According to a recent news story, two NASA space probes that visited Mars in 1976 and 1977 might have discovered life there, but then killed it, according to a hypothesis presented by Dirk Schulze-Makuch at a meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Seattle, Washington. This is based on the fact that the probe was only seeking earth-like life;
Given the cold dry conditions of Mars, life could have evolved on Mars with the key internal fluid consisting of a mix of water and hydrogen peroxide, said Schulze-Makuch.
That's because a water-hydrogen peroxide mix stays liquid at very low temperatures, or -68 degrees Fahrenheit, and doesn't destroy cells when it freezes. It can suck water vapor out of the air.
The Viking experiments of the 1970s wouldn't have noticed hydrogen peroxide-based life and, in fact, would have killed it by drowning and overheating the microbes, said Schulze-Makuch.
One Viking experiment seeking life on Mars poured water on soil. That would have essentially drowned hydrogen peroxide-based life, he said. And different experiment heated the soil to see if something would happen which would have baked Martian microbes.
Cited story.
What do you think of this hypothesis, dear readers?
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While some may argue about what's possible, I'll stick with what's probable.
Probably there is nothing alive on the surface or just under the surface. Hostile is hostile.
If there were hot springs, it would be a different story, but there don't seem to be any.
If they'd bore down deep, it might be a different story. Remember that bacteria have been found in the Earth several kilometers down in solid rock.
I note that the current crop of landers, and the newer generation -- MSL and Phoenix -- and the next generation, plan only to scratch the surface. No deep driller is going to get funding, so I guess we'll never know in my lifetime.
I had the impression that hydrogen peroxide wasn't very stable, though I don't know how temperature affects that.
Isn't hydrogen peroxide quite toxic to life on earth and don't cells try to get rid of it? Indeed it is used to sterilize contact lenses and certain lab equipment that would not stand autoclaving.
At last, someone has been reading their H.G. Wells! If there's life on Mars, there's no reason to expect it to be anything like Life on Earth (for one thing, it won't have David Attenborough).
Bob
Didn't we recently discover life around the hot vents at the bottom of the ocean. I know that that environment is more "life" friendly...but weren't we surprised at the time?
I should like to point out that no evidence for the existence of this water-peroxide mix has been produced.
So, this time we send another chemistry set millions of miles across space to test for an alternative biochemistry we don't even know works?
If they admit they don't know how an alien biochemistry would work, wouldn't it make more sense to use a microscope or something, rather than try alternative biochemistry after alternative biochemistry?