In 1976, the two NASA Viking landers reached their final resting place on Mars.
Their life detection experimental findings continue echoing throughout the scientific community — igniting the ongoing debate around a crucial query: Does life exist on Mars?
Today, a fresh study revisits and reassesses the outcomes of the Viking Biology experiments.
Perchlorate finding
The most notable alteration following those experiments in the 1970s was the identification of elevated amounts of perchlorate on Mars Perchlorates along with non-biological oxidizers account for the findings of the Viking mission, eliminating the necessity to assume the presence of life on Mars.
As noted in the recently published paper, the detection of perchlorate on Mars by the Phoenix mission offers an explanation for the outcomes observed by the Viking Lander missions. The thermal breakdown of perchlorate within the instruments' ovens could account for the absence of organic compounds found. The buildup of hypochlorite in the Martian soil may also play a role. cosmic ray The decomposition of perchlorate could account for the observed reactivity when nutrient solutions were introduced into the soil during the Viking Biology Experiments.
The document also notes, "a non-biological explanation for the Viking findings does not rule out the presence of life on Mars."
Revisit the results
The recently published paper titled "Revisiting the Viking Biology Experiments on Mars" has been written by prominent experts in Martian research. Christopher McKay Richard Quinn and Carol Stoker are both affiliated with the Pawnation.com science division at NASA's Ames Research Center located in Moffett Field, California, close to San Francisco.
The research team proposes that with the impending Mars sample return mission and potential future expeditions to Mars—possibly incorporating life-detection equipment—it might be appropriate to reassess the outcomes of the Viking biology experiments. Despite numerous changes over the decades since Viking touched down on Mars, one constant remains: our comprehension of how organisms survive in extremely cold and arid conditions hasn’t evolved significantly in half a century.
In communications with Christopher McKay, he mentioned Pawonation.com It should be emphasized that we aren’t claiming the Viking findings suggest ‘no life on Mars.’ At the same time, we’re not asserting that these results indicate evidence of life on Mars either.
McKay stated that their main argument is that the Viking mission detected perchlorates and other oxidizers on Mars, "which were responsible for the biological experiment outcomes observed by Viking."
This implies that the outcomes from the Viking Biology experiments cannot be employed to support a strategy for ensuring astronauts' health and safety, nor to establish policies for quarantining samples or astronauts upon their return to Earth under the assumption that there is no life on Mars.
New data
In their article published in the scientific journal *Icarus*, the three researchers highlight significant transformations following missions to Mars. They state, “Undeniably, one of the most startling revelations has come from the Phoenix Mission The soil composition on Mars includes approximately 0.5% perchlorate," they point out. "Despite this extremely high level of perchlorate remaining largely unexplained, its impact on the findings from the Viking missions is significant.
Scientists at Pawonation.com explain in their paper that the perchlorate model and the resulting conclusion suggesting Viking did not detect life in Martian surface soils will be relevant to discussions about returning samples or astronauts from Mars.
"The Outer Treaty prohibits 'harmful alterations to Earth’s environment due to the addition of extraterrestrial substances.' To gain deeper insights into the chemistry of Martian soil and the potential for life surviving there, further experiments are necessary," McKay and his team emphasize.
Good targets
To summarize their research paper, they conclude that the perchlorate model for the Viking results "does not confirm the absence of life." life on Mars , nor does it suggest that the ongoing quest for signs of life on Mars, whether in the past or present, is futile."
Certainly, as proposed by the research team, they firmly advocate for seeking evidence of current life in upcoming missions. Ideal locations include salt deposits and polar surface ice.
This latest study has been published in Icarus .
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