Science and Technology news... :: View topic - ...NASA says....ASPARAGUS... Can Grow on Mars!!!

jonathan · Guest

Well...don>t go dumping your asparagus stocks just yet....

NY Times

Alkaline Soil Sample From Mars Reveals Presence of Nutrients for
Plants to Grow
By KENNETH CHANG

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the
nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future," said
Samuel P. Kounaves of Tufts University, who is leading the
chemical analysis, during a telephone news conference on Thursday.
"The sort of soil you have there is the type of soil you>d probably
have in your backyard."

"Plants that like alkaline soil - like asparagus - might readily grow
in the Martian soil"
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/science/space/27MARS.html?ref=science

trigonometry1972@gmail.co · Guest

On Jun 30, 6:11 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:
[quote]Well...don>t go dumping your asparagus stocks just yet....

NY Times

Alkaline Soil Sample From Mars Reveals Presence of Nutrients for
Plants to Grow
By KENNETH CHANG

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the
nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future," said
Samuel P. Kounaves of Tufts University, who is leading the
chemical analysis, during a telephone news conference on Thursday.
"The sort of soil you have there is the type of soil you>d probably
have in your backyard."

"Plants that like alkaline soil - like asparagus - might readily grow
in the Martian soil"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/science/space/27MARS.html?ref=science
[/quote]
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

BradGuth · Guest

On Jun 30, 6:11 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:
[quote]Well...don>t go dumping your asparagus stocks just yet....

NY Times

Alkaline Soil Sample From Mars Reveals Presence of Nutrients for
Plants to Grow
By KENNETH CHANG

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the
nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future," said
Samuel P. Kounaves of Tufts University, who is leading the
chemical analysis, during a telephone news conference on Thursday.
"The sort of soil you have there is the type of soil you>d probably
have in your backyard."

"Plants that like alkaline soil - like asparagus - might readily grow
in the Martian soil"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/science/space/27MARS.html?ref=science
[/quote]
Without water (at least not affordable water), that>s going to be a
neat trick. But then our DARPA has always been chuck full of neat
tricks.

Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth

BradGuth · Guest

On Jul 1, 2:43 am, "trigonometry1...@gmail.com |"
<trigonometry1...@gmail.com> wrote:
[quote]On Jun 30, 6:11 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:

Well...don>t go dumping your asparagus stocks just yet....

NY Times

Alkaline Soil Sample From Mars Reveals Presence of Nutrients for
Plants to Grow
By KENNETH CHANG

"We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the
nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future," said
Samuel P. Kounaves of Tufts University, who is leading the
chemical analysis, during a telephone news conference on Thursday.
"The sort of soil you have there is the type of soil you>d probably
have in your backyard."

"Plants that like alkaline soil - like asparagus - might readily grow
in the Martian soil"http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/27/science/space/27MARS.html?ref=science

It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.
[/quote]
With unlimited public loot, all such failsafe things are possible.
You need to have faith in the almighty dollar.

Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth

jonathan · Guest

"BradGuth" <bradguth@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:6dba63fc-0c87-4eed-8ce3-3eb84fd90c40@i76g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

[quote]Without water (at least not affordable water), that>s going to be a
neat trick. But then our DARPA has always been chuck full of neat
tricks.

[/quote]
Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI (2005)
EVIDENCE FROM HRSC MARS EXPRESS FOR A FROZEN SEA
CLOSE TO MARS' EQUATOR

"We have found evidence consistent with a presently-existing
frozen body of water, with surface pack-ice, around +5º latitude
and 150ºeast longitude in southern Elysium. It measures about
800 km x 900 km and averages up to 45 m deep:
similar in size and depth to the North Sea."
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1741.pdf

[quote]Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth
[/quote]

Pat Flannery · Guest

trigonometry1972@gmail.com | wrote:
[quote]It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

[/quote]
It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the
radiation from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to
help the plants much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

Pat

Pat

jonathan · Guest

"Pat Flannery" <flanner@daktel.com> wrote in message
news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...
[quote]

trigonometry1972@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.
[/quote]

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

[quote]
Pat

Pat[/quote]

trigonometry1972@gmail.co · Guest

On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:
[quote]"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat
[/quote]
If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:
[quote]"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat
[/quote]
If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
At which time, humans will look and pronounce the
Martian Domes good and say lets us make more domes
of little good earths.

