r5yw4etfrewfdsfdsfsdfd.jpg http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-HwJr24FabWE/Tmb4cFoxI5I/AA... http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y2hOy9AYewo/TmawM-0NUrI/AAAAAAABhsA/H4iulR6YosE/s800/e54twefsdfdsfsdfsdf.jpg http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Y2hOy9AYewo/TmawM-0NUrI/AA... https://cdn2.wanderlust.co.uk/media/7651/magazine-1186.jpg?width=2048&slimmage=true https://cdn2.wanderlust.co.uk/media/7651/magazine-1186.jpg?w... https://www.intltravelnews.com/images/2013/11/big/bolivia7.jpg https://www.intltravelnews.com/images/2013/11/big/bolivia7.j...

leot 8y ago

I would happily bet good money we will find strong evidence for life on Mars within 10 years of humans' landing (and staying) there.