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There's a respectable contingent of scientists that believe Martian microorganisms were already confirmed 38 years ago by the Viking Lander experiments: http:/

by gojomo 12y ago

There's a respectable contingent of scientists that believe Martian microorganisms were already confirmed 38 years ago by the Viking Lander experiments: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120413-nasa-viking-program-mars-life-space-science/ http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120413-nasa-... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_lander_biological_experiments http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_lander_biological_experi... A future mission should definitely include a biologically-useful microscope, as suggested by USC neurobiologist Joseph Miller in the National Geograhic article linked above. Miller, also a former NASA space shuttle program director, is one of the proponents of the idea that the 1976 Viking results already demonstrated life.

raverbashing 12y ago
However, the discovery of perchlorates severely weaken the results of that experiment
- gojomo 12y ago
  The Wikipedia language suggests the existence of perchlorates (discovered in other Martian soil in 2008) could have destroyed organics during the 1976 test heating, thus explaining some of the negative results from Viking – leaving the positive 'Labeled Release' result more credible. That's the interpretation of the paper described at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100904081050.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100904081050.ht... That article is currently footnote #28 of the Wikipedia article, describing the 2010 paper referenced as footnote #25. Another footnoted reference from 2011 (#29) disagrees. But presumably, all that perchlorate-related reasoning was available to the authors of the 2012 paper defending the positive result.
  - raverbashing 12y ago
    This is an interesting interpretation The chlorometane results were a true result after all. However, I have the impression that, organics, in contact with perchlorates (or any strong oxidant) will result in CO2 Also, it was repeated one week later, with no results http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_lander_biological_experiments#Labeled_Release http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_lander_biological_experi...
    - marcosdumay 12y ago
      > However, I have the impression that, organics, in contact with perchlorates (or any strong oxidant) will result in CO2 With enough perchlorate, it will. But with smaller amounts of it, there's a huge number of possibilities, including products that are more complex than the reactants.

by gojomo 12y ago

raverbashing 12y ago

However, the discovery of perchlorates severely weaken the results of that experiment

gojomo 12y ago
The Wikipedia language suggests the existence of perchlorates (discovered in other Martian soil in 2008) could have destroyed organics during the 1976 test heating, thus explaining some of the negative results from Viking – leaving the positive 'Labeled Release' result more credible. That's the interpretation of the paper described at: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100904081050.htm http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100904081050.ht... That article is currently footnote #28 of the Wikipedia article, describing the 2010 paper referenced as footnote #25. Another footnoted reference from 2011 (#29) disagrees. But presumably, all that perchlorate-related reasoning was available to the authors of the 2012 paper defending the positive result.
- raverbashing 12y ago
  This is an interesting interpretation The chlorometane results were a true result after all. However, I have the impression that, organics, in contact with perchlorates (or any strong oxidant) will result in CO2 Also, it was repeated one week later, with no results http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_lander_biological_experiments#Labeled_Release http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viking_lander_biological_experi...
  - marcosdumay 12y ago
    > However, I have the impression that, organics, in contact with perchlorates (or any strong oxidant) will result in CO2 With enough perchlorate, it will. But with smaller amounts of it, there's a huge number of possibilities, including products that are more complex than the reactants.