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(Bloomberg Opinion) – The recent announcement that scientists have seen what they believe that there are evidence suggesting ancient life on Mars that looked the latest in the endless cycle of tantalizing signals after arguments for more money. What will they take to declare them something certain?
This time, the SUV-shaped firmness Rover detected minerals called vivianite and grew, which is usually formed in marshes, lake bottles, or hydrothrimal sediments-where the environment grows. Here on Earth, germs have played a role in their formation by changing the chemical forms of iron and sulfur. A team of NASA concluded that life is most likely for the presence of these minerals on Mars.
Scientists already have many lines of evidence that suggest life that it can be born on Mars. Increasing the possibility is complicated, but will not fundamentally change our understanding of the universe. What will happen? In fact, finding the remains of foreign life and their use to understand how it acts. Martian life may include separate building blocks and can use something other than DNA or RNA to store and copy information.
Because all worldly life share a common origin, finding a second tree in life will always change the understanding of humanity. This will help direct our discovery for life elsewhere in the solar system and many appear to have been ordered by astronomers of living planets to revolve around other stars in the galaxy.
But in fact, to see what is inside the potential Martian life, scientists would need to bring back samples on Earth – a project launched by NASA but has struggled to complete.
In the early 2000s, the Space Agency proposed a relatively affordable sample-retrieved mission called Groundbreaker. A planetary scientist and astronomer of NASA-AMS Research Center, Christopher McKake compared the mission to a VW Beetle. Instead, NASA chose to pursue a cadilac version, which began with firmness.
Confirmation, which landed on Mars in 2021, collecting samples and storing them in seal titanium containers, who are now waiting for recovery to return to Earth. The return was slate in early 2033, but the schedule is at least behind 2040. An independent review recently estimated that the mission will cost between $ 8 billion and 11 billion dollars, a price tag that is unstable in today’s budget reality. So, it has been caught.
Meanwhile, China successfully used a relatively simple technique to return the samples of Moon Rock and formulated a plan to implement the same technique to bring back the martian samples to Earth within five years.
But how will scientists recognize foreign lives in America or China? If they find highly complex molecules such as hemoglobin or chlorophyll, they will have compelling evidence, which is not very likely to be out of living systems. Nevertheless, supernatural organisms can rely on molecules that we have never seen before.
In recent years, scientists have developed a mathematical structure to determine whether any molecule is very complex to be formed without life. It measures the complexity by counting the number of stages required for the construction of a molecule from the structure, assembly theory, basic building blocks. Once this number reaches about 15, the possibility of formation of a molecule without the biological process guiding its construction is not highly likely.
Already there is a strong evidence that Mars supported a hot, water environment in his history, before he lost his atmosphere and dried up. Life appeared early on Earth in a similar setting – 3.7 billion years ago in the latest – that is why scientists hope that it can be generated on both planets. Even if all life on Mars had become extinct billions of years ago, it could leave the complex molecules behind which could tell scientists how it was assembled.
The old curiosity Rover has detected organic compounds that could come from dead martians, but compounds are not complicated enough to control non-biological origin. Analyzing the samples of Mars here on Earth can reveal very small marks of previous life.
The bad news is that we can return a sample and find only the same kind of life that is present here. In the early solar system, the debris was often thrown between the planets. Scientists have identified many Martian meteorites that landed on Earth, and in 1996, they announced that they could indicate fossil life.
The evidence was never considered enough, and the excitement faded quickly. However, subsequent studies showed that rocks traveling between the planets could preserve delicate magnetic structures, suggesting that rejection in space is not necessarily fatal. It is not impossible that life originated on Mars and seeded life on earth.
It would be exciting to find the evidence of the mutual transfer of life-but also a little late-down because we will not achieve another form of life. This is part of the gambling of science: the universe is not always in line with our highest hopes.
Nevertheless, a sample return is a safe bet than sending astronauts on Mars, without knowing what life exists. Astronauts will be careful to avoid contaminating Mars, but they can still decorate dangerous spores or bring them back to Earth. The biologist has shown that spores can survive in suspended animation in a very hostile environment. The discovery of life on Mars has to change the world-but this is not something we want to learn in a difficult way.
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This column reflects the individual views of the author and does not necessarily reflect the opinion of the editorial board or Bloomberg LP and its owners.
The FD Flame is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist that covers science. He is hosting “Follow the Science” podcast.
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