[meteorite-list] Martian Meteorites

[JoshuaTreeMuseum]

I'm pretty sure the raison d'etre behind the Mars Missions is to look for 
life or signs of biological activity. I know they're looking for water, but 
why? Could it be because 70 to 90% of a living organism is water? Water is 
the prime ingredient and habitat for life. Something like 80% of all Earth 
fossils are marine. From the very beginning, they've been looking for signs 
of life. The search for water is a subset of the main goal of looking for 
life.  Mariner 4 calculated that liquid water could not exist on Mar's 
surface. The Viking orbiters were looking for signs of ancient water to 
determine if life could have existed in the Martian past. Since they figured 
out that multicellular life was a no go, the Viking probes went to Mars in 
the 1970s to specifically look for single-celled organisms and organic 
matter. The Phoenix lander of 2008 had two goals: look for life supporting 
habitable zones and of course, to look for geologic signs of water. All the 
future Mars missions on the drawing board have one purpose. To look for 
signs of life! So far none of the evidence has met the criteria and 
parameters for exo-biologic origin. Humans are a lonely herd. We just can't 
believe that we're all alone. It's hard to accept that the closest, most 
Earth-like planet we can imagine is a cold, desolate, lifeless place.

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Support bacteria - they're the only culture some people have. (SW)



Phil Whitmer

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Just wanted to note that neither of the current MERs were designed to look 
for signs of life (well, short of bumping into a house or some such <grin>.

In fact the last machines sent to Mars to look for signs of life were the 
Viking landers back in the 70s.

Happily that is soon to change with next year's planned launch of MSL. More 
data here:
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl

Clear skies,

patrick