Do We Have Relatives on the Red Planet?
March 31, 2004 — -- If a Mars rover bumped into signs of life on Mars, would it know it — and would that life look anything like life here on Earth?
Geological and remote readings have suggested life may exist on Mars and some think it's highly possible that NASA's Odyssey or Spirit could have stumbled across evidence. Planetary scientists also say if primitive life exists on Mars, it could very well share traits with life on Earth.
"There is transport from Mars to Earth by meteorites," said Jason Dworkin, a biochemist at the SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif. "So it's reasonable to suggest that perhaps we're all Martians and life started on Mars and traveled to Earth."
The problem is, neither of the rovers now rolling around the Red Planet is very well equipped to confirm the existence of life or past life.
Telescopes on Earth recently confirmed readings from the European Space Agency's Mars Express, now orbiting Mars, which detected traces of the gas methane in the Martian atmosphere. Because methane lives for only a short time, its existence on the planet suggests it may be coming from volcanoes or microbial life.
So far, no active volcanoes have been located on Mars.
But neither NASA's Spirit, nor Opportunity have the tools to seek out a microbial culprit.
The rovers were designed to hone in on another key component on Mars — water. Last week, NASA scientists announced the rover Opportunity had found evidence that a salty pool of liquid water once sloshed on Mars' surface.
The mission's main scientist, Steve Squyres of Cornell University, described the former salty, wet conditions as "very suitable for life." Still, recognizing conditions for life is one thing; spotting evidence of life itself is another, more complicated challenge.
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