...New Analysis of Viking Mission Results Indicates Presence of Life on Mars (Forwarded)

Originally posted in sci.astro by Andrew Yee



News Service
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington

Contact:
Dirk Schulze-Makuch, WSU School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
509/335-1180

Cherie Winner, WSU News Service
509/335-4846

1/5/2007

NEW ANALYSIS OF VIKING MISSION RESULTS POINTS TO THE PRESENCE OF LIFE ON
MARS

PULLMAN, Wash. -- We may already have 'met' Martian organisms, according
to a paper presented Sunday (Jan. 7) at the meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Seattle.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University and Joop Houtkooper of
Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany, argue that even as new
missions to Mars seek evidence that the planet might once have supported
life, we already have data showing that life exists there now -- data from
experiments done by the Viking Mars landers in the late 1970s.

"I think the Viking results have been a little bit neglected in the last
10 years or more," said Schulze-Makuch. "But actually, we got a lot of
data there." He said recent findings about Earth organisms that live in
extreme environments and improvements in our understanding of conditions
on Mars give astrobiologists new ways of looking at the 30-year-old data.

The researchers hypothesize that Mars is home to microbe-like organisms
that use a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide as their internal fluid.
Such a mixture would provide at least three clear benefits to organisms in
the cold, dry Martian environment, said Schulze-Makuch. Its freezing point
is as low as -56.5 C (depending on the concentration of H2O2); below that
temperature it becomes firm but does not form cell-destroying crystals, as
water ice does; and H2O2 is hygroscopic, which means it attracts water
vapor from the atmosphere -- a valuable trait on a planet where liquid
water is rare.

Schulze-Makuch said that despite hydrogen peroxide's reputation as a
powerful disinfectant, the fluid is also compatible with biological
processes if it is accompanied by stabilizing compounds that protect cells
from its harmful effects. It performs useful functions inside cells of
many terrestrial organisms, including mammals. Some soil microbes tolerate
high levels of H2O2 in their surroundings, and the species Acetobacter
peroxidans uses hydrogen peroxide in its metabolism.

Possibly the most vivid use of hydrogen peroxide by an Earth organism is
performed by the bombardier beetle (Brachinus), which produces a solution
of 25 percent hydrogen peroxide in water as a defensive spray. The noxious
liquid shoots from a special chamber at the beetle's rear end when the
beetle is threatened.

He said scientists working on the Viking projects weren't looking for
organisms that rely on hydrogen peroxide, because at the time nobody was
aware that such organisms could exist. The study of extremophiles,
organisms that thrive in conditions of extreme temperatures or chemical
environments, has just taken off since the 90s, well after the Viking
experiments were conducted.

The researchers argue that hydrogen peroxide-containing organisms could
have produced almost all of the results observed in the Viking
experiments.

* Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidant. When released from dying cells,
it would sharply lower the amount of organic material in their
surroundings. This would help explain why Viking's gas chromatograph-mass
spectrometer detected no organic compounds on the surface of Mars. This
result has also been questioned recently by Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the
University of Mexico, who reported that similar instruments and
methodology are unable to detect organic compounds in places on Earth,
such as Antarctic dry valleys, where we know soil microorganisms exist.

* The Labeled Release experiment, in which samples of Martian soil (and
putative soil organisms) were exposed to water and a nutrient source
including radiolabeled carbon, showed rapid production of radiolabeled CO2
which then leveled off. Schulze-Makuch said the initial increase could
have been due to metabolism by hydrogen peroxide-containing organisms, and
the leveling off could have been due to the organisms dying from exposure
to the experimental conditions. He said that point has been argued for
years by Gilbert Levin, who was a primary investigator on the original
Viking team. The new hypothesis explains why the experimental conditions
would have been fatal: microbes using a water-hydrogen peroxide mixture
would either "drown" or burst due to water absorption, if suddenly exposed
to liquid water.

