Mars craters a 'safe haven' for life ?

[Hum]

Asteroid craters on Earth shelter life -- and they might do so on planets like Mars as well, a new study suggests.

Micro-organisms have been discovered living deep underneath a site in the U.S. where an asteroid crashed some 35 million years ago, wrote Charles Cockell of the University of Edinburgh?s School of Physics and Astronomy ? and similar craters on Mars would be a great spot to probe for aliens.

?The subsurface of craters on Mars might be a promising place to search for evidence of life,? Cockell wrote in this month?s edition of the science journal Astrobiology. ?The deeply fractured areas around impact craters can provide a safe haven in which microbes can flourish for long periods of time.?

NASA and other leading scientists agree -- and the discovery by Cockell and colleagues should impact future U.S. research on Mars.

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[hooko22]

Asteroid craters on Earth shelter life -- and they might do so on planets like Mars as well, a new study suggests.

Micro-organisms have been discovered living deep underneath a site in the U.S. where an asteroid crashed some 35 million years ago, wrote Charles Cockell of the University of Edinburgh?s School of Physics and Astronomy ? and similar craters on Mars would be a great spot to probe for aliens.

?The subsurface of craters on Mars might be a promising place to search for evidence of life,? Cockell wrote in this month?s edition of the science journal Astrobiology. ?The deeply fractured areas around impact craters can provide a safe haven in which microbes can flourish for long periods of time.?

NASA and other leading scientists agree -- and the discovery by Cockell and colleagues should impact future U.S. research on Mars.

more

Oh damn I so hope they start putting more powder into getting us to mars. Or at least send better robots and more of them. Always thought that we humans needed to focus more on space exploration. Hope to be alive the day they find life out there.

[neoadorable]

right on hooko, i think we can expect to have people on Mars working and living there this time next decade. and we are very likely to find "simple" lifeforms, i believe!

[Hum]

^ Sorry Neo -- the Mars era is in 2050.

[hooko22]

right on hooko, i think we can expect to have people on Mars working and living there this time next decade. and we are very likely to find "simple" lifeforms, i believe!

Oh damn I certainly hope so!

[hooko22]

^ Sorry Neo -- the Mars era is in 2050.

Well who knows Hum there might be some hope. Who knows what might happen. There might be a sudden interest all of a sudden!

[Growled Member]

Life is amazing. Apparently it can survive nearly anywhere.

[Dot Matrix]

Hmm, well, considering that NASA has evidence or recent liquid activity on a Martian crater, this make sense.

[DocM]

And you don't necessarily need DNA - it' very likely that lifeforms could do fine with just RNA.

Then there is XNA - a synthetic "DNA" that can evolve. This brings up the possibility of lifeforms based on alternate coding systems.

http://news.national...s-life-science/

Step aside, DNA?new synthetic compounds called XNAs can also store and copy genetic information, a new study says.

And, in a "big advancement," these artificial compounds can also be made to evolve in the lab, according to study co-author John Chaput of the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University.

Nucleotides, the building blocks of DNA are composed of four bases?A, G, C, and T. Attached to the bases are sugars and phosphates. (Get a genetics overview.)

First, researchers made XNA building blocks to six different genetic systems by replacing the natural sugar component of DNA with one of six different polymers, synthetic chemical compounds.

The team?led by Vitor Pinheiro of the U.K.'s Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology?then evolved enzymes, called polymerases, that can make XNA from DNA, and others that can change XNA back into DNA.

This copying and translating ability allowed for genetic sequences to be copied and passed down again and again?artificial heredity.

Last, the team determined that HNA, one of the six XNA polymers, could respond to selective pressure in a test tube.

As would be expected for DNA, the stressed HNA evolved into different forms.

This shows that "beyond heredity, specific XNAs have the capacity for Darwinian evolution," according to the study, published tomorrow in the journal Science. (Read "Darwin's Legacy" in National Geographic magazine.)

"Thus, heredity and evolution, two hallmarks of life, are not limited to DNA and RNA."

>

[hooko22]

And you don't necessarily need DNA - it' very likely that lifeforms could do fine with just RNA.

