1086G revised Essay.docx

LIFE ON MARS Life on Mars Ben Gutman 251273852 Earth Science 1086G Western University March 1 st 2023

LIFE ON MARS 1 Table of Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 3 Can Mars Support Life? ....................................................................................................... 4 Ongoing Search For Life ..................................................................................................... 4 Conclusions .......................................................................................................................... 4 References ............................................................................................................................ 5 Figures ................................................................................................................................. 7 Tables ................................................................................................................................... 8

LIFE ON MARS 1 Abstract The Red Planet, Mars, known for its redish hue on the surface that is caused from the iron-oxide in the soil. It is the fourth planet from the Sun and the closest hopefully habitable planet to Earth. Mars is the second smallest planet in our solar system, only being larger than Mercury. (Davis and Carney) It is a dusty desert like world, that is very cold and holds quite a thin atmosphere. Like Earth it is known to have seasons, along with similar geographical components such as volcanoes, canyons and Polar ice caps. However it does have 2 moon to Earths one, Phobos and Deimos. Despite all of this there has been evidence found to prove life could have once been on the planet and prosperous at that. Before getting into life on Mars, the definition of life needs to be clear, Life is anything that requires an ecosystem to thrive. Plants, microorganisms, and water are all examples of Life. There has no been definitive proof of life on Mars, but evidence of flows of water and complex organic compounds have been found.Back in 1877 Giovanni Schiaparelli used the term “Canali” to describe channels or flows of water on the surface of mars. (Tietz) In 2021 the Curiosity rover found that life may have been erased on Mars. Currently we believe the Planet is habitable but is that just because Earth is almost at a point of no turning back and we need an escape plan? Or is there truly life to be found.

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LIFE ON MARS 1 Can Mars Support Life? A requirement to human life second to oxygen is water, to have life on mars the human race will need liquid. Water is essential to survival on any planet, it is a necessary compound in the chemical reactions of life. Apart from needing to drink water, the canals it flows through play a large part in mainting the ecosystem. The Canals throughout the planet are responsible for transporting nutrients and wastes throughout Mars. Radar measurements from the Mars express spacecraft and satellite imaging using MARSIS allowed scientists to discover a 20-km-wide region of liquid water being held below a layer of thick ice in the Planum Australe region. The data found that water is quite stable at depths of roughly 1.5km. The raw data of the south polar layered deposits along with the large size that is necessary to detect a meltwater patch for MARSIS limits the possibility of finding smaller bodies of water or any hydraulics connections that they may possess. On the surface of the planet along with bacteria being found that shows the surface was habitable at one point in time, there was loads of magnesium, calcium, and sodium perchlorate discovered in the soul in the Northern Plain by the Phoenix Landers wet chemistry lab. These chemicals support and prove the existence of water at the base of polar deposits. However, the magnesium and calcium are great signs for life, both minerals are known to be good for bone health and everyday essential bodily functions. On the other hand too much exposure to sodium perchlorate can cause anemia. Perchlorates have been found in many different portions of Mars. “Because the temperature at the base of the polar deposits is estimated to be around 205 K,. and because perchlorates strongly suppress the freezing point of water (to a minimum of 204 and 198 K for magnesium and calcium perchlorates, respectively.”(Orosei et al, 2018) Due to this it is fair to assume it would be at the base of the south polar layered deposits. There it mixes with basal soils and forms a sludge, if it has not mixed it could stay on top of the basal and form brine pools. Unfortunately, Mars is currently in a thin carbon dioxide atmosphere and because of this is unable to beings from Earth. With an atmospheric pressure just 0.6% of Earths, (Mehta) all surface water on the planet will freeze or evaporate.(See Table 1) Periodically Methane gas comes into the atmosphere and the soil is known to contain compounds of chemicals toxic to our life forms. There may be water on Mars, however it is frozen under the icy polar caps, the amount is unknown beneath the surface. The geological history of mars is a much simpler one than that of Earth most likely due to its size. The planet is about one-half of Earth’s diameter, because of this mars loses its internal heat at a much more rapid pace. With less internal heat, the geological activity of the planet slows drastically and the once most volcanic planet has almost came to a halt. The gravity being one third of earth’s allows water to escape into space, and what was once a planet abundant with water is now drier than earths hottest desert. Ongoing Search for Life Mariner 9. (Figure 1) Mariner 9 was launched in 1971 with the design in mind to give the most detailed view of Mars that has ever been acquired by mission experiments; similar to that of Mariner 6 & 7. Everything that had been previously analyzed was getting tested again.