* The possibility that the tests killed the organisms they were looking
for is also consistent with the results of the Pyrolytic Release
experiment, in which radiolabeled CO2 was converted to organic compounds
by samples of Martian soil. Of the seven tests done, three showed
significant production of organic substances and one showed much higher
production. The variation could simply be due to patchy distribution of
microbes, said Schulze-Makuch. Perhaps most interesting was that the
sample with the lowest production -- lower even than the control -- had
been treated with liquid water.

The researchers acknowledge that their hypothesis requires further
exploration. "We can be absolutely wrong, and there might not be organisms
like that at all," said Schulze-Makuch. "But it's a consistent explanation
that would explain the Viking results."

He said the Phoenix mission to Mars, which is scheduled for launch in
August, 2007, offers a good chance to further explore their hypothesis.
Although the mission's experiments were not designed with
peroxide-containing organisms in mind, Phoenix will land in a sub-polar
area, whose low temperatures and relatively high atmospheric water vapor
(from the nearby polar ice caps) should provide better growing conditions
for such microbes than the more "tropical" region visited by Viking.
Schulze-Makuch said the tests planned for the mission, including the use
of two microscopes to examine samples at high magnification, could reveal
whether we had the answer all along -- and if we've already introduced
ourselves to our Martian neighbors in a harsher way than we intended.

"If the hypothesis is true, it would mean that we killed the Martian
microbes during our first extraterrestrial contact, by drowning -- due to
ignorance," said Schulze-Makuch.

Jonathan wrote:

Originally posted in sci.astro by Andrew Yee



News Service
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington

Contact:
Dirk Schulze-Makuch, WSU School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
509/335-1180

Cherie Winner, WSU News Service
509/335-4846

1/5/2007

NEW ANALYSIS OF VIKING MISSION RESULTS POINTS TO THE PRESENCE OF LIFE ON
MARS

PULLMAN, Wash. -- We may already have 'met' Martian organisms, according
to a paper presented Sunday (Jan. 7) at the meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Seattle.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University and Joop Houtkooper of
Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany, argue that even as new
missions to Mars seek evidence that the planet might once have supported
life, we already have data showing that life exists there now -- data from
experiments done by the Viking Mars landers in the late 1970s.

"I think the Viking results have been a little bit neglected in the last
10 years or more," said Schulze-Makuch. "But actually, we got a lot of
data there." He said recent findings about Earth organisms that live in
extreme environments and improvements in our understanding of conditions
on Mars give astrobiologists new ways of looking at the 30-year-old data.

The researchers hypothesize that Mars is home to microbe-like organisms
that use a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide as their internal fluid.
Such a mixture would provide at least three clear benefits to organisms in
the cold, dry Martian environment, said Schulze-Makuch. Its freezing point
is as low as -56.5 C (depending on the concentration of H2O2); below that
temperature it becomes firm but does not form cell-destroying crystals, as
water ice does; and H2O2 is hygroscopic, which means it attracts water
vapor from the atmosphere -- a valuable trait on a planet where liquid
water is rare.

Schulze-Makuch said that despite hydrogen peroxide's reputation as a
powerful disinfectant, the fluid is also compatible with biological
processes if it is accompanied by stabilizing compounds that protect cells
from its harmful effects. It performs useful functions inside cells of
many terrestrial organisms, including mammals. Some soil microbes tolerate
high levels of H2O2 in their surroundings, and the species Acetobacter
peroxidans uses hydrogen peroxide in its metabolism.

Possibly the most vivid use of hydrogen peroxide by an Earth organism is
performed by the bombardier beetle (Brachinus), which produces a solution
of 25 percent hydrogen peroxide in water as a defensive spray. The noxious
liquid shoots from a special chamber at the beetle's rear end when the
beetle is threatened.

He said scientists working on the Viking projects weren't looking for
organisms that rely on hydrogen peroxide, because at the time nobody was
aware that such organisms could exist. The study of extremophiles,
organisms that thrive in conditions of extreme temperatures or chemical
environments, has just taken off since the 90s, well after the Viking
experiments were conducted.

The researchers argue that hydrogen peroxide-containing organisms could
have produced almost all of the results observed in the Viking
experiments.

* Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidant. When released from dying cells,
it would sharply lower the amount of organic material in their
surroundings. This would help explain why Viking's gas chromatograph-mass
spectrometer detected no organic compounds on the surface of Mars. This
result has also been questioned recently by Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of the
University of Mexico, who reported that similar instruments and
methodology are unable to detect organic compounds in places on Earth,
such as Antarctic dry valleys, where we know soil microorganisms exist.

* The Labeled Release experiment, in which samples of Martian soil (and
putative soil organisms) were exposed to water and a nutrient source
including radiolabeled carbon, showed rapid production of radiolabeled CO2
which then leveled off. Schulze-Makuch said the initial increase could
have been due to metabolism by hydrogen peroxide-containing organisms, and
the leveling off could have been due to the organisms dying from exposure
to the experimental conditions. He said that point has been argued for
years by Gilbert Levin, who was a primary investigator on the original
Viking team. The new hypothesis explains why the experimental conditions
would have been fatal: microbes using a water-hydrogen peroxide mixture
would either "drown" or burst due to water absorption, if suddenly exposed
to liquid water.

* The possibility that the tests killed the organisms they were looking
for is also consistent with the results of the Pyrolytic Release
experiment, in which radiolabeled CO2 was converted to organic compounds
by samples of Martian soil. Of the seven tests done, three showed
significant production of organic substances and one showed much higher
production. The variation could simply be due to patchy distribution of
microbes, said Schulze-Makuch. Perhaps most interesting was that the
sample with the lowest production -- lower even than the control -- had
been treated with liquid water.

The researchers acknowledge that their hypothesis requires further
exploration. "We can be absolutely wrong, and there might not be organisms
like that at all," said Schulze-Makuch. "But it's a consistent explanation
that would explain the Viking results."

He said the Phoenix mission to Mars, which is scheduled for launch in
August, 2007, offers a good chance to further explore their hypothesis.
Although the mission's experiments were not designed with
peroxide-containing organisms in mind, Phoenix will land in a sub-polar
area, whose low temperatures and relatively high atmospheric water vapor
(from the nearby polar ice caps) should provide better growing conditions
for such microbes than the more "tropical" region visited by Viking.
Schulze-Makuch said the tests planned for the mission, including the use
of two microscopes to examine samples at high magnification, could reveal
whether we had the answer all along -- and if we've already introduced
ourselves to our Martian neighbors in a harsher way than we intended.

"If the hypothesis is true, it would mean that we killed the Martian
microbes during our first extraterrestrial contact, by drowning -- due to
ignorance," said Schulze-Makuch.

Classic science. Thanks Jonathan, and keep up the good work!

--
The Tsiolkovsky Group : http://www.lifeform.org

My Planetary BLOB : http://cosmic.lifeform.org

Get A Free Orbiter Space Flight Simulator :

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html

"kT" wrote in message
...
Jonathan wrote:

Originally posted in sci.astro by Andrew Yee



News Service
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington


Classic science. Thanks Jonathan, and keep up the good work!


I'm starting to get psyched up for the Phoenix lander.
The near surface soil should still have ice for
the samples it'll test. Maybe going to the warmer
but dryer equatorial areas was the wrong place
to look for life. They say the CO2 ice layer that
waxes and wanes every season in the polar
regions acts like a greenhouse. Letting sun
through to the water ice layers below but keeping
the heat in. Possibly allowing water and vapor
pockets to form below the ice. At least according
to the following paper on the seasonal growth of
the polar 'spiders' as they call them.

ASTROBIOLOGY
Volume 6, Number 4, 2006

Spiders: Water-Driven Erosive Structures in the Southern
Hemisphere of Mars
http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/pdf...ast.2006.6.651





--
The Tsiolkovsky Group : http://www.lifeform.org

My Planetary BLOB : http://cosmic.lifeform.org

Get A Free Orbiter Space Flight Simulator :

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html

"Jonathan" wrote in message
.. .


