Life On Mars Essay -- essays research papers fc

Life on Mars If life ever evolved on any of the other planets, Mars is the likeliest candidate. After Earth, Mars is the planet with the most hospitable climate in the solar system. So hospitable that it may once have inhabited primitive, bacteria-like life. Outflow channels and other geologic features provide extensive evidence that billions of years ago liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars. Continuing changes is an accomplishment in modern American technology and it gives the world a step forward in finding the real truth about existing life on Mars. Hurtling in from space some 16 million years ago, a giant asteroid slammed into the surface of Mars and exploded with more power than a million hydrogen bombs. This caused huge quantities of rock and soil to fly into the thin Mars’ atmosphere. While most of the rocks fell back to the surface, some of the debris, fired upward by the blast at high velocities, escaped the weak tug of Mars’ gravity and entered into orbits of their o wn around the sun. Scientists believe that the earth’s gravity caught some of the debris and pulled it into the earth. Scientist Digregorio, Barry E (B4) stated that inside the debris of falling rock, were microorganisms. He notes that the microorganisms may have been the very start of life, as human civilization knows it. There is no way to prove his theory true, but it is a strong possibility. Similarities in planets led scientists to believe there is a common bond between Venus, Earth, and Mars. In August 1960 the new science of astrobiology was given the name â€Å"exobiology,† the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the universe. Venus, Earth and Mars share similar amounts of carbon dioxide, indicating a similar origin for these worlds, even though much of Mars’ carbon dioxide mysteriously emerges from the soil and some from the polar ice cap. A theory is that â€Å"anaerobes† lived on all the planets. Anaerobes can only live without oxygen. When the Earth’s ozone started to form, over half the world’s organisms of anaerobes died off and later evolved to become aerobes, which can only survive with a constant supply of oxygen. Scientists believe that the high surface temperatures on the dark areas of Mars may be explained on the presence of living vegetation placed upon a dry vegetable mold. Coblentz, a scientist of physics and astrology, created a theory that ... ...is or ever was life on Mars. Bibliography Burgess, Eric. To the Red Planet. New York: Columbia University Press, 1978. Account of the Viking expedition. Chandler, David. Life on Mars. New York: E. P. Dutton, 1979. Explores the possibility of life on Mars. Gibbons, John, et al. Exploring Moon and Mars: Choices for the Nation. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1991. A report by the Office of Technology Assessment. Matsunaga, Spark. The Mars Project. New York: Hill and Wang, 1986. Senator Matsunaga calls for a joint U.S.-Soviet manned mission to Mars. Miles, Frank and Booth, Nicholas. Race to Mars. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. Mars mission concepts. Pittendrigh, Colin, et al, eds. Biology and the Exploration of Mars. Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences National Research Council, 1966. Report of a study held under the auspices of the Space Science Board. Works Cited Dick, Steven J. Life On Other Worlds. Australia: Melbourse, 1998. Digregorio, Barry E. Mars The Living Planet. Califronia: Berkeley, 1997. Goldsmith, Donald. The Hunt for Life ON Mars. England: Middlesex, 1997 Jakosky, Vuce. The Search for Life on Other Planets. New York: New York, 1998.