29 replies to this topic

[WelshRed]

I am no expert but mars interests me immensely, I actually feel that life (although now extremely primitive) has managed to cling on in places on mars and we will find it one way or another sooner rather than later.
As far as what happened to the atmosphere and water my own thoughts are that as a smaller planet it's core solidified and it lost it's magnetic field (it's still not known for sure if it is solid or liquid) .
If Mars still had an atmosphere it would not be that much colder than earth in my opinion.
Then over the millennia the cosmic winds stripped the atmosphere bare taking with it water and life but as I say if life ever did evolve on mars I strongly believe it would be able to cling on somewhere in primitive form (extremophiles and the like).

[stevewinn]

WelshRed, on 29 September 2012 - 05:07 PM, said:

I am no expert but mars interests me immensely, I actually feel that life (although now extremely primitive) has managed to cling on in places on mars and we will find it one way or another sooner rather than later.
As far as what happened to the atmosphere and water my own thoughts are that as a smaller planet it's core solidified and it lost it's magnetic field (it's still not known for sure if it is solid or liquid) .
If Mars still had an atmosphere it would not be that much colder than earth in my opinion.
Then over the millennia the cosmic winds stripped the atmosphere bare taking with it water and life but as I say if life ever did evolve on mars I strongly believe it would be able to cling on somewhere in primitive form (extremophiles and the like).

i watched a program on the TV and what you have said was raised, Mars was too small, its core solidified, lost the magnetic field, solar winds stripped the atmosphere  etc. as good as mars is, if its life we want the moons such as europa, titan, enceladus etc should be the places we head for.

[DONTEATUS]

stevewinn, on 29 September 2012 - 05:33 PM, said:

i watched a program on the TV and what you have said was raised, Mars was too small, its core solidified, lost the magnetic field, solar winds stripped the atmosphere  etc. as good as mars is, if its life we want the moons such as europa, titan, enceladus etc should be the places we head for.

Good to see you back stevewinn ! Indeed Mars will most likely show us much,and If and when Man steps foot upon that surface and gets to really dig down underground we just maybe in for a Shock !
My two cents are on the  extremophiles and such far underground.
We will find life out there !

[pallidin]

Small fossils would be very exciting.
But I will tell you this; if Curiousity spots a large fossil, say, of some ancient Mars fish or land animal, I am going to **** my pants.

[White Unicorn]

pallidin, on 29 September 2012 - 06:22 PM, said:

Small fossils would be very exciting.
But I will tell you this; if Curiousity spots a large fossil, say, of some ancient Mars fish or land animal, I am going to **** my pants.

Why do you feel that way?

[King Fluffs]

Riveting.

[pallidin]

White Unicorn, on 29 September 2012 - 06:32 PM, said:

Why do you feel that way?

Oh. Just saying that I would be so excited I don't think I could contain myself! It would be beyond amazing.

[andy hair candy]

i agree with pallidin! i would need to send UM my dry cleaning bill. some kind of fossilized organism... that would make my year. life, so close to home... even though its dead and gone. (i think that makes us better? stroke the human ego guys)

[Parsec]

What if we already found some fossils?

From here http://www.unexplain...pic=233917&st=0

Parsec, on 19 September 2012 - 12:20 AM, said:

Ookay guys, I need your opinion. And to be calmed down.
Maybe I've found what they reminded me, and it's not geological at all.

Here there's the detail of the martian bubbles I posted before


And here there's an image of some Nummulites (http://en.wikipedia....wiki/Nummulites)


Can you see the cylindrical shape rising from the middle of the circles?
To me they look like the same!

I'm not saying that these are Nummulites, but maybe they could be some fossils with the same internal structure!

Should I drink less?

This Curiosity find only fosters the possibility of primitive water life, like the one reported as an example above.

[DONTEATUS]

WHeres all the new photos?

[gOOgLer]

4,5 billion years is a very long time for Mars. There is some probability that once there was some sort of life on it.  There is some probability that even today there is some form of life on it. Or are we just looking for human intelligence.

[pallidin]

gOOgLer, on 06 October 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

4,5 billion years is a very long time for Mars. There is some probability that once there was some sort of life on it.  There is some probability that even today there is some form of life on it. Or are we just looking for human intelligence.

I presume, without knowledge, that life on the surface or close sub-surface of Mars would have died a long tine ago(cosmic radiation).
However, I see nothing to preclude the existance of, at least, microbial life on Mars much, much deeper, dead or alive.

[synchronomy]

Professor T, on 28 September 2012 - 12:29 AM, said:

that's a good question.    ^
This old stream bed is on the edge of gale crater. How old is the crater, was it once a lake?
I wonder if it would be worth while heading to the lowest point and digging a few feet.

There should be no evaporation on Mars, to cold... But the permafrost might be very shallow..

Ice and snow "evaporates", it's called sublimation.  That's why icecubes left in a freezer for a long time disappear.  Given the low atmospheric pressure on Mars and the high winds, ice would sublime very rapidly.
However, your case is still very valid, because if significant sublimation had been occuring over a long period of time, then there would (or should) be a high concentration of water gas in the atmosphere.
It appears that if Mars at one time had significant surface water, it must have gone underground and remained there.
It's a puzzle for sure.
*edit* sorry for the repitition...I missed Waspie's post regarding sublimation.

Edited by synchronomy, 06 October 2012 - 05:39 PM.

[Professor T]

synchronomy, on 06 October 2012 - 05:34 PM, said:

*edit* sorry for the repitition...I missed Waspie's post regarding sublimation.

Sweet as. We learn something new every day..
To learn it twice means it wont go away.

lol.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

DONTEATUS, on 04 October 2012 - 03:50 AM, said:

WHeres all the new photos?

Do keep up DONTEATUS.

The new photos were being posted in the appropriately named New Images From Curiosity topic.

In the last post in that topic I posted this:

Waspie_Dwarf, on 19 September 2012 - 07:12 PM, said:

As Curiosity sends back more and more images, there is a danger that this tread could become too long. From now on I will be posting new Curiosity images in the Unexplained-Mysteries Space Exploration Gallery (except, of course, where an image warrants a separate topic of its own).

The Space Exploration Gallery can be found HERE.

I hope that answers your question.