Then there is XNA - a synthetic "DNA" that can evolve. This brings up the possibility of lifeforms based on alternate coding systems.

http://news.national...s-life-science/

Ok I couldn't understand a word of what you said but I still love it man! ;)

[neoadorable]

Hum, i'll bet you $500 right now we have people on Mars by 2022, just have to wait ten years to collect heheh :)

everything will change in the next five years, the realization that this is our ONLY real future is right now sinking in.

[Hum]

Hum, i'll bet you $500 right now we have people on Mars by 2022, just have to wait ten years to collect heheh :)

Oh, there are people on Mars now.

They just won't tell you about it. ;)

[hooko22]

Oh, there are people on Mars now.

They just won't tell you about it. ;)

Yea we have a large interstellar fleet ready to engage the nazis that are hiding on the moon! ;) hehehe

[neoadorable]

no, Hum does believe we've had a base on Mars since the 70's. that's why he won't bet me good money on this!

[Japlabot]

i'll bet you $500 right now we have people on Mars by 2022,

Are we capable of having people on Mars by 2022? Absolutely

Will our space programmes get enough funding to do so in the next 10 years? Unlikely.

Private Space exploration is the future.

I think we have more chance of getting a man to Mars using Kickstarter than any government funding :laugh:

[Rigby]

The new Mars rover is almost there, should be landing in August. Maybe we'll find out.

http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1141

[DocM]

The other day Musk tweeted that within 5 years they will be flying civilians to orbit, and by 2022 they will be taking them beyond Earth orbit. How far beyond Earth orbit he didn't say, but the Red Dragon proposal to land a robotic Dragon on Mars has advanced another level with a 2018 launch target.

[Obi-Wan Kenobi]

The other day Musk tweeted that within 5 years they will be flying civilians to orbit, and by 2022 they will be taking them beyond Earth orbit. How far beyond Earth orbit he didn't say, but the Red Dragon proposal to land a robotic Dragon on Mars has advanced another level with a 2018 launch target.

Hopefully, it will remain within the earth's magnetosphere....unless it has radiation protection of some sort....either way, it's awesome!

[DocM]

Radiation protection and exposure treatments have advanced significantly the last few years, including the development** of a 2 drug mixture that looks like it can treat many cases of radiation sickness. Interesting times in radiobiology.

** by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Children?s Hospital Boston. A mix of a Cipro-like antibiotic and rBPI21, an engineered version of the human bactericidal/permeability-increasing protein (BPI).

[neoadorable]

simon, we've had the tech to get people to Mars since the 50's...so you are absolutely right in saying that it's the fact that we've entrusted space programs to goverments which has screwed us over. but as TRC pointed out, Curio is almost there and we will begin getting much closer looks at Mars over the next year or so, though i don't think she's supposed to visit any really deep or low-lying areas.

Thanks for posting that Doc, i really hope Elon can do this, if Red Dragon proves a success then there's really no reason why we can't have people working on Mars by 2022.

[Arachno 1D]

We are more likely to get life like human droids on to far distant planet given speedy innovations in this field.They would take the form of near live interactive feedback from an android body coupled with highly sophisticated sensors.Thus a two way trip would no longer be a neccesity, the overall payload could be reduced i.e.no food,reduced fuel requirements,less sophisticated planning requirements etc.

Just think of a "Data" [star Trek] like mass produced robot that you could drop off at several planets during one launch and collect data remotely from an orbiting satalite.

[BillyJack]

With governments struggling I doubt there is room to spend money on space and if we do then we are stupid. We need to pay off our debts then spend. By the way I am all for research and space exploration.

If you think about it the government spending on space is not to make money. But if a private company decides to explore space it would be for money. Which means they have the better chance of funding.

[Hum]

... if Red Dragon proves a success then there's really no reason why we can't have people working on Mars by 2022.

2 reasons:

Money and will.

[DocM]

Musk has money, the means (SpaceX), and he is a driven man when it comes to getting to Mars.

He has already announced that late in 2012 or in 2013 a new family of rockets is going to be announced, and you can bet the top model will make Falcon Heavy and NASA's Space Launch System look tame.

In the past he's said he wants to be able to land about 50 metic tons on Mars per launch, which indicates an ability to loft about 200 metric tons (+/- depending on the transfer engine type - less for electric drive). A monster.

[SirEvan]

Yea we have a large interstellar fleet ready to engage the nazis that are hiding on the moon! ;) hehehe

Silly human, everyone knows they're at the center of the Earth

http://www.imdb.com/...35232/tt2130142