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OT - Is there life on Mars, or on other worlds beyond Earth? Theanswer may be squishy



 
 
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Old July 19th 19, 09:30 PM posted to alt.astronomy
herbert glazier
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Default OT - Is there life on Mars, or on other worlds beyond Earth? Theanswer may be squishy

On Tuesday, June 25, 2019 at 7:49:15 AM UTC-7, a425couple wrote:
from
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/life-...062129729.html

Is there life on Mars, or on other worlds beyond Earth? The answer may
be squishy

Alan Boyle
GeekWireJune 23, 2019

NASA’s Curiosity rover took this selfie in June 2018 by capturing a
series of pictures with a camera mounted on its robotic arm. (NASA /
JPL-Caltech Photo)

BELLEVUE, Wash. — NASA’s Curiosity rover has detected fresh whiffs of
Martian methane, once again sparking speculation about a potential
biological source — but researchers at the space agency say it’s too
early to raise the alert for life on Mars.

Scientists who are gathering here for the annual Astrobiology Science
Conference, or AbSciCon, acknowledge that depending on the context,
methane could be an indicator of biological activity, as it is on Earth.
But it could just as well be of purely geological origin.

“It’s not in itself a biosignature,” Abigail Allwood, a field geologist
at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told GeekWire today during a media
workshop.

The belch of methane detected last week is intriguing nevertheless — in
that it’s the highest level detected during Curiosity’s nearly seven
years of operation on Mars. The concentration amounted to about 21 parts
per billion units by volume, or three times as strong as a detection
that created a scientific hubbub back in 2013.

Scientists correlated that earlier spike with measurements taken from
orbit by the European Space Agency’s Mars Express probe, and said the
best explanation was that seismic activity triggered a release from
reservoirs of methane trapped beneath Mars’ surface.

NASA said Curiosity’s scientists would make further observations to
gather more data about the newly reported release, and compare their
results with readings taken by ESA’s Trace Gas Orbiter. That probe’s
sensitive spectrometers should be able to sniff out methane in the
Martian atmosphere, but it hasn’t recorded a single whiff in the past year.

“Combining observations from the surface and from orbit could help
scientists locate sources of the gas on the planet and understand how
long it lasts in the Martian atmosphere,” NASA said today in a
statement. “That might explain why the Trace Gas Orbiter’s and
Curiosity’s methane observations have been so different.”

Experts say they’re not likely to find a smoking gun — or, for that
matter, a tribe of flatulent aliens — as they search for evidence of
ancient or extant life on Mars. That caveat applies as well to
ice-covered worlds with hidden oceans, such as the Jovian moon Europa
and the Saturnian moon Enceladus.

It’s more likely that the evidence for life beyond Earth will accumulate
slowly, from multiple threads of inquiry. Those threads could include,
say, the abundances of specific isotopes, or the lengths and complexity
of organic molecules, or a preference for left-handedness or
right-handedness in amino acids or sugars.

Several scientists at the Bellevue meeting discussed the idea of
creating a standard instrument suite that could detect life in a variety
of settings, like the Star Trek tricorder that Spock carried.
“Hopefully, a pentacorder of a heptacorder,” said Chris German, a senior
scientist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Sarah Stewart Johnson, a planetary scientist at Georgetown University,
said answers to questions about extraterrestrial life won’t be 100
percent yes or no, at least af first. Rather, they’ll take on more
complicated statistical forms.

“We’re trying to move away from this binary ‘This Is Life / This Is Not
Life’ … but really change the approach into something like ‘this is
3-sigma away from what we would expect from abiotic processes,’ ” she said.

Mary Voytek, who’s in charge of NASA’s Astrobiology Program, introduced
a new term — “credu-probability” — to describe the significance of a
biosignature. “How credible is it, and what’s the probability that it
represents life?” she said.