Originally posted in sci.astro by Andrew Yee



News Service
Washington State University
Pullman, Washington

Contact:
Dirk Schulze-Makuch, WSU School of Earth and Environmental Sciences
509/335-1180

Cherie Winner, WSU News Service
509/335-4846

1/5/2007

NEW ANALYSIS OF VIKING MISSION RESULTS POINTS TO THE PRESENCE OF LIFE ON
MARS

PULLMAN, Wash. -- We may already have 'met' Martian organisms, according
to a paper presented Sunday (Jan. 7) at the meeting of the American
Astronomical Society in Seattle.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch of Washington State University and Joop Houtkooper of
Justus-Liebig-University, Giessen, Germany, argue that even as new
missions to Mars seek evidence that the planet might once have supported
life, we already have data showing that life exists there now -- data
from
experiments done by the Viking Mars landers in the late 1970s.

"I think the Viking results have been a little bit neglected in the last
10 years or more," said Schulze-Makuch. "But actually, we got a lot of
data there." He said recent findings about Earth organisms that live in
extreme environments and improvements in our understanding of conditions
on Mars give astrobiologists new ways of looking at the 30-year-old data.

The researchers hypothesize that Mars is home to microbe-like organisms
that use a mixture of water and hydrogen peroxide as their internal
fluid.
Such a mixture would provide at least three clear benefits to organisms
in
the cold, dry Martian environment, said Schulze-Makuch. Its freezing
point
is as low as -56.5 C (depending on the concentration of H2O2); below that
temperature it becomes firm but does not form cell-destroying crystals,
as
water ice does; and H2O2 is hygroscopic, which means it attracts water
vapor from the atmosphere -- a valuable trait on a planet where liquid
water is rare.

Schulze-Makuch said that despite hydrogen peroxide's reputation as a
powerful disinfectant, the fluid is also compatible with biological
processes if it is accompanied by stabilizing compounds that protect
cells
from its harmful effects. It performs useful functions inside cells of
many terrestrial organisms, including mammals. Some soil microbes
tolerate
high levels of H2O2 in their surroundings, and the species Acetobacter
peroxidans uses hydrogen peroxide in its metabolism.

Possibly the most vivid use of hydrogen peroxide by an Earth organism is
performed by the bombardier beetle (Brachinus), which produces a solution
of 25 percent hydrogen peroxide in water as a defensive spray. The
noxious
liquid shoots from a special chamber at the beetle's rear end when the
beetle is threatened.

He said scientists working on the Viking projects weren't looking for
organisms that rely on hydrogen peroxide, because at the time nobody was
aware that such organisms could exist. The study of extremophiles,
organisms that thrive in conditions of extreme temperatures or chemical
environments, has just taken off since the 90s, well after the Viking
experiments were conducted.

The researchers argue that hydrogen peroxide-containing organisms could
have produced almost all of the results observed in the Viking
experiments.

* Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidant. When released from dying
cells,
it would sharply lower the amount of organic material in their
surroundings. This would help explain why Viking's gas chromatograph-mass
spectrometer detected no organic compounds on the surface of Mars. This
result has also been questioned recently by Rafael Navarro-Gonzalez of
the
University of Mexico, who reported that similar instruments and
methodology are unable to detect organic compounds in places on Earth,
such as Antarctic dry valleys, where we know soil microorganisms exist.

* The Labeled Release experiment, in which samples of Martian soil (and
putative soil organisms) were exposed to water and a nutrient source
including radiolabeled carbon, showed rapid production of radiolabeled
CO2
which then leveled off. Schulze-Makuch said the initial increase could
have been due to metabolism by hydrogen peroxide-containing organisms,
and
the leveling off could have been due to the organisms dying from exposure
to the experimental conditions. He said that point has been argued for
years by Gilbert Levin, who was a primary investigator on the original
Viking team. The new hypothesis explains why the experimental conditions
would have been fatal: microbes using a water-hydrogen peroxide mixture
would either "drown" or burst due to water absorption, if suddenly
exposed
to liquid water.

