Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Boost to the possibility of alien life


EBE Hybrid

Recommended Posts

SCIENTISTS claim there could be life on Mars after bacteria was found to be living in Earth’s driest desert.

The Chilean Atacama desert - which has not seen any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971 - is the most similar place to Mars on Earth. 

Studies conducted by NASA have concluded the desert, located in northern Chile, is the driest in the world with average rainfall recorded at about 1mm per year

And temperatures in the near-barren lands can reach around 40 degrees celsius - although mountains tops are still covered in snow.

Now scientists claim the wasteland’s vast similarities to Mars has proved life on the distant plant is possible.

And they claim that despite the lack of water and the strong ultraviolet radiation, it would be possible to find life forms able to adapt and work in the extreme conditions. 

But if there is life on Mars it is probably inside caves and underground, according to the Chilean astrobiologist Armando Azua, from the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle.

He said: “Atacama is the driest and oldest desert on Earth, 150 million years old. 

“Along this desert, you can see the past of life on Mars.”

 

http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/770830/Life-on-Mars-aliens-exist-NASA-Atacama-Desert-Chile-space

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

I wonder why so often people think the requirements for alien life would be the same as the requirements for earthly life? It just seems too earth-centric.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

I wonder why so often people think the requirements for alien life would be the same as the requirements for earthly life? It just seems too earth-centric.

Because evolution.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, EBE Hybrid said:

SCIENTISTS claim there could be life on Mars after bacteria was found to be living in Earth’s driest desert.

The Chilean Atacama desert - which has not seen any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971 - is the most similar place to Mars on Earth. 

Studies conducted by NASA have concluded the desert, located in northern Chile, is the driest in the world with average rainfall recorded at about 1mm per year

And temperatures in the near-barren lands can reach around 40 degrees celsius - although mountains tops are still covered in snow.

Now scientists claim the wasteland’s vast similarities to Mars has proved life on the distant plant is possible.

And they claim that despite the lack of water and the strong ultraviolet radiation, it would be possible to find life forms able to adapt and work in the extreme conditions. 

But if there is life on Mars it is probably inside caves and underground, according to the Chilean astrobiologist Armando Azua, from the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle.

He said: “Atacama is the driest and oldest desert on Earth, 150 million years old. 

“Along this desert, you can see the past of life on Mars.”

 

http://www.express.co.uk/news/science/770830/Life-on-Mars-aliens-exist-NASA-Atacama-Desert-Chile-space

 

 

Yeah but they said the same about extremophiles years ago. I am not expecting life to be discovered on Mars, Europa just seems so much better a bet. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, psyche101 said:

Because evolution.

I don't understand your point.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 minutes ago, papageorge1 said:

I don't understand your point.

We may only have a pool of one, but we can see how life develops, why it develops and how it will adapt to develop under conditions that allow life to exist. We know carbon bonds easily with most elements making it the most likely base of life, we have parameters of what life needs to exist, water is essential, we know eyes will develop and point up, as a sun will always be overhead and UV is a killer, we know what organics need to grow and reproduce, we understand leverage and how that applies to a successful body plan, we know evolution makes these decisions based on success of mutation, in short, we have a good idea as to how life develops and what it needs to survive. As such, while alien life may differ in certain aspects, the best likelihood is that it will be rather familiar. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

How long would it take a Mars rover to find life in the Atacama desert if we let one loose, I wonder?

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

On 24/02/2017 at 6:49 AM, Merc14 said:

Probably not very long but the 2020 rover is being designed to look specifically for present or past life on Mars  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_2020

So it's not looking for future life?  I know it sounds like a silly question but what does a planet look like one day before the first life appears?  And would the mars rover be able to tell?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, taniwha said:

 

So it's not looking for future life? 

It's a rover, not a time machine. 

 

1 hour ago, taniwha said:

I know it sounds like a silly question but what does a planet look like one day before the first life appears? 

Like the early Earth just beforead life started. 

1 hour ago, taniwha said:

And would the mars rover be able to tell?

Since Mars is an old, probably geologically dead planet and nothing like the early Earth why would it need to?

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I feel that it is ineveitable that we will eventually be able to determine that life has existed in other parts of our solar system, Mars being a likely candidate. There is also the fascinating prospect that other planets or moons of our solar system may sustain life-forms of some description still.

In some ways it may benefit us to discover that life no longer exists on Mars. If there is no life on Mars we can explore the concept of introducing life to the red planet without facing the ethical dilema of influencing an eco-system. It would allow us to even consider "Terra-Forming" an eco-system that may be able to sustain human friendly plant life and potentially a human friendly, albeit a rather chilly, atmosphere at some point in the future.

If this should ever be the case we can only hope that socially and ecconomically we have matured enough to respect Mars and that we don't make a mess of another planet!

Edited by EBE Hybrid
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, EBE Hybrid said:

I feel that it is ineveitable that we will eventually be able to determine that life has existed in other parts of our solar system, Mars being a likely candidate. There is also the fascinating prospect that other planets or moons of our solar system may sustain life-forms of some description still.

In some ways it may benefit us to discover that life no longer exists on Mars. If there is no life on Mars we can explore the concept of introducing life to the red planet without facing the ethical dilema of influencing an eco-system. It would allow us to even consider "Terra-Forming" an eco-system that may be able to sustain human friendly plant life and potentially a human friendly, albeit a rather chilly, atmosphere at some point in the future.

If this should ever be the case we can only hope that socially and ecconomically we have matured enough to respect Mars and that we don't make a mess of another planet!

It's a long shot to expect humans to change their ways and you are right, our planet is a mess.  I say clean up this planet first.  Start at home and prove worthiness to inhabit other planets.

If that cannot be done humanity  has no rights to colonize the solar system.

Personally I don't think it will ever be done, but it is interesting to imagine the fate of the inhabitants of a mars colony.

Maybe after a generation it might be decided to cut their umbilical with earth and become a free and independant alien cult.

Everything about Earth makes us humans.  

If you were born on Mars you would be Martian, and behave accordingly.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.