Mars garden spot, or not
New wet chemistry test results from the Phoenix lander indicate Martian North Pole soil contains magnesium, sodium, potassium, chloride and other common nutrients.
"Martian soil could grow turnips," a New Scientist headline assures us. More of the geocentrism I was ranting about last week? Maybe not. This mix of chemistry is more interesting than the basaltic rock and iron oxide composition that has long been recognized as the soil type that makes the planet red (or is it?). Inevitably, this new finding is being touted as evidence that the Red Planet can "support life," though I'm glad to see the TierneyLab blog in the other Times is following my skepticism about the tendency to go looking for life in uninviting locations.
In the other big Mars news, we may have a pretty good indication of why our lopsided neighbor is devoid of life no matter how rich its soil might be: a 4.4 billion-year-old collision with an object the size of Texas. Or Alaska. Or Pluto. More discussion at Slashdot.
Life does not exist on Mars. If it did, the Phoenix Lander would have been stolen by now.
Posted by: nehad ismail, camberley, england | June 27, 2008 at 04:28 AM
at last, a possible solution to our food crisis. mars is where we should grow our food and in 20 years just import unmanned cheap cargo loads of food and vegetables from the 'green' planet. hahaha
Posted by: nonoyd | June 26, 2008 at 06:33 PM
NASA already knows that fully alive vegetation exists on Mars. Why do they refuse to tell the public there is plant life on mars?
Posted by: Eric | June 26, 2008 at 05:03 PM