Toward that end, astrobiologists will be unveiling the latest iteration
of their “Ladder of Life Detection” assessment system this week: The
“Life Detection Forum” won’t be a mathematical formula like the Drake
Equation, or a rating system like the Torino Scale for asteroid threats.
Instead, it’ll be a Web-based platform where astrobiologists can
fine-tune their approaches to the life-detection question.

“The most important aspect of this is to get real, and get rigorous,”
Voytek said.

Such a process should help researchers put the proper perspective on
findings like last week’s methane detection — and follow the scent.

“That’s the next step … figure out where it’s coming from,” Allwood
said. “And if you want to, go and send a mission there. See what’s
producing it.”

More from GeekWi
That burst of Martian methane is long gone, but mystery of life on Mars
remains
NASA’s Curiosity rover tracks down organic molecules and methane on Mars
Sweet! Scientists narrow down source of mysterious burst of methane on Mars
Europe’s Trace Gas Orbiter sends its first color picture of Mars – and
it’s spectacular

Comments include (I've just left it raw - as cut & pasted)

Tonyyesterday
I have a feeling the definition of life is murky and open to much
interpretation. In some ways the earth as a planet resembles a life
force. As time goes on the definition of life may have to be redefined
to include concepts that do not mimic life forms on earth today.

ReplyReplies (9)2910
My Two Cents
My Two Centsyesterday
It's laughable that so many believe that there isn't life on other
planets, even though the universe could possibly be infinite. Everything
we know about life is based on human/earth science. For all we know
there could be life forms in the cosmos that doesn't need water to
survive. We humans are full or ourselves, and most would like to believe
that we're the smartest species in the universe. HA! If you do believe
that, have you taken a close look at society today?

ReplyReplies (6)305
Tommy
Tommyyesterday
No proof yet. Waiting for a final answer. Not speculation.

ReplyReplies (2)111
Adam
Adamyesterday
If I understand it right, methane can be either microbial induced
through decay of plant and animal matter of be geologically produced via
extreme heat at extreme depths. But doesn't there have to still be some
kind of original organic matter in the process from millions of years
ago buried in the planet like oil and methane here on Earth?

ReplyReplies (4)73
RussianBot
RussianBotyesterday
I enjoyed a bean burrito on Saturday. Gotta tell ya, there was methane
on Sunday!!! Woooohoooo...

ReplyReplies (2)226
Ratt
Ratt20 hours ago
So. Just a question pertaining to the picture. So - it states "NASA’s
Curiosity rover took this selfie in June 2018 by capturing a series of
pictures with a camera mounted on its robotic arm"... However, there is
no robotic arm sticking out from the rover? How is that possible? Is the
camera just floating in mid air? IF the camera was mounted to a robotic
arm - you would see that arm coming from the rover similar to how you
often see people holding a selfie stick...

ReplyReplies (2)21
WellBredWomanizer
WellBredWomanizeryesterday
If the reparations thing goes through, don't expect the US to be going
to Mars anytime soon

ReplyReplies (11)3014
Andy Rock Skipper
Andy Rock Skipperyesterday
I took this picture of Curiosity, and I also do weddings and parties.
Call me.

Reply259
Think
Thinkyesterday
We left Mars many years ago when the planet became too cold to inhabit.

ReplyReplies (7)3029
Mark
Markyesterday
Is there life on Mars, or on other worlds beyond Earth? The answer is NO.

Phil Tyesterday
Keep funding science, please.

ReplyReplies (3)3912
WhoMe
WhoMe19 hours ago
IMHO:- There are billions of stars and planets in the Universe. Logic
would dictate that if life evolved here then it's highly likely to have
developed elsewhere. It's more than a little egotistical to think we're
the only sentient life in the cosmos.

Reply3
Michael
Michaelyesterday
The real questing is, "Is there sentient life on earth?". The evidence
supports that whales, dolphins, and of course cats are sentient. #$%$
Sapiens not so much.

Reply83
Andrew
Andrewyesterday
Two trillion plus galaxies in the observable universe, each with
millions or billions of stars, and billions or trillions of planets.
Yes, there is other life out there.