LIFE ON MARS 1 Atmospheric structure, denisity, pressure and composition were a few of those. This is because Mars is the most similar planet to Earth, it is believed that Mars was once full of water with a much thicker atmosphere than the one it has now offering a possibly suitable environment. Main goals of the mission were to map more than 70% of the surface with resolutions from 1km per pixel to as little as 100 m a pixel all being done in orbit from an altitude roughly 1500 km above the surface. There were searches for volcanic activity using infrared radiometry. Volcanic activity would imply that the planet is in fact not dead. Quakes and Eruptions are signs that there are still processes being conducted under the surface of the planet. “Planets with volcanic activity are considered better candidates for life than worlds without such heated internals going on.(Kelley) Phobos and Deimos, the two moons of Mars were to be analyzed as well. Mariner 9 was made to clean up the findings of Mariner 6&7 and shed more light on the Surface. The mission was a massive success and exceeded expectations in all fields. Upon arrival the spacecraft meet the atmosphere full of dust making the view of surface much worse. Within the first orbit the existence of dust storms had been confirmed. Mariner 9 was fitted with a reprogrammable computer and was kept in orbit well until the dust storms had settled. Mariner 9 captured 7329 images, and covered close to 80% of the surface, these photos revealed what scientists had been hoping, Mars’ surface and atmosphere is quite varied. Evidence of flow features were found further proving the hypothesis of a time when there was abundance of water on mars. 54 billion bits of data were sent to Earth via the Mariner 9, 27 times the amount of data retrieved by all previous Mariner missions combined. This mission was a trailblazer in mars expedition giving way for the Viking program to begin. The confirmation of atmospheric pressure gave the scientists the information necessary to design safe landers for Viking exploration. Before Mariner life on Mars was nothing but a mystery. Viking Experiments. (Figure 2)The Viking Experiments was a mission to find life using the usual search techniques of its time in 1976. The lander completed a series of experiments, the first was studying the soil. Viking scooped the soil and added carbon compounds considered as food to the microorganism that were present in the soil. The second experiment was photosynthesis. Vikings second experiment was unable to gather any evidence, the process was unsuccessful at helping to further guide scientists towards life on mars and thus is classified as a failure. A failure is not deemed on whether life was found or not but whether it furthered the search and this experiment did no such thing, thus it is a failure. Experiment three, water was added to soil, if life had of been present, the soil would produce carbon dioxide. CO2 was not produced however oxygen was. This lead scientists to conclude oxygen comes from chemical reactions. The fourth experiment found no organic compounds to prove life. 32 years later Phoenix rover detected perchlorate in the soil. When Perchlorate reaches a certain temperature (350 C) it decomposes to release to chemicals, oxygen and chlorine. The Perchlorates would have eliminated any signs of life in the soil. Hope for life is not lost, in 2014 scientists at NASA found carbon compounds in centuries old mudstone sediments at the bottom of the Gale Crater, along with perchlorate. In 2015 the SAM team found traces of Chlorobenzene in a Martian sample. There are complex organic compounds being found on mars. Viking did not find them but is still not a failure, without Viking none of this would have been possible, it was the steps made by the Viking that lead us to this place. The Perservernace rover will be using a strategy called depot caching, the rover places tubes with minerals throughout the surface of the land to see how it interacts with the chemicals. The rover will use a ground penetrating radar and by

LIFE ON MARS 1 doing so the rover will be able to create a map of the geological structure of the planet. At the same time Perserverance will also use a UV laser to detect minerals and organic compounds that could be signs of life.(Brennan) In the event Perserverance is successful, NASA can then take steps to find ways to begin to make the planet habitable for life in the event the human race has to leave the planet.

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LIFE ON MARS 1 Conclusion Life on Mars has been found but its never the “life” expected. There is evidence of habitation and the necessities of life are on the planet. It becomes a matter of getting there and then hopefully attaining the supplies we need. There has been huge strides taken in the field of space exploration over the past 50 years and the innovations are not slowing down. Liquid water, and microorganisms are the first groundbreaking steps towards knowing the truth about living on Mars. The atmosphere alone will make it substantially harder to bring over larger spacecrafts if the planet is to be deemed habitable. There is still not nearly enough sufficient evidence to prove that however there are rovers such as Curiosity, Perseverance and Zhurong(Urbain) searching the planet for more life every second. Mars could be habitable but the planet hasn’t shown enough to be a sustainable option. With the effort and mission of Perseverance hopefully more strides can be taken to find the planet habitable.

