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Test shows Mars soil has nutrients for life

  2. jefftego
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An initial analysis of soil from Mars' north polar region indicates that it contains the nutrients required to support life, scientists behind NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission said Thursday.

The analysis, conducted on a sample scooped up by the lander's robotic arm and processed in its onboard lab, has shown the soil to be much more alkaline than expected, said Tufts University's Sam Kounaves, the lead investigator for Phoenix's wet chemistry laboratory.

“We basically have found what appears to be the requirements, the nutrients, to support life whether past, present or future,” he told journalists during a news briefing. “It is the type of soil you would probably have in your back yard, you know, alkaline. You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. ... It is very exciting for us.”

Kounaves said “we were all flabbergasted at the data we got back.”

The scientists would not say that they now believe that life, even mere microbes, definitively existed on Mars. They emphasized that the results were very preliminary, and that more analysis was needed.

“There is nothing about the soil that would preclude life. In fact, it seems very friendly. ... there is nothing about it that is toxic,” Kounaves said
jefftego

37 responses // Test shows Mars soil has nutrients for life

  • This is so cool. I remember as a kid watching a science fiction movie about the red planet...and wondering if there could be anything alive on it.
    LindaBusiness
  • watch this comment being used here, here and here
    " You might be able to grow asparagus in it really well. ... It is very exciting for us.”

    They've just found out Mars might be able to support life, and he's excited he can grow asparagus - too much time in a Science lab me thinks...
    mattbrawn
    2 responses to this
  • http://current.com/items/89052415_giant_crater_explains...
    Finally some hope that all my Total Recall fantasies will come true.
    BenDorries
    1 response to this
  • Life on Mars would be awesome...but I'm still not sure that I personally would want to live there! But to find some form of life would be pretty neat-o.
    Tori
  • this is something, i never new thaat science would get this far into Mars as to know if life could be lived there.
    passjay
  • http://current.com/items/89054041_farming_on_mars
    How cool! Check out what others are saying on this thread too.
    abbym0308
  • Jeff,

    Thanks for posting this:)

    Pretty awesome isn't it?

    If there's no life, how did the soil get that way?
    PatrickEdwardMurray
  • Regardless if something was living there or not, the elements that make it up are the same regardless of where you go.
    handshakeheartbreak
  • aliens!
    ThatGirlBrittni
  • I hope everyone isn't getting too excited about this. If you read the article, the scientists don't sound too sure about their findings in general. What we do know from the article is that they have been able to derive a bunch of implications without any complete certainty. I understand it is difficult to have complete certainty, but I just want to make clear that just because they find nutrients for life on Mars, it doesn't mean that it is liveable (at least, not by us.). I agree that it is reasonable to expect some form of life on Mars, but I also recognize the possibility that the nutrients that are available on Mars might also have been insufficient to support other life and hence is why there is no noticeable life on Mars. Perhaps, life was on Mars at one point, but due to lack of resources, they died/ became extinct thereafter. Just my thoughts...
    AutifK
    3 responses to this
  • There was life on mars, then it ran out of oil...
    sampierre
    1 response to this
  • Sweet, I wonder how much restaurants will charge for Martian asparagus in the future.
    Dmitri_Molotov
  • I think the best use for Mars would be building enclosed Agricultural thingies, to grow food with Martian soil. That way, if Earth has a big uh-oh moment, like an asteroid, we can get food from Mars while we wait for the smoke and whatnot to clear up.

    Or, we can genetically engineer a plant that can grow in the martian atmosphere, and then, holy crap, Mars is friggin green!
    FallenMorgan
    1 response to this
  • http://current.com/items/89055823_extremophiles_the_mos...
    Perhaps Mars is full of extremophiles.
    saverio
  • This is great news.
    I am waiting to see if they find any indication of microorganisms.
    This could explain so much for us as we know it.
    latayy
  • Im cool with the whole space exploration thing on a small scale, but does anyone else think that those billions could have gone into something like.... I don't know education or something?
    Angry_Patriot89
  • of course there's life on mars , if there weren't the gov't would've stopped financing the project ages ago .
    malathion
  • this makes me feel optimistic for the future.Just think one day far into the future we may be able to colonize mars. Star Trekj here we come!
    Metaknight42
  • Growing asparagus on Mars.

    food miles food miles food miles.
    Jake87
  • Hey,that is good news,even though as a christian i don't know what good this will do for our planet.

    Just thinking out-loud.
    willzlinkmissing
  • Lets take some plants up there to start creating an atmosphere, we're gonna need a new rock to live on sooner than we think.
    DraculaJones
    1 response to this
  • wow maybe there could be life on mars and what if there is something there that could have the answer to something we needed... but what is the question!
    irvinsssalzar
  • Who said that extraterrestrial life needs nutrients similar to Earth's? Or that it needs water? We don't even know if alien life would be carbon based. Every thing about alien life should be... alien.

    We have found life on extreme conditions right here on Earth. Places that have no sunlight, "toxic" chemicals, or extreme temperatures. So why would we look for alien life only on places that are similar to Earth?
    hack26
    1 response to this
  • We can only really compare the surface of our planet to that of any planet we can get to.As far as how alien life is sustained that is really all speculation..but the possiblities of hash or unseemingly unlivable conditions harbor life are pretty good .Much like you note..species have evolved under extreme conditions such as high pressure (bottom of the ocean) and low temps (arctic poles).
    DraculaJones
  • Is space exploration the result of curiosity and knowledge?
    Or, is space exploration the result of colonization and expansion?

    It's sickening to think that we might "make Mars our own", or as I like to call it, "Ruin Everything"!
    PajamaDan
  • As long as that probe doesn't bring back some biological
    germ. Kool.
    Blackfoot777
  • Don't break out the champagne just yet, guys. The Phoenix Lander earlier this week conducted its first wet chemical analysis through its Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer (MECA), which mixes the soil sample with water and bakes the mud to 1,832 degrees Fahrenheit to test for chemical composition. The results show the martian soil had a pH between 8 and 9, meaning it is alkaline — the kind of soil you could grow vegetables in if you brought it back to Earth, tossed in some cow manure, and watered. MECA detected the presence of magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride but no carbon, the crucial ingredient necessary for life on Earth (alright, silicon might also work). JPL tells us that the mineral content of the soil is not much different from the upper dry valleys in Antarctica. What Phoenix’ wet chemical analysis shows thus far (the tests are just getting underway) is that there is no life in the soil sample tested by MECA. The Phoenix Lander's follow-the-water strategy for searching for organic compounds is, however, exactly the right strategy for NASA to pursue. Here's a hint, though, if NASA could land the Phoenix Lander or Mars Science Laboratory on Enceladus or Titan or anywhere else in this sun system, the test results would show that there is no life in this sun system other than on Earth. It takes more than liquid water for life to emerge, as it did on Earth 3.9 billion years ago. But our Milky Way galaxy is teeming with life and with intelligent life. “The truth is out there.”
    JohnUmana

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