Does Life Exist On Other Planets?

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 3:59 pm

I recently found this article on http://www.msnbc.com - http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6981361/ - that suggests that there is now strong enough evidence for life on Mars. I want to know what you think about it and if there is scripture that states if there is life or not on other planets than ours.

Deborah · Post by **Deborah** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 4:15 pm

I honestly do not know, and I too would like any scripture help that can be provided.

August · Post by **August** » Wed Feb 16, 2005 6:21 pm

From a scientific perspective it is unlikely, but not imposible. It may be that life exists somewhere else in a non-carbon based form, but it then starts begging the question how do we define life? As far as carbon-based life is concerned, conditions has to be just right for that, and we have not yet seen another place in the universe which would be suited to it. Again, our expectations are limited to what we can observe currently, which is a pretty small part of the universe.

Chris · Post by **Chris** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:08 am

If any microbes survived the trek thru space on Sojourner or any other spacecraft we've sent, then yes, there is life on Mars

Tash · Post by **Tash** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:23 am

ABSOLUTELY yes! though very slim chance on mars. BUT mars can be conditioned to support carbpn based life.

Tash · Post by **Tash** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:33 am

If any microbes survived the trek thru space on Sojourner or any other spacecraft we've sent, then yes, there is life on Mars

unless they were contained in the enterior of the spacecraft cosmic rays would have easily killed them. that and lack of oxygen. it is more likely life developed on mars or another planet outside the solar system by itself.

Mastermind · Post by **Mastermind** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 12:19 pm

You can't physically have water on mars. It's either ice, or it gets hit by sunrays, instantly vaporizes and floats off into space.

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:24 pm

Mastermind, if I can direct you to this VIDEO, Today Show anchor Matt Lauer talks to Neil DeGrasse Tyson, an astrophysicist at the American Museum of Natural History. Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains there can't be water on the surface but under the surface and that life thrives in pools of it. The evidence, Neil DeGrasse Tyson explains, says that it hasn't passed peer review yet. Interesting video to watch. What are your opinions on it?

Prodigal Son · Post by **Prodigal Son** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 1:49 pm

i saw a special once that talked about there being sulfur-based lifeforms at the deeper pars of the ocean. so there could be life on other planets; all life doesn't have to be carbon-based.

Tash · Post by **Tash** » Thu Feb 17, 2005 4:31 pm

I am quite exited about the time that we may eventualy colonise mars, the different planet will evolve life differently, in a thousand or so years, animals and plants that we transfer. maybe even ourselves, could change to suit the environment of mars, two different types of human!

Anonymous · Post by **Anonymous** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 12:04 pm

A new ARTICLE just published today on http://www.msnbc.com denies report about Red Planet life, it is quoted below.

NASA nixes claims of Mars life: NASA on Friday issued an unusual denial of a report that its researchers found strong evidence for life's existence on present-day Mars.

Earlier this week, sources told the weekly Space News that NASA scientists Carol Stoker and Larry Lemke had submitted a paper to the journal Nature outlining the evidence for biological activity on the Red Planet, based on the signature of methane found in the Martian atmosphere.

However, NASA's newly issued statement claims that's not the case:

"News reports on February 16, 2005, that NASA scientists from Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., have found strong evidence that life may exist on Mars are incorrect.

"NASA does not have any observational data from any current Mars missions that supports this claim. The work by the scientists mentioned in the reports cannot be used to directly infer anything about life on Mars, but may help formulate the strategy for how to search for Martian life. Their research concerns extreme environments on Earth as analogs of possible environments on Mars. No research paper has been submitted by them to any scientific journal asserting Martian life."

It sounds as if the life-on-Mars claims might be more of an extrapolation from the intriguing methane readings picked up by the Mars Express orbiter and Stoker's past work with drilling experiments at the Rio Tinto in Spain. Reading between the lines, the research submitted by Stoker and Lemke may not make the conceptual link to conclude there's already sufficient evidence for biological activity on Mars.

sandy_mcd · Post by **sandy_mcd** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:00 pm

colors wrote:i saw a special once that talked about there being sulfur-based lifeforms at the deeper pars of the ocean. so there could be life on other planets; all life doesn't have to be carbon-based.

I think all known life is probably carbon-based, even in the ocean. There may be some life in the ocean which uses sulfur rather than oxygen for breathing. But that is not the same as substituting sulfur for carbon, which is the way I interpreted your statement.

Sandy

August · Post by **August** » Fri Feb 18, 2005 4:10 pm

Carbon is so far the only element that can stick together in large enough quantities to sustain life that we have observed.

Life as we know it based on other elements is highly unlikely.

Evidence for God from Science