Is There or Was There Ever Life on Mars?

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Is There or Was There Ever Life on Mars?

• What Does This Idea Contribute to Modern Society
• Tyler Washburn

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Introduction

• Life on Mars is a Controversial Theory.
• It deals with Religious, Scientific and Social
  Indifferences.
• Religious The Idea of a Divine Being Creating
  everything, and playing the role in life.
• Scientific Some Scientists believe that Earth is
  rare, and life was created merely by
  circumstance.
• Social Some People refuse to believe in life for
  it gives them a sense of uncertainty.

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Early Debate

• The Basis of Life on Mars has been debated by
  Early Theologians.
• Those Who Believed it was impossible was
• Plato 400 B.C
• Aristotle 350 B.C
• Those who believed it was possible included
• Lucretius 75 B.C

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The Battle Continues

• Currently there are still many who deny life on
  other planets.
• Many Universities (such as those of California)
  are strong proponents of searching the skies.
• However NASA continues to research other planets
  that just might have or once had life.
• One of their actions is the Rover Mission.

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On Mars Itself

• Fourth Planet from Our Sun.
• Similar to Earth in sense, it has crust, mantle,
  and core.
• Atmosphere currently too thin, and temperatures
  too cold to support liquid water.

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Fundamentals of Life

• Humans on Earth Need Oxygen to survive, though
  some organisms do not (e.g. bacterium)
• However, all known living organisms on Earth need
  liquid water in some form.
• This being said, it is believed by scientists,
  that all living things need liquid water.

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1971 - 1972

• The first of the Mars Probes was conducted in the
  above timeframe.
• This was that of Mariner 9.
• Mariner 9 was the first up close look at Mars,
  that visibly showed us prescense of Gullies and
  Basins of what looked to be dried up water, the
  most necessary ingredient for life.
• This led to the Question, was Mars once wet?

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On The Past Was Mars Once Wet?

• It is known that today Mars is dry and barren.
• However in its past, it is believed by some to
  have been wet.
• For from the air, one can see what looks like
  channels, and bays, and oceans, or their beds
  after being dried out.

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On The Past Was Mars Once Wet?
Continued

• NASA sent two more probes named Spirit and
  Opportunity to Mars to look more closely at these
  remnants.
• The gullies and such have changes in sedimentary
  levels, just as done on Earth around water.

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1976!

• NASA sent Vikings 1 and 2, probes, onto Mars.
• These probes orbited Mars, and sent crafts on the
  planet to gather data.
• They thought they found evidence of life, but it
  was later deemed incorrect, after finding that
  the evidence could also been the result of
  Chemical Reactions.

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1984 1996 The Meteorite

• In 1984 a meteorite from Mars was discovered in
  the Antarctic.
• After being studied closely, in 1996, a
  breakthrough discovery was found.
• Long, egg shaped microscopic structures were
  found.
• These structures were evidence of life on Mars,
  from around 16,000,000 years ago.

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1996 The Debate

• Some however countered that these egg shaped
  fossils could have been the result of something
  non life created.
• The debate is still in the air, but NASA has sent
  another probe onto Mars, to gather more data

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Rover Mission

• NASA has launched rovers to Mars to scour the
  planet.
• Moreover, these devices are within NASAs
  control.
• They send Satellite Pictures back to Earth to be
  researched.
• First Rover Landed on 1/4/04, and the second on
  the 25th of that month.
• A new rover has recently landed on mars.

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Rover Mission Map
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Liquid Water?

• It is known at the present time that no liquid
  water can occur on Mars because of two reasons
• The Atmosphere is too thin
• The Temperature is too cold
• However, the polar caps have glaciers, of route
  in nature to that of water.

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If not Mars Where Else?

• Other places nearby that could have life include
• Europa moon of Saturn, cracks are visible from
  space, cracks believed to have been in ice,
  making it believed to have liquid water

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Hollywood Perceptions

• Hollywood has played up to entertaining crowds,
  but their ideas are clearly implausible.
• First off, it would be highly unlikely that life
  would be humanlike in appearance.

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Effects on Society

• If Life was disproved in the Universe it would
  give the impact
• It would give life on Earth its own uniqueness,
  and it own significance.
• If Life was found on Mars it would have impacts
  such as
• Being able to realize Earths Position in the
  Universe is not exactly unique in the sense of
  life.
• It would give us more data to see how life is
  truly defined.

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In Requiem

• To the date, no evidence has truly proven life on
  Mars.
• However No evidence has disproved such either.
• Some areas have yet to be explored, such as the
  Valles Marineris, a trench of sorts, 6 or 7 times
  deeper than the grand canyon.
• Furthermore, evidence of life could be in the
  Meteorite, but, it could just be a coincidence.
  Until we gather more data, this will just be,
  another, unsolved mystery

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Works Consulted
National Geographic Mars Map National
Geographic Company. 2008. National Geographic
Company.. 3 June 2008 lthttp//ngm.nationalgeograph
ic.com/ng m/0507/feature3/map.html gt Man Made
Warming On Mars? The Deniers Diary. 2008. 3 June
2008. http//thedeniersdiary.blogspot.com/2007/03/
man-made-warming-on-mars.html CONTACT
Searching for Life Beyond Earth. Todd Halvorson
and Robyn Suriano. Florida Today. SIRS RESEARCH
GROUP. 3 June 2008. http//sks.sirs.com/cgi-bin/hs
t-article-display?idSME0014-0-3606... Physical
Science with Earth Science. McGraw-Hill
Companies. 2006.