NASA finds life on Mars but kills it?

www.cnn.com...

Interesting read...

Interesting indeed.

A new NASA Mars mission called Phoenix is set for launch this summer, and one of the scientists involved said he is eager to test the new theory about life on Mars.

It will certainly be interesting to see how this pans out.

Well it should be rather simple to test won't it. If he's right then we may have a bonanza of discovery and enthusiasm over this. Who knows, it could make the case for a Permanent base on Mars as an "alternative" to bringing back samples. (I'm sure that would be a HUGE concern for a lot of alarmists).

Bait, Switch and Hook.

[edit on 7-1-2007 by sardion2000]

Very nice article.

What we need is a robot to go to mars, get soil and actually fly it home! .. I am not sure if we have the technology to do it but that is what we need.

Or send humans.

Can a human survive 9 months of space? (it takes 9 months to get there I think?) and then the trip back?

Can a human survive 9 months of space? (it takes 9 months to get there I think?) and then the trip back?

Easily and it won't be nine months if solar sail technology pans out.

Earth To Mars in a Month With Painted Solar Sail

[edit on 7-1-2007 by sardion2000]

Question is: Will it be safe to bring foriegn life back from mars? A new unknown bacteria that could kill the population of the world. If indeed their is life to bring back.

Originally posted by I See You
Question is: Will it be safe to bring foriegn life back from mars? A new unknown bacteria that could kill the population of the world. If indeed their is life to bring back.

indeed, a martian sporal bacteria could be extremely dangerous, but nasa will have protocall for dealing with stuff like that.

might be interesting if something like that was found, the price it could get on the bioweapons development market would be immense.

Desulfotomaculum spores have been found in mines and deep underground before, the fact that they dont have to photosynthesize is worrying since its likely that if there are bacterium on other planets in the solar system in my opinion they are likely to be similar.

some sporal bacteria can be extremely resistant, im not sure on details but im sure there are a few extremely rare bacteria that when in spores can survive boiling water.

so even standard sterilization might not destory extremely rare type of alien bacteria, would could be very deadly to plant and animal life on this planet.

i think its very very unlikely it would ever be that extreme, id expect nasa knows what they are doing.

Originally posted by I See You
Question is: Will it be safe to bring foriegn life back from mars? A new unknown bacteria that could kill the population of the world. If indeed their is life to bring back.

Makes a compelling case for a base on Mars eh?