ReplyReplies (6)65
thomas
thomas19 hours ago
The universe is so big that there could be millions of planets with life
on them per galaxy and we still wouldn't be able to meet up with any of
them. Unless we can find some sort of wormhole technology, traveling
further than surrounding couple of stars would be literally impossible.
Nevermind across the galaxy or into other galaxies.

Reply2
old1
old1yesterday
There are billions of planets with life on them! We're nothing special!
WE just have to become GREAT AGAIN! Our slaves have taken over "OUR"
Planet! Or, they're trying to!

ReplyReplies (2)3
snake
snake15 hours ago
there most definitely is life out there on other world but most of it
may only be bacteria, plant life, and maybe some primitive animals. But
advanced intelligent lifeforms maybe few and far between separated by
the vastness of space. It may not be possible for humans to travel more
than a few light years in the next 50 or so years unless there is a
technological breakthrough that will allow us to travel many times
faster than the speed of light. Not long ago, people thought the sound
barrier was impossible to break and that it would be impossible to
travel to the moon and back. Mankind has only done a very small amount
of what we are capable of doing. What the future holds of us is
impossible to image.
More

Reply1
ldo
ldo23 hours ago
There are BILLIONS of planets out there which could support life.
OF COURSE there is life on other planets.

ReplyReplies (1)2
The Doc
The Doc21 hours ago
NASA and other space agencies have acted (colluded together) to cover-up
(through silence and obfuscation, and direct lying) what is really on
the Moon and Mars: complex biological fossils and some remaining life,
including threatening creatures. Author Tim Cohen will reveal many
officially-sourced photos of these in his upcoming Solar Apocalypse
series of books. But, you may see a few on Mars NOW. Just go to Author
Tim Cohen's YouTube channel. (See the final twenty-five minutes of the
longer video, watching that one all the way to the end, as well as the
full half-hour video. These were posted in September last year when
Cohen began to go public for the first time.) These are on YouTube: go
to YouTube and enter "/watch?v=8ROWhPrRB_Y" at the end of the URL and
then do the same again, and enter "/watch?v=U3KA2MF8K2E&t=3900s" at the
end of the URL.
More

ReplyReplies (4)24
L
Lyesterday
If there is life on Mars,even primitive bacterial like, we need to be
very careful. The risk of contamination from a microbe that we don't
understand, what it could do to our ecosystem is potentially
catastrophic. If we do send a manned mission to Mars, the understanding
should be that it may be necessary that they plan to stay there
permanently until we can safely assure that contamination of Earth life
with Mars life is not a concern.

ReplyReplies (1)41

CommonSenseyesterday
So spending 1 Trillion while we already pay $3500 from every worker Just
to pay the Interest on the National debt, to perhpas learn that life
once existed, or that it can again in 1 billion years...makes sense?

ReplyReplies (11)1422
Kevin
Kevinyesterday
man has not progressed one bit since he found fire all else pales into
nothing. The car is 200 years old the television 100 so what is new as
lies dont help? No moon journey landed on moon. Silver paper suits and
the Van Allen belts makes a laughing stock out of Yanks who just had to
beat the Russians in space race. Gargarin told us the truth man had not
the power to left out of earths pull. Year later man was on his way to
the moon but hit same problem that shape of rockets are not what will
carry mankind out of earths tradjectury need centrefugal force and like
a spinning top to build power to be able to break through and fast
enough not to melt in the two main Van Allen belts .
More

ReplyReplies (9)221
Your Daddy
Your Daddyyesterday
We all know that the moon is part of Mars. Thanks President Trump

ReplyReplies (2)1624
brianne
brianneyesterday
...I believe NASA has many photographs of man-made structures and
possibly flying craft taken on Mars but will not release it to the
public...due to the Majestic 13 rule book created back in the 1940's
figuring it would end our society as we know it.....looking at the
drugs, killings and abortions in our LBGTQUIST society now maybe ending
out wouldn't be such a bad idea...

