Viking Mars Mission Might Have Missed Life

Johan Louwers writes "The Viking mars mission in 1976 might have missed signs of life due to not completely working analysis equipment. GC-MS on the Viking 1976 Mars missions did not detect organic molecules on the Martian surface, even those expected from meteorite bombardment. This result suggested that the Martian regolith might hold a potent oxidant that converts all organic molecules to carbon dioxide rapidly relative to the rate at which they arrive. This conclusion is influencing the design of Mars missions. We reexamine this conclusion in light of what is known about the oxidation of organic compounds generally and the nature of organics likely to come to Mars via meteorite."

Comments

This is sort of old

[dbirnbau]

Notice that this article was published in 2000. It doesn't say that the equipment was "broken"; it merely points out that there exist chemical pathways that would result in relatively stable organic compounds that wouldn't have been detected by the Viking equipment. The next mission can look for traces of these compounds specifically, now that someone has pointed out that there is a mechanism for their creation.

Re:I dont understant the story

[barawn]

I have no idea where the poster got the idea that the experiment would be broken - the article says nothing of the sort. It simply says that the experiment wouldn't have been able to detect certain organic molecules due to the fact that it was a gas chromatograph, and certain organic compounds - specifically, some that you might expect (well, with 30 more years of experience) to be on Mars - aren't volatile - i.e., easily turned into a gas.

The big summary of the article is this:

For these reasons, the Viking experiments do not exclude the possibility that the soil being tested contained organic carboxylic acids, especially benzenecarboxylic acids in substantial amounts.

It's not due to the fact that the experiment was broken. It's just the way it was designed.