The Prospect of Life on Mars

The prospect of life on Mars is very exciting to some and a bit radical for others. It is a question that I have always found to be fascinating. Could there have been life on Mars in the past? Is there life on Mars today? Will conditions on Mars in the future be hospitable to any life forms? Contrary to what the Science-Fiction books and movies might lead us to believe, scientists are not merely in search of other intelligent life such as humans. Scientists are looking for and finding the possibility of the existence of even the smallest, most primitive life forms. The promising evidence of life on Mars that has been discovered includes methane, magnetite crystals, and clues from meteorite ALH84001 that was discovered in Antarctica in 1984.

Mars was once thought to be completely inhospitable to any form of life. It was deemed too cold to sustain life. But, what if, under the existing iciness there could be biological sources creating such signs of life as methane gas? In 2004, methane gas was discovered in larger quantities than ever before detected. Methane is an unstable gas. George Musser of Scientific American writes, “On Earth, a methane molecule released into the air typically gets broken down by solar ultraviolet radiation in about 10 years. On Mars, farther from the sun, it lasts about 300 years. The persistence of the gas in our atmosphere indicates it is being replenished – in Earth’s case, mostly by bacteria.” Obviously, this means that the possibility of bacteria exists on Mars.

This falls into place with discoveries made from meteorite ALH84001 found in Antarctica in 1984. Within the meteorite were found magnet-producing bacteria. Worry was that the magnetites were formed from substances on Earth and weren’t from Mars at all. According to Patrick L Barry of FirstScience.com, “. . . several facts support a Martian origin, including the deep embedding of the crystals in the carbonate material of the meteorite and the preference of the magnetite-producing bacteria for low-oxygen environments, making it unlikely that such bacteria would live where the meteorite was found.”

Could bacteria live on Mars in the conditions found there? We can deduce that the magnetites don’t need much oxygen to survive, so that wouldn’t be a problem. The life form would also have to be capable of subsisting in dramatically varying temperatures from around 80 degrees Fahrenheit at the core to around 200 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface. Dr. David Whitehouse, BBC News’ online science Editor, “On Earth, there are organisms called methanogens- microbes that produce methane from hydrogen and carbon dioxide. These organisms do not need oxygen to thrive, and they are thought to be the type of microbes that could possibly live on Mars. According to Mark Peplow of Nature.com these microbes don’t need sunlight to live either, eliminating the problem of Mars being just outside of the area of our Solar System that the Sun makes hospitable for life.

Would bacteria simply remain in place, buried in rock and not multiply, though? Writes Robert Naeye of Sky and Telescope, “In a paper published in the 1970s, atmospheric chemist James Lovelock and biologist Lynn Margulis proposed that once life gains a foothold on a planet, it will literally take over the planet by altering its geological and atmospheric cycles. Such a process happened on Earth, where life dominates the surface and even subsurface environments. But even the most optimistic assessments of extant Martian life would agree that this did not happen on Mars.”

However, bacteria aren’t the only possible way that methane can be present on a planet. Volcanoes or tectonic activity can also produce methane. Lava either on the surface or released underground could be the source of the methane gas. According to Dr. David Whitehouse of BBC News, no volcanoes have been found on Mars. If volcanoes are found at some point, the implications for life are still good. The heat released by any volcanism would melt the vast quantities of sub-surface ice discovered on the planet, producing and environment suitable for life.

So many questions are currently unanswered and there is yet to be definite proof of biological existence on Mars. The scientists Michael J. Mumma of NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Vladimir A. Krasnopolsky of Catholic University of America, and their teams will be working to find out more about the mystery of life on Mars using the Canada-France-Hawaii telescope over the next year. According to MarsNews.com, “In 2005, a Mars Sample Return mission will attempt to bring back likely candidate samples of minerals in which these kind of fossils would occur.”

I am excited to see the new information that is to come from exploration of Mars. So far, it doesn’t look possible that, at least in the near future, humans could survive on Mars, but if even the most microscopic of life forms could live there, it’s a start. If volcanic activity is found, then the possibility does exist that some day even humans could inhabit the Red Planet.

Works Cited
1. Barry, Patrick L. “Life On Mars?”. FirstScience.com. 2005.
http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/mars.asp. (Accessed April 2005).

2. Musser, George. “Martian Methane Resuscitates Hope For Life On The Red Planet”.
Scientific American.Com, November 2004.
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?articleID=000CD50D-DA4A-1194-
9A4A83414B7F0000&pageNumber=1&catID=1. (Accessed April 2005).

3. Naeye, Robert. “Mars Methane Boosts Chances for Life”. Sky and Telescope
Magazine Online. November 2004.
http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1389_1.asp. (Accessed April 2005).

4. No author given. “Life On Mars”. MarsNews.com.
http://www.marsnews.com/focus/life/. (Accessed April 2005).

5. Peplow, Mark. “The Search For Life On Mars”. Nature.com. July, 2004.
http://www.nature.com/news/2004/040726/pf/040726-3_pf.html. (Accessed April
2005).

6. Whitehouse, Dr. David. “Methane on Mars Could Signal Life”. BBC News Online.
March 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/3577551.stm. (Accessed April
2005).