On Wednesday 16 February 2005 16:52, Horace Heffner wrote:
> At 11:45 AM 2/16/5, Terry Blanton wrote:
> >There, they finally said it:
> >
> >http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/mars_life_050216.html
>
> It's about time. However, they seem to be barking up the wrong tree, or is
> that down the wrong hole?
>
> Unless there is substantial vulcanism, or indigenous radiactivity, water
> based life is not going to live deep. It is too cold. Frozen critters
> don't metabolize well. Only the surface warms up. Water vapor does
> percolate to the shallow surface in sunshine. At least we saw evidence of
> what appeared to be that in the photos. Water based life must be right on
> top. No surprise there, the "canals" have been seasonally advancing and
> retreating for decades. Better to look for examples above the arctic
> circle than in Spain.
>
> Regards,
>
> Horace Heffner
Hello All,
Why be so sure that Mars is geologically dead. Anybody that works
outside here on Earth knows that when one digs, one finds heat however
low in intensity. The depth of frost penetration is a known engineering
factor used in the design of foundations among other things.
Any miner will tell you that when you dig deep into the Earth you find
warmth, and the deeper you go, the warmer you get. Just digging less than
six inches here in Michigan in the dead of winter and one will find unfrozen
ground. Soil is high porosity so this is all the more 'remarkable' for the
insulation provided by a little soil so easily defeats the coldest winter.
It has been up to twenty below zero here and our lake probably has an
ice depth of less than a foot!
Like Jurassic Park's character Ian the chaos theory guy says: ..."Life
will find a way!". We have found life here living hundreds of feet below
ground living on rocks! Life does not have to be the quintessential little
green man of the 1950's asking to be taken to our leaders. Life can very
well be very hardy microscopic plants and/or animals. In my humble
opinion based on experiences on Earth, Mars rocks and streams aged
and weathered the same way. Earth's oceans are an illusion of stability
or difference depending on ones point of view when one considers that
the average ocean depth of two miles is a very small fraction of the
diameter of the planet. It has been said that Mars had an ocean as well.
It might well had and is locked up in ice now and covered over by dust and
breakdown erosion products now, else the Vallis Marinaris would be full
of it. Who knows, maybe it really IS full of water that is covered by soils
or dust layers. We have not really been there to dig. I will go out on a
limb and bet a hundred bucks that if one was to have a base on Mars and
be able to mine it, he/she would find increasing heat with depth on Mars
just like on Earth. Furthermore, I bet the same that Mar's zone of freezing
might prove to be shockingly shallow.
If I wanted to find life on Mars, I would send an expedition to the
deepest valley on the planet in the vicinity of the equator. The Vallis
Marinaris seems to fit this nicely. Might also find large amounts of
biogenerated methane. Just don't drive there in 'Da Yoopers' 'Rusty
Chevrolet'........."I light a match..to see da dash......an den I stardt to
pray!"......
Standing Bear
I still remember those pix of Melis Chasma in the Vallis taken last summer
with the green patches low on the walls of the canyon but still in the
sunlight. Those low areas, just like Death Valley and the Rub 'al Kalee'
here on Earth, will be the warmest places on that planet.
