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Possibility of Life On Mars Looking More Remote

Posted by Zonk on from the it-is-kind-of-a-long-way-off dept.

Riding with Robots writes "The never-say-die robotic geologist Opportunity continues its extended explorations in Victoria Crater on Mars. The latest findings from the mission suggest that while plenty of water did exist in this location, it was so salty that life would have a very hard time gaining a foothold. 'Not all water is fit to drink,' said Andrew Knoll, a member of the rover science team. 'At first, we focused on acidity, because the environment would have been very acidic. Now, we also appreciate the high salinity of the water when it left behind the minerals Opportunity found. This tightens the noose on the possibility of life.'"

3 of 169 comments (clear)

  1. Dead Sea by davidc · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I suppose it hasn't occurred to them that the rover might be in a Martian equivalent of the Dead Sea? There are plenty of inhospitable places on Earth, too.

  2. Re:How is this news?? by dreamchaser · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I don't think it's a question of 'is' there life on Mars. It's more like 'was' there life at any point in it's history.

  3. Re:Please Stop already.... by mmalove · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Of course, given that we probably couldn't completely 100.00000000000% sterilize what we sent there, the next question is:

    Is there life on Mars now? (that we've been there)

    Sooner or later, we're gonna find our own bacteria on Mars if we keep sending stuff there.

    --
    You can get 15 minutes of fame, but you can go down in history for infamy.