Or alternatively NASA will loiter in low earth orbit and so will
its Chinese and Russian clones and nothing will happen that
matters. This is what I expect

Pat Flannery · Guest

trigonometry1972@gmail.com | wrote:
[quote]If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

[/quote]
Well, if it>s sterile, that>s going to make life _really_ rare, isn>t
it? :-D

Pat

Alan Erskine · Guest

"Pat Flannery" <flanner@daktel.com> wrote in message
news:f5CdneAXJMwd5PHVnZ2dnUVZ_orinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...
[quote]

trigonometry1972@gmail.com | wrote:
If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

Well, if it>s sterile, that>s going to make life _really_ rare, isn>t it?
:-D
[/quote]
Sterile, like hospitals with staph infections? Life aint so rare in a
sterile environment...

BradGuth · Guest

On Jul 1, 3:36 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:
[quote]"BradGuth" <bradg...@gmail.com> wrote in message

news:6dba63fc-0c87-4eed-8ce3-3eb84fd90c40@i76g2000hsf.googlegroups.com...

Without water (at least not affordable water), that>s going to be a
neat trick. But then our DARPA has always been chuck full of neat
tricks.

Lunar and Planetary Science XXXVI (2005)
EVIDENCE FROM HRSC MARS EXPRESS FOR A FROZEN SEA
CLOSE TO MARS' EQUATOR

"We have found evidence consistent with a presently-existing
frozen body of water, with surface pack-ice, around +5º latitude
and 150ºeast longitude in southern Elysium. It measures about
800 km x 900 km and averages up to 45 m deep:
similar in size and depth to the North Sea."http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2005/pdf/1741.pdf

Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth
[/quote]
At a minimal cost of at least another million hard earned bucks of our
public loot per given kg worth of water (imported or locally
obtained), most anything is possible.

More than likely we>re talking of our having to invest $100 million/
kg, especially more so spendy if taking into account the all-inclusive
R&D thus far.

Drill deep enough and Mars water should exist, although the drilling
and extraction or conversion process is going to be spendy in more
ways than just taking our hard earned public loot and wasting yet
another precious decade, if not longer.

- Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth

trigonometry1972@gmail.co · Guest

On Jul 3, 12:02 am, Pat Flannery <flan...@daktel.com> wrote:
[quote]trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

Well, if it>s sterile, that>s going to make life _really_ rare, isn>t
it? :-D

Pat
[/quote]
I meant life in other places in the solar system and beyond.

BradGuth · Guest

On Jul 2, 11:40 pm, "trigonometry1...@gmail.com |"
<trigonometry1...@gmail.com> wrote:
[quote]On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:

"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat

If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:

"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat

If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
At which time, humans will look and pronounce the
Martian Domes good and say lets us make more domes
of little good earths.

Or alternatively NASA will loiter in low earth orbit and so will
its Chinese and Russian clones and nothing will happen that
matters. This is what I expect
[/quote]
Of surface exposed life on Mars is rad-hard, freeze proof and seldom
if ever needs any drop of h2o.

Meteorites of most any size are downright lethal, as well as their
secondary impact shards being potentially lethal for a good km or
more. Even arriving space dust should pretty much rip your face
off.

- Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth

trigonometry1972@gmail.co · Guest

On Jul 3, 6:09 pm, BradGuth <bradg...@gmail.com> wrote:
[quote]On Jul 2, 11:40 pm, "trigonometry1...@gmail.com |"

trigonometry1...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:

"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat

If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:

"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat

If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
At which time, humans will look and pronounce the
Martian Domes good and say lets us make more domes
of little good earths.

Or alternatively NASA will loiter in low earth orbit and so will
its Chinese and Russian clones and nothing will happen that
matters. This is what I expect

Of surface exposed life on Mars is rad-hard, freeze proof and seldom
if ever needs any drop of h2o.

Meteorites of most any size are downright lethal, as well as their
secondary impact shards being potentially lethal for a good km or
more. Even arriving space dust should pretty much rip your face
off.

- Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth
[/quote]
I pretty much agree. As I dimly recall astronomers
have noted a couple of small new craters on the
moon as having occurred sometime over the last
30 or 40 years. I>d assume Mars would its share.

Several years ago while out in the hinderlands
where light pollution is less than down in the valley,
I noted a flash in the sky, I was sky watching in the night.
Anyway, it gradually dawned on
me that I had seen meteor aimed more or
less at position and it had burned up in the atmosphere.
It is quite nice to have a meaningful atmosphere above one>s head.

Trig

BradGuth · Guest

Perhaps 99% of incoming space debris as meteors and the nearly dust of
such never impacts or otherwise encounters the surface of Earth,
whereas at least 99% of that same incoming flack does interact with
the surface of Mars, at damn near full speed ahead.