* The possibility that the tests killed the organisms they were looking
for is also consistent with the results of the Pyrolytic Release
experiment, in which radiolabeled CO2 was converted to organic compounds
by samples of Martian soil. Of the seven tests done, three showed
significant production of organic substances and one showed much higher
production. The variation could simply be due to patchy distribution of
microbes, said Schulze-Makuch. Perhaps most interesting was that the
sample with the lowest production -- lower even than the control -- had
been treated with liquid water.

The researchers acknowledge that their hypothesis requires further
exploration. "We can be absolutely wrong, and there might not be
organisms
like that at all," said Schulze-Makuch. "But it's a consistent
explanation
that would explain the Viking results."

He said the Phoenix mission to Mars, which is scheduled for launch in
August, 2007, offers a good chance to further explore their hypothesis.
Although the mission's experiments were not designed with
peroxide-containing organisms in mind, Phoenix will land in a sub-polar
area, whose low temperatures and relatively high atmospheric water vapor
(from the nearby polar ice caps) should provide better growing conditions
for such microbes than the more "tropical" region visited by Viking.
Schulze-Makuch said the tests planned for the mission, including the use
of two microscopes to examine samples at high magnification, could reveal
whether we had the answer all along -- and if we've already introduced
ourselves to our Martian neighbors in a harsher way than we intended.

"If the hypothesis is true, it would mean that we killed the Martian
microbes during our first extraterrestrial contact, by drowning -- due to
ignorance," said Schulze-Makuch.

All very interesting speculation, but where is the evidence that H2O2 is
readily available in the Martian environment for use by 'Martian microbial
metabolism', assuming it even exists? Details, Johnathon. Details.

George

"George" wrote in message
. ..

"Jonathan" wrote in message
.. .


"If the hypothesis is true, it would mean that we killed the Martian
microbes during our first extraterrestrial contact, by drowning -- due
to
ignorance," said Schulze-Makuch.

All very interesting speculation, but where is the evidence that H2O2 is
readily available in the Martian environment for use by 'Martian microbial
metabolism', assuming it even exists? Details, Johnathon. Details.


I think the claim is the h2o2 is a byproduct of life.
And it's been known to be present on Mars.
Normally, it would make life as we know it
unlikely. But if the microbial life evolved
around h2o2, it would explain why no organic
material has been found. It would explain the
contradictory viking results. And it would
amplify the methane discovery. We'll see
what comes of it.


A Possible Biogenic Origin for Hydrogen Peroxide on Mars:
The Viking Results Reinterpreted
http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0610/0610093.pdf


Hydrogen peroxide on Mars
http://www.obspm.fr/actual/nouvelle/...perox.en.shtml

Mars' dust storms may produce peroxide snow
BERKELEY
http://www.berkeley.edu/news/media/r...peroxide.shtml


Atreya's team then calculated that the amounts of hydrogen peroxide
produced during these reactions would be large enough to result in
its condensation—essentially hydrogen peroxide would snow from
the sky and contaminate the planet when it fell.

Atreya's paper suggests that the hydrogen peroxide would scavenge
organic material from Mars, and it could also accelerate the loss of
methane on Mars, requiring a larger source to explain the recent
detection of this gas on Mars. "Methane is a metabolic byproduct
of life as we know it, but presence of methane does not by itself
imply existence of life on a planet", said Atreya.
http://www.umich.edu/news/index.html...Jul06/r073106a







George

If Martian life thrives on peroxide, does this mean all blondes are
Martians? That might explain A LOT...

It also lends food for thought if earth life could survive on Mars,
considering the amount of peroxide poured into my cuts in my many
decades of life aimed to kill little bugs.

A Possible Biogenic Origin for Hydrogen Peroxide on Mars:
The Viking Results Reinterpreted

"The utilization of H2O2 is not without some drawbacks. H2O2
decomposes spontaneously, thus an organism needs some
mechanism to stabilize the H2O2.... This does not necessarily
require chlorophyll, but could involve bacteriorhodopsin embedded
in the cell membrane such as in halophilic organisms... However,
to date, no suitable UV protection compound has been identified
to exist on Mars, perhaps indicating that any such organisms, if
they exist, would have to pursue an endolithic lifestyle
comparable to the microbes in the Antarctic Dry Valleys"
http://arxiv.org/ftp/physics/papers/0610/0610093.pdf

One entry found for endolithic.

