If there is any microbiology on Mars, new research says it will be found in the red planet’s ample ice
The uncertainty of science: New research that attempted to simulate conditions in the ice on Mars has determined that ancient microbes are more likely survive there for very long periods, as much as fifty million years, rather than the red planet’s dry sediments.
The research team, led by corresponding author Alexander Pavlov, a space scientist at NASA Goddard — who completed a doctorate in geosciences at Penn State in 2001 — suspended and sealed E. coli bacteria in test tubes containing solutions of pure water ice. Other E. coli samples were mixed with water and ingredients found in Mars sediment, like silicate-based rocks and clay.
The researchers froze the samples and transferred them to a gamma radiation chamber at Penn State’s Radiation Science and Engineering Center, which was cooled to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of icy regions on Mars. Then, the samples were blasted with radiation equivalent to 20 million years of cosmic ray exposure on Mars’ surface, vacuum sealed and transported back to NASA Goddard under cold conditions for amino acid analysis. Researchers modelled an additional 30 years of radiation for a total 50-million-year timespan.
In pure water ice, more than 10% of the amino acids — the molecular building blocks of proteins — from the E. coli sample survived the simulated 50-million-year time span, while the samples containing Mars-like sediment degraded 10 times faster and did not survive. A 2022 study by the same group of researchers at NASA found that amino acids preserved in a 10% water ice and 90% Martian soil mixture were destroyed more rapidly than samples containing only sediment.
In other words, if there was ever microbiology on Mars, it is very unlikely Perseverance or Curiosity will ever find any, roving as they are in the dry Martian tropics.
Though this work has many uncertainties, especially in its assumption that it successfully simulated a 50-million-year time span, the result is hardly an earth-shaking discovery. If anything, it confirms the obvious, which is why NASA’s ludicrous claim that Perseverance’s prime mission is to look for life has always been a lie. It is traveling in the wrong place, a fact that was self-evident from the start.
Whether any microbiology might exist in Mars’ ice however is unknown. The odds are very very low, but not zero. If it does, it is even less likely it is living, based on orbital data.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
The uncertainty of science: New research that attempted to simulate conditions in the ice on Mars has determined that ancient microbes are more likely survive there for very long periods, as much as fifty million years, rather than the red planet’s dry sediments.
The research team, led by corresponding author Alexander Pavlov, a space scientist at NASA Goddard — who completed a doctorate in geosciences at Penn State in 2001 — suspended and sealed E. coli bacteria in test tubes containing solutions of pure water ice. Other E. coli samples were mixed with water and ingredients found in Mars sediment, like silicate-based rocks and clay.
The researchers froze the samples and transferred them to a gamma radiation chamber at Penn State’s Radiation Science and Engineering Center, which was cooled to minus 60 degrees Fahrenheit, the temperature of icy regions on Mars. Then, the samples were blasted with radiation equivalent to 20 million years of cosmic ray exposure on Mars’ surface, vacuum sealed and transported back to NASA Goddard under cold conditions for amino acid analysis. Researchers modelled an additional 30 years of radiation for a total 50-million-year timespan.
In pure water ice, more than 10% of the amino acids — the molecular building blocks of proteins — from the E. coli sample survived the simulated 50-million-year time span, while the samples containing Mars-like sediment degraded 10 times faster and did not survive. A 2022 study by the same group of researchers at NASA found that amino acids preserved in a 10% water ice and 90% Martian soil mixture were destroyed more rapidly than samples containing only sediment.
In other words, if there was ever microbiology on Mars, it is very unlikely Perseverance or Curiosity will ever find any, roving as they are in the dry Martian tropics.
Though this work has many uncertainties, especially in its assumption that it successfully simulated a 50-million-year time span, the result is hardly an earth-shaking discovery. If anything, it confirms the obvious, which is why NASA’s ludicrous claim that Perseverance’s prime mission is to look for life has always been a lie. It is traveling in the wrong place, a fact that was self-evident from the start.
Whether any microbiology might exist in Mars’ ice however is unknown. The odds are very very low, but not zero. If it does, it is even less likely it is living, based on orbital data.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Life finds a way to survive… Or it doesn’t and goes completely extinct.
