3 ms·
Mars Has More Room For Life Than Earth
- dalke 15y agoI tried to find more information about this. The press reports mix "terrestrial" and "microbial" life, and talk about how 3% of volume of Mars "can support life" while only 1% of the volume of the Earth is the same. The surface area of Mars is about equal to the land area of the Earth. Earth has microbes, or algae, or lichens even, just about everywhere, including the Antarctic Dry Valleys. There's life in the volume of the sea, down to the sea floor. We've found microbial life down to about 2km (if not more?) underground, in deep mines and borings, and high in the atmosphere. Have we found a place on Earth where there isn't life? Therefore, they must be assuming that Mars, which has no molten core, has a larger depth where life might potentially exist. The actual article looks like it will be published in the journal "Astrobiology", at http://www.liebertpub.com/products/product.aspx?pid=99 http://www.liebertpub.com/products/product.aspx?pid=99 . It's a monthly, and only November's edition is out. I'll bet that the embargo on the issue just finished, but that publication won't happen for another day or so. In any case, I'm not paying the ~ $51.00 it costs to get access to their site for a day.