Top Document: [sci.astro] ET Life (Astronomy Frequently Asked Questions) (6/9) Previous Document: F.02 Life in the Solar System Next Document: F.02.2 Is there life in Jupiter (or Saturn)? See reader questions & answers on this topic! - Help others by sharing your knowledge The Viking landers found conditions on the surface of Mars unlikely to support life as we know it. The mass spectrometer found too little carbon, which is the basis for organic molecules. The chemistry is apparently highly oxidizing as well. Some optimists have nevertheless argued that there still might be life on Mars, either below the surface or in surface regions not sampled by the landers, but most scientists consider life on Mars quite unlikely. Evidence of surface water suggests, however, that Mars had a wetter and possibly warmer climate in the past, and life might have existed then. If so, there might still be remnants (either living or fossil) today, but close examination will be necessary to find out. More recently, McKay et al. have invoked biological activity to explain a number of features detected in a meteorite from Mars. See <URL:http://www.fas.org/mars/> for additional information. User Contributions:Top Document: [sci.astro] ET Life (Astronomy Frequently Asked Questions) (6/9) Previous Document: F.02 Life in the Solar System Next Document: F.02.2 Is there life in Jupiter (or Saturn)? Part0 - Part1 - Part2 - Part3 - Part4 - Part5 - Part6 - Part7 - Part8 - Single Page [ Usenet FAQs | Web FAQs | Documents | RFC Index ] Send corrections/additions to the FAQ Maintainer: jlazio@patriot.net
Last Update March 27 2014 @ 02:11 PM
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