In other words, if there was life on Mars it would still be there adapted to the cold with antifreeze for blood or sap being obvious thriving.
For years since the pictures of canals on Mars, I have said we won’t know what is until we send probes, rovers and people there to know for sure… I think we have enough high-resolution pictures to know that there’s never been any life there.
The final nail in that coffin is to do a core sample in a delta of deep sediment looking for spores or dinosaur bones (Calcium carbonate/lime stone) billions of years buried.
The moment humans step on the surface of Mars, it will be forever contaminated with what we bring with us from earth. (even if that is just gut microbes) Afterwords life will spread with only cold and radiation as natural enemy. Expect the life to adapt to the cold and feed off the radiation as a substitute for photosynthesis.
Don’t be surprised if a bio engineered seading experiment occurs. Then a claim that it was natural.
“Don’t be surprised if a bio engineered seeding experiment occurs. Then a claim that it was natural.”
That suits me just fine.
There is a growing wave of legal animism where Greens want to speak for rocks
i.e. I should have two votes to your one
The Greens are flooding the courts with this crud.
I just received a “special offer” from Science Magazine: Two free issues to get started! I grew up reading and loving Scientific American. No, I did not understand completely every page, but it made me THINK! Many, many moons ago , we canceled most magazines: Sci American, Nat Geo, Smithsonian, etc. So, I accessed the Science Magazine website. It is full of horsepuckey.
NASA Finds Signs Of Life On Mars –
President Trump Is Decimating Science
– since the return envelope is postage paid, I am tempted to put everything in the return envelope, and mail it out.
I complained years ago about the clean rooms needed to build every probe and satellite.
Later they found biologic contamination on everything returning from space. They have even found biologic’s on the outside of the ISS.
All of those Mars rovers are already contaminated with bio from Earth.
We are going to contaminate the whole of the universe eventually. no stopping it. So why spend the time effort and money to try to stop it.
I wonder if we can find a microbe that eats iron oxide and converts it into Iron and free Oxygen faster than they naturally bond.
If we can create it, that should be the first thing to pollute Mars with when we get there. Or even before we get there. Just drop breakable ‘seeds’ from space.
We should even seed Titan with every Extremophile we can find. What lives lives and what does not, well better luck later.
We can drive though a thin part of the ice with an armored penetrating bomb case. It could carry hundreds if not thousands of varieties.
Titan??? I must be dumber than I thought..
I meant Europa.
“We are going to contaminate the whole of the universe eventually.”
Yep, that’s our job. Bring life and laughter and tears to a dead universe. We’re it. It’s just us.
Extremophile? Great selection pzatchok, thrives in the deep dark high pressure near black smokers in the ocean that release carbon dioxide and methane.
Thought to be the oldest life form on earth that survived after the impact with the Mars sized object. (our moon)
Already perfect for high-pressure environments like Venus Saturn Neptune and Uranus. Europa gases would be lost to the vacuum being smaller than our moon, but titans toxic atmosphere is larger than earths. More pressure means less bulky suits and a gravity greater than mercury‘s. Not dumb at all.
pzatchok asks;
“I wonder if we can find a microbe that eats iron oxide and converts it into Iron and free Oxygen faster than they naturally bond”
“The bacterium Shewanella oneidensis can metabolize hematite, a form of iron oxide, by using it in a process similar to respiration.
Habitat: Commonly found in soil and aquatic environments
Function: This bacterium can “breathe” toxic metals, including hematite (iron oxide), by using it as an electron acceptor in its metabolic processes.
Mechanism of Action
Respiration: Shewanella oneidensis utilizes a process similar to respiration, where it extracts energy from metals instead of oxygen.
Protein Interaction: It maneuvers specific proteins to its outer membrane to bond with metal oxides, allowing it to metabolize these compounds effectively.
Applications
Bioremediation: Due to its ability to convert soluble toxic metals into insoluble forms, Shewanella oneidensis is being studied for potential use in cleaning up contaminated sites, such as those affected by nuclear waste.
Energy Production: This bacterium can generate a small amount of electricity while metabolizing waste, suggesting potential applications in biofuel cells.”
And there you have it, it eats iron oxide and poops iron and oxygen, with heat and electricity as a waste product. All of which is very useful on Mars.