Function: adjective
: living within or penetrating deeply into stony substances
(as rocks or coral) endolithic lichens


Main Entry: hal·o·phile
: an organism that flourishes in a salty environment

"Jo Schaper" jospamnotschaper34@5socket78dot9net wrote in message
...
If Martian life thrives on peroxide, does this mean all blondes are
Martians? That might explain A LOT...

It also lends food for thought if earth life could survive on Mars,
considering the amount of peroxide poured into my cuts in my many
decades of life aimed to kill little bugs.


I think that the ...first life.. on earth could exist on mars.
Sulfate loving anerobic microbes that leave a lot of iron
deposits behind.


"Despite comparatively intense bombardment by large impactors, chemical
and radio-isotopic trace evidence of what appears to be biologically
processed carbon in Earth's oldest surviving rocks -- from western
Greenland's Isua greenstone belt that are as old as 3.85 billion years --
suggest that self-replicating, carbon-based microbial life became well
developed during Earth's first billion years of existence. Some
single-celled microbial life lacking a nucleus that segregates their
internal DNA or RNA ("prokaryotes") from the surrounding cytoplasm
may have flourished in darkness within cracks in Earth's seafloor crust
and around deep, boiling hot ocean springs (known as volcanic vents
or "black smokers") without a need for light or free oxygen in the oceans
or atmosphere. Adapted to their very hot but watery enviroment, these
microbes metabolized hydrogen-rich compounds or dead or live organic
materials to derive the energy that sustains anaerobic life, including
sulfate-reducing bacteria that produce Hydrogen Sulfide (H2S),
fermentative bacteria that produce carbon dioxide and alcohol (-OH),
and methanogenic bacteria -- the methanogens found in sewage
and mudflats today -- that produce methane (CH4) gas as a
waste product."
http://www.solstation.com/life.htm

"Jonathan" wrote in message
.. .

"George" wrote in message
. ..

"Jonathan" wrote in message
.. .


"If the hypothesis is true, it would mean that we killed the Martian
microbes during our first extraterrestrial contact, by drowning -- due
to
ignorance," said Schulze-Makuch.

All very interesting speculation, but where is the evidence that H2O2 is
readily available in the Martian environment for use by 'Martian
microbial
metabolism', assuming it even exists? Details, Johnathon. Details.


I think the claim is the h2o2 is a byproduct of life.

Wrong:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16516952/from/RS.4/
"In the ’70s, the Viking mission found no signs of life. But it was looking
for Earthlike life, in which salt water is the internal liquid of living
cells. Given the cold dry conditions of Mars, that life could have evolved
on Mars with the key internal fluid consisting of a mix of water and
hydrogen peroxide, said Dirk Schulze-Makuch, author of the new research.

That’s because a water-hydrogen peroxide mix stays liquid at very low
temperatures (68 degrees below zero Fahrenheit, or -56 degrees Celsius),
doesn’t destroy cells when it freezes, and can suck scarce water vapor out
of the air."

If microbes exist on Mars and are using H2O2, then there would be a
preponderence of H2O2 in the Martian atmosphere. Naturally, a look at the
martian atmosphere fails to find such a preponderence of H2O2.

George

George wrote:

If microbes exist on Mars and are using H2O2, then there would be a
preponderence of H2O2 in the Martian atmosphere. Naturally, a look at the
martian atmosphere fails to find such a preponderence of H2O2.

The planet is in its death throes, George, and hydrogen peroxide
decomposes catalytically in short order.

--
The Tsiolkovsky Group : http://www.lifeform.org

My Planetary BLOB : http://cosmic.lifeform.org

Get A Free Orbiter Space Flight Simulator :

http://orbit.medphys.ucl.ac.uk/orbit.html