This is the exciting news about life on Mars that the media
reported on Feb. 16:
A pair of NASA scientists told a group of space officials at a private meeting here that they have found strong evidence that life may exist today on Mars, hidden away in caves and sustained by pockets of water. The scientists, Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Silicon Valley, told the group that they have submitted their findings to the journal Nature for publication in May, and their paper currently is being peer reviewed.
This is how NASA
responsed to the news two days later:
NASA Statement on False Claim of Evidence of Life on Mars
News reports on February 16, 2005, that NASA scientists from Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have found strong evidence that life may exist on Mars are incorrect. NASA does not have any observational data from any current Mars missions that supports this claim. The work by the scientists mentioned in the reports cannot be used to directly infer anything about life on Mars, but may help formulate the strategy for how to search for martian life. Their research concerns extreme environments on Earth as analogs of possible environments on Mars. No research paper has been submitted by them to any scientific journal asserting martian life.
Pity. Though, of course, it's probably all just a
cover-up. 😉
Comments
Perfect timing Alex! My midterm on the evidence of water on Mars starts in exactly 9 hours. Good to see all the seemingly useless knowledge I learn in my classes actually comes in handy once in awhile.
Seriously though, I can't remember - is there evidence for caves on Mars? If caves exist conditions might allow for liquid water to still exist inside those caves. If the caves were sealed or the opening was too small to allow much water to escape or the cave was so deep that gravity kept the water from escaping regardless of cave opening size.
Actually, your theory works best for the moon. There are deep caverns on the south pole of the moon that no sunlight ever penetrates. Scientists have found traces of hydrogen in the atmosphere above these points and there is some debate as to whether there is liquid water at the bottom of these pits. NASA is currently considering sending a probe into these areas to search for water, but it looks like it won't get funding for awhile because they seem more inclined to put a person on Mars instead.
Seems like that is also probably likely because there did use to be huge underground pockets of water billions of years ago when the temperatures were much hotter on Mars and allowed for liquid water. Many ancient river beds created box canyons which are still there today that lead to the theory that the river water started as underwater rivers and then came up to the surface as regular rivers. Frankly, I know too little about the evolution of Mars to know what happened to this water, so my best guess would be that some probably is still underground and has turned into ice. The catch is, that without another heat source that hasn't been discovered yet, water can only be in the form of ice on Mar, not liquid. In fact, the ice will evaporate directly into water vapor, never passing the liquid water stage.
Here's some good Hubble Space Telescope photos of the polar ice on Mars:
South Pole
North Pole
Oh, and here's a good BBC article I just found which sounds like what you are talking about:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4285119.stm
It says there is recent evidence of frozen subterranean seas.
I don't think that's a hoax at all. Water ice is not unusual on Mars, though it would be quite a find if they can prove there is some at the equator. However, there is no evidence of current liquid water on Mars, and due to the inherent qualities of the planet, it is highly unlikely that there is any anywhere on Mars.
I wrote that due to the low air pressure on Mars, water would not pass through the liquid phase. That is true for the surface, however, it is very possible that going only a few meters below the surface can have pressures high enough to support liquid water. So there could be water on Mars, but it would have to be a bit deep underground.
See eilidh, if you had used my argument from above you would have been wrong. That's why you should do your own research instead of just "taking peoples word for it." "Taking peoples word for it" is also how you can fall into bad scams and so on. So, go start some research!
http://www.marsanomalyresearch.com/
http://www.solarsystemquick.com/mars.htm