At 2:32 PM 2/21/5, Standing Bear wrote: >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.
Mars is not geologically dead. There are clear signs of current vulcanism. The question at hand is whether there is substantial enough vulacanism that it can correlate with the wide areas of seasonal methane generation. Personally I doubt it. I think there is a good potential for life forms adapted to surface life presently. > 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. The average surface temperature on Mars is way lower. Permafrost in the arctic, which is way warmer than Mars, can go downs hundreds of feet and never thaw - well, until these days. Down a few thousand feet where the oil is things are a bit hot though. >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! This would be different situation if there were Martian surface temperatures for millenia. > Like Jurassic Park's character Ian the chaos theory guy says: ..."Life >will find a way!". Sound's reasonable! This also applies to surface conditions though, which periodically thaw and thus can support life, especially life capable of metabolizing sulfides. [snip other sensible stuff] Regards, Horace Heffner
