WI: Life on Mars was found

I'm not sure the sensors would have picked up something the Viking probes would have missed. That said, we would have had even more SF during the 90's and that was the decade of X-files...
 
I'm not sure the sensors would have picked up something the Viking probes would have missed. That said, we would have had even more SF during the 90's and that was the decade of X-files...

Well, it doesn't necessarily have to be life, it could be evidence of life.
 
Mars

The key to it, might be having a probe that can drill down some way, with a bit of luck with where it landed.
A mobile one with a decent drill seems big and expensive, which NASA does not do at least for Mars missions anymore, which is probably sensible.

If a sustained programme of Mars missions had carried on after the Vikings, without the 20 year hiatus (not counting the failure of the 1992 orbiter), we might well have found evidence for low level life, past or maybe present.

My gut feeling is though, is that it will take a decent manned mission to find it if it's there, along the lines of Zubrin's 'Mars Direct' with it's long surface stay times.
I cannot help recalling that one of the holy grail's for scientists studying the Moon in the late 60's, was to get a piece of primodial rock.
The early, understandably easier landing sites for the early Apollos, were not going to do this.
Come Apollo 15, the first J mission with 3 days on the surface, to an exceptionally interesting site, with the rover, with more heavily trained in geology crews, a piece of this rock was found.
Even a robot rover built now, would likely not have seen it, from the same landing site as Apollo 15.

Certainly if a probe did find compelling evidence, a Mars Direct style mission could get a lot of support.
And have a set timetable rather than a fuzzy 'commitment' after some far off date.
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
I dunno, if we find actual life there then doesn't that mean we have to be extra careful about not bringing back diseases (and about not taking disease there)

One thing should be pointed out. We could still have even intelligent life on Mars, maybe living mainly underground and/or if it was the type that left very little visible evidence.
 
BUGS

The early Apollo missions, had the returning crews put on suits and masks before leaving the splashed down Command Module, then once on the aircraft carrier, they spent time isolated for a period of quarantine.
Samples were put in air tight boxes, once on Earth, examined in a glove box.
No one really expected they could pic up anything, the airless moon being even worse than Mars (which itself is a pretty good sterilisation enviroment).
It was more to do with any public concern and being that extra careful.
After a few missions, with experience and plenty of samples, the practice ended to the great relief of the crews.
So for a returning Mars missions, just repeat this.

But I really cannot see any intelligent life ever on Mars, it never would have got the chance.
 
i wouldn't say it never got the chance...maybe if we go back fifty or a hundred million years mars might have been more liveable...
 

NapoleonXIV

Banned
i wouldn't say it never got the chance...maybe if we go back fifty or a hundred million years mars might have been more liveable...

Not likely, Mars apparently never had enough volcanoes to replenish the atmosphere and not enough gravity to keep much of one in the first place.

OTOH we mustn't forget that while we might call Mars uninhabitable anything living there would call it home
 
there is Real posbillty of small microscopic life in Mars

but if is found (TL Viking) or NASA next Big Rover.

then NASA will NOT send Astronauts on Mars surface !
why ?
Astronaut are incredibly dirty with microbe
each EVA they contaminate Mars with Earth microbe
a danger for life on Mars.

of course an steril Robot can collect Mars life then bring back to Earth

wat could bring us "The Andromeda Strain" from Mars
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andromeda_Strain
 
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