Strange Science

Photo Courtesy of NASA 

In the most recent months, there has been increasing hype over the upcoming Mars mission. I find Mars to be a wonderful and interesting planet. In an article released on January 19^th by CNN there was talk of the discovery of methane content in the Martian atmosphere. This is an incredible discovery because methane is one of the more common natural elements. It is found on several planets, but in a liquid form that is extremely toxic and not conducive to life. On Mars it is in minute qualities in the form of a gas. Why is this important? Well, methane gas is given off by many life forms. This may or may not be evidence of these past life forms, but it is still intriguing. I have some questions about this possibility however…

Our planet exists in an orbit that is oriented perfectly within what some would call the “habitable zone”, or a zone in which temperatures under the right conditions could sustain water in a liquid form. Mars is far outside this “habitable zone” which is why much of its water exists in a state of permafrost. It is unable to reach a temperature that can melt the water into a liquid form. Do you think water ever existed on Mars in a liquid form? Do you believe there were past life forms on Mars? Do you think that in the past this “habitable zone” was wider, further out, or oriented differently? Do you think that even with its distance from the sun, terra forming would be a sufficient condition for creating a livable environment on Mars?

I personally believe that Mars research is an outstanding endeavor. However at this moment I think that we should divert more resources towards protection from large space debris.

What are your thoughts?

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