Final Project

Jordan E.

Legislator:  Juan Hinojosa, Representative

(Click on the image above to enlarge.)

Since the beginning of Hollywood filmmaking and classic science fiction novels, the idea of little green men prancing over the red hills of Mars has been on the front of many scientists’ ideas. Initially considered to be the most likely candidate for extraterrestrial life in the galaxy, we now see that the idea of creatures with large eyes pointing ray guys at us is very rare. Yet, we take a step back and ask ourselves, “Did any life ever exist on Mars?” Once we move past the farce of our presumptions, we are open to a very viable field of study. We have a huge galaxy of stars, planets, gasses, and such; is there an actual reason why life should not exist in some other corner of the galaxy? My final project will discuss the myths and facts surrounding the search for “alien” life on Mars, and eventually beyond. I do honestly, believe, however, that life did exist at one point in time on the red planet, in a very simplistic form, and there has been some actual evidence to support such a claim.

The break of dawn on the Martian terrain, the bright sun glistening off the red dust covering the divine sphere. This may be the idealistic picture we all have of Mars, yet whether or not the vision includes little green men crawling over the rocks is up to debate. We start today with some actual scientific evidence (and not so scientific evidence) that argues for or against the chance of life on Mars. The first claims of Martian life originated from the minds of ancient astronomers. Peering up at the red sphere in the sky (in that great terracentric world of theirs), Greek astrologers were more concerned with the movements of their gods in the sky than with the proposition of life coming from above. Yet, in this mythology, we have our first look into the concept of the divine from above.

Symbolizing the red hue of Mars to the color of Ares (and later Mars for the Roman), ancient thinkers began assuming that the gods controlled these divine bodies. Ares, the god of war, was a feared god by many Athenians (though revered by Spartans), and his symbol in the sky was often shown as a harbinger of death or war. These immature ideas about the presence of the planets remained in the minds of many, though the concept of extraterrestrial life went unchecked for quite a while. Without any means of actually seeing the surface of the planet, it was impossible to determine whether or not life did in fact exist there. That is when the next great advancement in the search for “E.T.” came around. Although not used for this purpose initially, the introduction of the modern telescope in the Renaissance by Galileo. Now able to peer deeper into that stars than ever, we now see a beginning in a great interest in heavens, not seen since the ancient American and European cultures. Again, despite the advent of the telescope, we see yet another lapse in the want to find life in the heavens.

This lapse, however, lasted much longer. Concentrating on more terrestrial sciences, Pasteur and the like expanded the frontier on earth, while some dallied in the study of the galaxy, without the intent to find life. The idea of Martian life appeared again, however, in the most curious of places: fiction. Writers began having a field day with this new frontier, the idea that humans were not along in this galaxy. This idea spawned a long-running series of authors that deeply effected literature of the time, with the idea of space travel and life on other planets being brought to the public’s mind yet again. Novels such as Ray Bradbury’s “The Martian Chronicles,” and H.G. Wells’s “War of the Worlds” all brought the idea of the Red Planet close to home. Far from the god-like ambitions of the ancients, the new “Martians” were depicted as anything from human colonists to harbingers of evil (creating a nice connection to the ancient ideas). The apocalyptic view in “War of the Worlds” frightened many to believe that the idea of a Martian invasion was imminent, and with the radio broadcast that shocked the nation, Martian life because the next fad. Off of this point, we now see a new league of science fiction “B-movies,” including such classics as “Santa Claus vs. The Martians,” and “It Came From Outer Space.” Although this somewhat trivialized the science, during this period there was a surge in interest towards the skies. No longer was Martian life a distant idea; it was now viable truth that we were willing to look more deeply into. Yet, until this point in the mid 1960’s, we had nothing but vague speculations on this subject, but that was until we found ourselves with actual evidence that Martian life might truly exist.

With space technology at our fingertips, we reached our intergalactic grasp out to our neighbor Mars. With life on the mind, the Mariner trips were sent with high hopes that we might return with signs of life. Until this point, all signs of life on Mars were speculative at best, mostly created form the imaginations of creative authors and thinkers. The Mariner voyages, however, returned with evidence of canals on Mars; the canal that previously carried one of the major components of life: water. In order for conventional life to exist on Mars (assuming the extraterrestrial life is similar to terrestrial life), there must have been a source of water, the building block of life. These photographs of canals showed without a doubt that water did in fact exist in liquid form at one time on Mars. Although the Mariner missions ended in 1971, the seed had been planted. We now knew that life could in fact have been around at one time in Martian history.  The search for life can to a climax in 1996, when a meteorite found in 1984 on the continent of Antarctica was found to have the possible fossilized remains of Martian biological remnants. The actual origin of the rock had not been discovered until 1993, and once the chemical matches had registered the rock as Martian, interest in the rock became much more frenzied. It was in 1996, however, that the rock’s possibly historic contents became apparent. The meteorite, known as ALH84001, shows some very possible signs of nanobacterial life, dating back almost 3.6 billion years. With this new discovery, the argument for Martian life has been sparked again, and now the debate has become the center of many arguments in scientific round tables.

With this new discovery, many sides have been drawn on this hot issue.  Religious groups have already taken arms in the matter, and creationists are having frenzy with the matter. The concept of life on another planet destroys the creationist theory, and this is just the tip of the iceberg that, if proven, this new discovery could shatter. Man has always believed that humans were unique in the universe, the only life in a vast space that was what we believe to be “alive.” I honestly don’t know, however, what I think of this situation. While I’m as willing to turn to the sky in search for the next great leap in mankind’s future, I’m not sure if the truth really is out there. There’s not really any certain evidence that is one hundred percent positive that life is really out there, and I’m a skeptic to the bone. One too many science fiction movies has deluded my idea of aliens, and I now believe that only hard, proven scientific evidence will sway me otherwise. The idea of life in other corners of our galaxy, let alone our neighbors in the solar system seems a bit far-fetched. I don’t know if it is because I’m complacent in the fact that we are along, or that I just am tired of the wild goose chases, but I feel that it’s going to take much more than a rock with possible remnants of fossilized bacteria before I believe that anything else is out there.

What we have in the end in a sketchy science that could seriously use some tightening. The idea is there, and we finally have some evidence with which to work with. Now, it is just going to take someone sitting down and attempting to turn this in to a legitimate science, rather than the circus sideshow that it now appears to be. Yet, as for the evidence we have presented before us, one can only ask one question: Do I believe? We are being asked to accept this on blind faith, and until we can have more definite proof, many will still look at Mars as only a red rock in the summer sky.

Enclosed is a virtual collage of all things Martian, partially because of my lack of artistic talents and partially because of my lack of artistic vision. The collage represents many different views of Martian life, from the science fiction view, to the more factual view. The pictures are used without permission, but as they are begin used for a educational project, I think that they’ll let the issue slide this time. I know that this isn’t one of the forms you suggested, but I felt that this would best describe my topic, better than a poster or drawing (and I felt that building a 4ft little green man was a bit extreme). This is basically the same thing as my poster would have, but I didn’t have the equipment at the time to create a poster, I hope this will suffice. I tried to draw on as many sources as possible for it. Again, all images belong to their respective copyright holders, I take charge for none of this.

Sources…

http://www.canoe.ca/MarsMission/jul5_marsmyth.html

http://www.honors.unr.edu/~fenimore/wt202/apple

http://seds.lpl.arizona.edu/nineplanets/nineplanets/mars.html

http://rsd.gsfc.nasa.gov/marslife/astromat.htm

Last Updated:  09/07/01