ReplyReplies (8)1124
Anonymous
Anonymousyesterday
HOAX OF THE CENTURY: Could NASA Mars rovers really be filming here on Earth?
A UFO hunter famed for finding "evidence of alien life" in NASA images
taken on Mars believes the pictures may have actually been taken on Earth..
Scott C Waring, editor of ufosightingsdaily.com, has highlighted several
NASA images taken by its rovers on the Red Planet, in which he claims
there is evidence of an array of creatures, including a groundhog, bear,
seal, monkey, mouse, crabs and scorpions.

But he has admitted on his website, he may have been persuaded by a
growing conspiracy theory that NASA has not actually sent any rovers to
Mars.

The so-called Mars "truthers" claim NASA is actually filming all its
alleged Martian footage from Devon Island in Canada.
A large uninhabited island, NASA has previously admitted the scene
“resembles the Mars surface in more ways than any other place on Earth”.

Mr Waring posed the question in a blog on his website entitled "Could
NASA Successfully Fake The Rover On Mars?"

He wrote: "Many readers have suggested that the Mars Curiosity rover is
not in space on Mars, but actually on Devon Island in Southern Canada.

"I have to admit that we have seen a lot of evidence that intelligent
life was in those Mars photos, but in truth, I see that there is so much
in most of those photos that it couldn't possibly be a place on Earth.
How could such unusual artefacts exist on Earth and were never
discovered by anyone?"

But he conceded that "evidence that the Mars rover is not on Mars at all
is growing."

He said: "In the colour photos, 90 percent of time NASA puts it into
false colour, with a red filter to make the photo look like a red planet.

"This may be a psychological trick to convince the public it really is Mars.
He pointed to the recent attempt by the European Space Agency to land a
rover on Mars, which was dashed when it exploded on impact.
He added: "Every time other countries send a rover or satellite to Mars,
it is either destroyed in Earth's orbit, on landing, or a few minutes
after landing.

"Did America sabotage those Russian missions to keep a secret?

"The real colour of the sky is blue in original colour NASA photos and
there were white clouds!

"That should not be possible on Mars...and yet, it's in NASA photos.

"We found animals, a hairy monkey, squirrel, lizard, rat, rabbit, bison
and two gorillas. Its a freaking zoo on Mars if its really there."

Devon Island is used by NASA to test rovers before they are finished and
sent into space.

But, the conspiracy theorists think they never leave the ground.

Mr Waring added: "If you look at Devon Island on Google Earth, you see
two HD photos of NASA scientists in suits and driving the Mars rover.

"Evidence that they are using Devon to record Mars raw footage?
“HMP researchers test technology prototypes, such as K-10, a robot
designed to assist humans before, during, and after human exploration
missions.

“Because the environment is harsh, isolated, and poorly mapped, it
provides an analog for testing planetary exploration strategies, such as
safety and telemedicine.”

Professor Lewis Dartnell, an astrobiology at the University of
Westminster, who designed laser eyes for the ESA's own Mars rover, said:
"NASA’s Mars rover programme is real, and Spirit, Opportunity and
Curiosity rovers are all on the surface of Mars.

"The radio signals beamed back to Earth from Opportunity and Curiosity
are picked up by an international system of radio dishes called the Deep
Space Network — so if this was a conspiracy then many different nations
would need to be involved, and not just the USA.

"Also, satellites like the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter can clearly see
the rovers on the surface of Mars, and the tracks left by their wheels
tracing out across the Martian landscape.

"Any planetary scientist around the world can request images of
particular regions on Mars from these orbital probes."
More

ReplyReplies (2)29
MarkC
MarkC21 hours ago
I believe in the possibility of undetectable and non biological based
life, which is a big game changer for planning return to earth missions.

Reply1
thomas
thomas19 hours ago
I don't even think whether life exists elsewhere is a question. The
universe is so mind bendingly big that the possibility of Earth being
the only planet with life is almost 0. The real question is whether any
of the other life is anywhere relatively close to us for us to see.
Seriously, even if there is only 1 planet with life per galaxy that
would still be billions of planets.