LIFE ON MARS 1 References Baker, V. R. (1982) The Channels of Mars. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1982chma.book ..... B/abstract. Brennan, Pat. “Science with Perseverance .” NASA , NASA, 2020, https://mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/mission/science/. Carr, M. H. “Water on Mars.” Nature News , Nature Publishing Group, 1 Mar. 1987, https://www.nature.com/articles/326030a0. Cartacci, M., Cassenti, F., Cicchetti, A., Coradini, M., Cosciotti, B., Di Paolo, F., Flamini, E., Frigeri, A., Giuppi, S., Lauro, S.E., Martufi, R., Masdea, A., Mattei, E., Mitri, G., Nenna, C., Noschese, R., Orosei, R., Pajola, M., Pettinelli, E., Restano, M., Seu, R. & Soldovieri F.“Radar Evidence of Subglacial Liquid Water on Mars | Science.” Radar Evidence of Subglacial Liquid Water on Mars , Science, 25 July 2018, https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.aar7268. Carter, J. (n.d.) Detecting Life on Mars May Be 'Impossible' with Current NASA Rovers, New Study Warns 24 Feb. 2023, https://www.livescience.com/detecting-life-on-mars-may-be- impossible-with-current-nasa-rovers-new-study-warns. Chicarro , A., Martin ,P. & Trautner ,R. “The Mars Express Mission.” SAO/NASA , https://adsabs.harvard.edu/full/2004ESASP1240 .... 3C. Dasch, P, and Allan T. (n.d.) Ancient Life on Mars. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/marslife/index.shtml. Drake, N. (2022) Life Just Might Exist on Mars after All. https://www.nationalgeographic.co.uk/space/2022/12/life-just-might-exist-on-mars-after- all. Drake, Na. (2021) Why We Explore Mars-and What Decades of Missions Have Revealed https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/mars-exploration-article. Davis, Phil, and Steve Carney. “In Depth.” NASA , NASA, 8 July 2021, https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/mars/in-depth/. Kelley, Peter. “Atmospheric Signs of Volcanic Activity Could Aid Search for Life.” UW News , University of Washington, 8 June 2015, https://www.washington.edu/news/2015/06/08/atmospheric-signs-of-volcanic-activity- could-aid-search-for-life/.

LIFE ON MARS 1 Lea, R. “Is There Life on Mars? A NASA Scientist Explains in New Video.” Space.com , Space, 30 Dec. 2022, https://www.space.com/could-life-exist-on-mars-nasa-video-2022. McKay, C.P. “How to Search for Life on Mars.” Scientific American , Scientific American, 1 June 2014, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/how-to-search-for-life-on-mars/. Mehta, Jatan. “Can We Make Mars Earth-like through Terraforming?” The Planetary Society , 19 Apr. 2021, https://www.planetary.org/articles/can-we-make-mars-earth- like-through-terraforming. Tietz, Tabea. “Giovanni Schiaparelli and the Martian Canals.” SciHi Blog , 14 Mar. 2019, http://scihi.org/giovanni-schiaparelli-martian-canals/. Turner, Ben. “Curiosity Rover Discovers That Evidence of Past Life on Mars May Have Been Erased.” LiveScience , Purch, 16 July 2021, https://www.livescience.com/mars-life- evidence-erased.html. Urbain , Tom. “How Many Rovers & Landers Are Currently on Mars?” StarLust , 20 Jan. 2023, https://starlust.org/how-many-rovers-are-on-mars/. Williams, David R. “The Mariner Missions.” NASA , NASA, 6 Jan. 2005, https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/mars/mariner.html.

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LIFE ON MARS 1 Tables Table 1 Mars and Earth Mars Earth Day 24 Hr 37 Mins 24 Hr Year 687 Earth Days 365 Days Atmosphere 95% Carbon Dioxide 2.7% Nitrogen 2.3% Other Gases 78% Nitrogen 21% Oxygen 1% Other gases Atmospheric Pressure 0.7% of Earth’s Pressure Gravity 35% of Earth’s Diameter 4217 Miles 7917 Miles Land Surface Area ~56 Million Square miles ~57 Million Square Miles Distance From Sun 141.6 Million Miles 93 Million Miles Moon 2 (Phobos and Deimos) 1 Dasch, P, and Allan T. (n.d.) Ancient Life on Mars. https://www.lpi.usra.edu/publications/slidesets/marslife/index.shtml.

LIFE ON MARS 1 Figures Figure 1 . The Mariner 9 “Mariner 9.” Wikipedia , Wikimedia Foundation, 5 Mar. 2023, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_9

LIFE ON MARS 1 Figure 2. The Viking Spacecraft “Viking 1 & 2.” NASA , NASA, 7 Sept. 2019, https://mars.nasa.gov/mars- exploration/missions/viking-1-2/.

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