On our naked moon it>s another 100 fold worse off, because your
moonsuit naked face, butt and everything else in between can get
summarily nailed by most anything trekking past that>s merely slightly
above the horizon (thus from every possible direction except from the
bottom up), not to mention those numerous direct encounters and of
their unavoidable secondary shards that are good for delivering lethal
debris/flack encounters at a another thousand km away from ground
zero.

So, if those incoming meteors and their secondary shards don>t get
you, chances are the gamma and hard-X-rays will put a serious dent in
your frail DNA.

- Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth

trigonometry1972@gmail.com | wrote:
[quote]On Jul 3, 6:09ï¿½pm, BradGuth <bradg...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 2, 11:40 pm, "trigonometry1...@gmail.com |"

trigonometry1...@gmail.com> wrote:
On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:

"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, ï¿½leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat

If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
On Jul 2, 4:08 pm, "jonathan" <H...@write.instead.net> wrote:

"Pat Flannery" <flan...@daktel.com> wrote in message

news:Vq-dnfXjS6dpEvbVnZ2dnUVZ_rzinZ2d@posted.northdakotatelephone...

trigonometry1...@gmail.com | wrote:
It is a fair bet that this "soil" will lacks nitrogen, humus, and a
practical
atmosphere.

It>s also a tad cold for plants at the landing site, and I doubt the radiation
from solar storms or hard UV hitting the surface is going to help the plants
much.
But the NASA PAO aways puts a positive spin on everything.

I think you>re missing the point. Of course that statement is assuming
otherwise acceptable conditions for life. The point is that ...despite...
the radiation, the cold and all that, the soil at the /surface/ is still
friendly to life. If the temperature and atmostphere changes, the
soil would be 'ready to go'.

I would>ve assumed it>d be the other way around. Where
the conditions would be favorable first, ï¿½leading to fertile soil
later.

And with water ice currently in contact with such soil, and the
polygon patterns showing melting has occurred,....despite
the harsh conditions...that>s all rather astonishing! It>s as if
there>s only one thing missing from the picture.....tantalizingly
close to the Holy Grail of science, philosophy and
religion.

Mars will end up answering the age-old question of ...
"Given earth-like conditions, how likely is life to emerge?"

One in a billion?
A million?
Or every time!

I>m absolutely certain that life will evolve...almost...every
chance it gets. Given enough time and enough 'complexity'
the most probable final state of any system is to converge
to criticality, to the edge of chaos, where spontaneous order
self-organization and evolution emerge.

Pat

Pat

If life is found on Mars, I suspect it is nearly "everywhere."
Understand I suspect Mars is sterile and life is rare.

My vision of this "soil' and life goes like the following:
space ships land and make glass and build domes and melt ice.
Robots and machines at humus imported from earth,
check chemistry and add microorganisms, plant seeds, etc.
Then humans come to the green domes of Mars.
At which time, humans will look and pronounce the
Martian Domes good and say lets us make more domes
of little good earths.

Or alternatively NASA will loiter in low earth orbit and so will
its Chinese and Russian clones and nothing will happen that
matters. This is what I expect

Of surface exposed life on Mars is rad-hard, freeze proof and seldom
if ever needs any drop of h2o.

Meteorites of most any size are downright lethal, as well as their
secondary impact shards being potentially lethal for a good km or
more. ï¿½ ï¿½Even arriving space dust should pretty much rip your face
off.

- Brad Guth Brad_Guth Brad.Guth BradGuth

I pretty much agree. As I dimly recall astronomers
have noted a couple of small new craters on the
moon as having occurred sometime over the last
30 or 40 years. I>d assume Mars would its share.

Several years ago while out in the hinderlands
where light pollution is less than down in the valley,
I noted a flash in the sky, I was sky watching in the night.
Anyway, it gradually dawned on
me that I had seen meteor aimed more or
less at position and it had burned up in the atmosphere.
It is quite nice to have a meaningful atmosphere above one>s head.

Trig[/quote]


www.GetXFactor.com Leading Technology, Science, Agriculture News and information	Part of the Identityscape.com network... getxfactor.com jmoodmusic.com smartbusinesschoices.com mintdepot.com lowfaresalways.com evangelicalview.com shoppingpodder.com soproudlywehail.com webnews.ws currenthumor.com

Science and Technology news... Forum Index -> Geology - Earthquakes Forum	Goto page 1, 2 Next
Page 1 of 2