Ancient Mars. Does this have any bearing on life there?

Hi all.

I've come across this theory at New Sci.

Why is the Earth moving away from the sun?
Takaho Miura of Hirosaki University in Japan and three colleagues think they have the answer. In an article submitted to the European journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, they argue that the sun and Earth are literally pushing each other away due to their tidal interaction.

Read full text on page....
www.newscientist.com...

So logically, adjusting for the different mass and initial distence, Mars will be similarly effected by this, so means at some point in the Martian ancient past, it was closer to Sol and would have been more hospitable to lifeforms common here on Terra, than would have been the case on Terra at the same time in the past.

Was Mars being closer at some point a factor to life on Mars now extinct long ago, was Mars nearer to where we are now in the star system and teeming with thriving life which wouldn't have survived on a Terra which roasted in a closer orbit to Sol?

Intregued, i hope they or some other cosmo's, do retrospective models factoring the graduation correctives among the inner planets and let us know the results!



[edit on 1-6-2009 by DeltaPan]