Reply1
Penny Pan
Penny Panyesterday
Is there life in Washington D.C.? Nope.

Reply3
Patriot
Patriot19 hours ago
Where's the "robotic arm" that took the picture? Maybe a Martian snapped
it? More than likely a human on Devon Island took it.

c c
c c13 hours ago
Doesn't matter if Mars once hosted life. It never will again since it
lost it's magnetic field and it's atmosphere was ripped away exposing
the surface to all of space's radiation.

And even if we could find a pocket of bacteria under an ice cap, so
what, the rest of the planet is dead and will remain so.

Same thing if Earth's magnetic field failed and our atmosphere was
carried away by the solar winds. There would be all our monuments and
buildings showing life once thrived, but it would be a dead planet to
any visitors.

Reply1
Den Zen
Den Zenyesterday
Some scientists want so desperately to find life on Mars and I think
that's great, but I'm afraid they might try to stretch the truth in
doing so by diluting the scientific process.

Reply44
Clowns2theleft-Jokers2theRight
Clowns2theleft-Jokers2theRight2 hours ago
Just watching "Life on Mars" on Alibi and it's clear to me that it's no
different to what was going on here on Earth in 1973.

Reply1
carol
carol1 hour ago
EARTH is the EXCLUSIVE location for life in the Universe. If life is
found anywhere else in the Universe , it will have come from EARTH !

Reply1
B
B7 hours ago
we're so weird, we live on a tiny crumb of dust floating around in a sea
of galaxies that end so far away that its mind boggling in terms of
space and time, yet we believe in myths of gods when we've never met nor
seen one other than ourselves. and we actually search in the depths of
space in hopes to find life? to boot we then elevate ourselves as some
kind of leader in intelligence to the degree that we become the model in
which life to look for. and as peculiar as space is around us in all
directions with unreachable ends. explain the difference in instinctive
defense between the human animal or the ants in colonies that will
attach anything that threatens the colony, prized queen. you can't tell
me what mechanism or electrical impulses that drive the ants to display
similar survival techniques as the upright walking ones, that fear even
one ant crawling on them, but to think we're not looking at pure life
everywhere around us, including space, would be kind of odd, based on
the mathematical course that we and space abide by, and with that being
said as common as a law performs exact duplicates there's the life
question remains about other planets being inhabited by other life like
us and there's a good chance we are the only ones like us in the entire
universe. at least the one we're stuck in.
More

Reply
rickt
ricktyesterday
Robinson Crusoe on Mars or CaPT. kIRK IN SEARCH FOR Spock!

Reply1
Paul Glock
Paul Glockyesterday
Why do people still ask that question? The possibility that life doesn't
exist elsewhere is a big fat Zero.

ReplyReplies (1)13
Glenn
Glenn12 hours ago
Methane is on every planet.
Other than that, with the cost of the green new deal, forgiving all
college loans, reparations, and bullet trains to nowhere, they'll be
just enough money left to feed a small goldfish for less than a week. So
stop dreaming about opening amusement parks on Mars ) :

Reply1
Robert
Robert18 hours ago
Because our government has removed G O D from everything they would
NEVER say that if G O D has put life on other planets he might want to
start another group of people who BELIEVE IN GOD. But is there live on
other planets or are we on Earth living in the Star Treck generation.

Reply2
BB
BByesterday
If any sign of life is found on Mars, it came from Earth.
Everyone should read the excellent book "Lights In The Sky & Little
Green Men" by Ross, Samples & Clark.

Reply
nburton.com
nburton.com18 hours ago
The recent government revelation that U.F.O.'s are traveling unimpeded
through Earth's skies, and oceans is going to change our perspective of
our existence. Any speculation about the Mars lights is purely
speculation. I myself have encountered, interacted with an alien
spaceship in 2010, and published a website along with a police polygraph
on the website, nburton.com.

Reply2


Sagan went with yes I go with ????? bert
 




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