Date: 01/08/07 Theory - NASA as Killers
There was a tee shirt I remember seeing when I was younger (and it may still be around) that read, "Join the army, meet interesting people, kill them." One Washington State University geology professor wonders if NASA may have accidentally had a similar experience on Mars.
At a recent meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Seattle, Dirk Schulze-Makuch presented his theory in a paper, which was released Sunday. He bases his ideas on more recent discoveries of conditions in which life can develop.
Viking Missions
Viking was a twin spacecraft mission, consisting of
Viking 1 and
Viking 2, launched within a couple of weeks of each other in 1975. Their landers reached the surface Mars in July and September successively. They took full 360-degree pictures, collected and analyzed samples of the Martian soil, and monitored the temperature, wind direction, and wind speed. The
Viking missions revealed further details of volcanoes, lava plains, huge canyons, and the effects of wind and water. Analysis of the soils at the landing sites showed them to be rich in iron, but devoid of any signs of life.
Schulze-Makuch says that's because they were looking for Earthlike life, in which salt water is the internal liquid of living cells. He believes it possible that with such cold and dry conditions, life could have evolved on Mars with key internal fluid made up of water and hydrogen peroxide. Not only might Viking have missed such life, he says it is possible the probes could have killed it.
Deadly Experiments
One of the
Viking landers poured liquid water on the soil, trying to find life. Any hydrogen peroxide-based life would have drowned. Another experiment heated the soil to check for reaction. Any microbes in that soil would have been baked.
Dirk Schulze-Makuch says that NASA didn't have a clue about the environment on Mars at that time. The kinds of adaptations he is suggesting make sense from a biochemical viewpoint, he says, now that we have so much more information about the red planet.
Many scientists are intrigued by Schulze-Makuch's theories. A National Research Council panel nicknamed the "weird life" committee, worries that scientists may be too Earth-centric in their search for extraterrestrial life. The Associated Press quotes Penn State University geosciences professor Katherine Freeman as saying, "you only find what you're looking for."
From the Ashes
This summer, NASA Mars plans to launch a new Mars mission called
Phoenix.
Phoenix is truly a mission risen from the ashes. The spacecraft has lived in a clean room since its launch was scrubbed due to the loss of the Mars Polar Lander in 1999.
Phoenix will be the first to explore the surface of a polar region on Mars, areas rich in water-ice.
One of the scientists involved said his interest was piqued by Schulze-Makuch's paper. Chris McKay is eager to test the new theory about life on Mars, but mission scientists have to figure out how to do that with the craft's existing instruments.
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