DBWI: Life on Mars never discovered?

Dorozhand

Banned
The USSR's discovery of life on Mars, using low temperature Water/Hydrogen Peroxide as a solvent, made 1997 one of the pivotal years not just for the sciences but for human history in general. The resiliency of life even on the dying Mars propelled hopes for widespread life in the universe and further invigorated the space programs of the world.

What if this discovery were delayed? The Aelita program essentially stumbled upon the Lobachevsky Cave Complex's opening on the edge of the Argyre Basin after a landslide exposed it, and the manned Mars mission almost never got off the ground in the first place.
 
ooc: Bacterial life is still plausible. Anything more complex would indeed be asb.

I don't know if would have mattered much to be honest. Mars was almost the natural jumping of point for planetary colonisation and exploration. It actually could've helped the Mars mission since we wouldn't be THAT focused on cross contamination. (Not that the tardigrade could be stopped hitch-hiking)

I guess the theory of Transpermia would remain a theory, seeing as no link between Mars and Earth life could be scientifically proven.
 
I wonder if the probes to Europa and Titan would have been approved had intelligent life not been found on Mars. Or if the Soviet Union would have focused more on near-Earth orbit, than expanding its planetary exploration program.
 
Certainly Bill Clinton's call for a "Return to the High Frontier" speech at U.C. Berkeley prior to his assassination in 1998 would have never taken place, nor the manned space program which became one of his chief legacies would have never taken place. He would probably be more remembered for his sex scandals and threatened impeachment,...
 

Dorozhand

Banned
ooc: Bacterial life is still plausible. Anything more complex would indeed be asb.

I don't know if would have mattered much to be honest. Mars was almost the natural jumping of point for planetary colonisation and exploration. It actually could've helped the Mars mission since we wouldn't be THAT focused on cross contamination. (Not that the tardigrade could be stopped hitch-hiking)

I guess the theory of Transpermia would remain a theory, seeing as no link between Mars and Earth life could be scientifically proven.

ooc: it was very primitive life similar to very early Archaen Eon life on earth, using Iron-Sulfur biochemistry. it was all Mars' oceans had time to develop before they, along with Mars' dynamo and geology, dried up. Fossil microbial life found deep underground in the Acidalia Basin points to slightly more complex forms that did evolve to mid-Proterozoic levels of complexity.
 
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They might have well joined the Green party for all the difference it made. It's not like the Constitution party ever came close to dreaming of winning.

Don't. Give the Christian fundamentalists any ideas. The Democratic control of the White House since 1992, is probably the only reason we have universal healthcare, LGBT rights, same-sex marriage, gun control, and a booming space program...
 
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