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NASA just scored a badly needed win: The best potential evidence of alien life yet
(www.businessinsider.com)
this post was submitted on 27 Jul 2024
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Even if we find out Mars has always been lifeless, we'll find it somewhere eventually. I'm also convinced we're going to find something clearly alive (or that was once alive) that completely redefines our entire idea of life. Dunno what that could be, but like you said, every time we think something is unique, we find out it ain't. Our definition of life is going to turn out to be too narrow, eventually.
I expect we will find carbon based life, but since we have such variety between life on Earth odds are the Martian life will be something completely new. I mean the odds of finding this was decent being on the edge of an ancient riverbed, but still finding it with one small rover suggests that it might not be that uncommon!
Right now, conditions are not right for liquid water to exist on the surface of Mars. Atmospheric pressure is too low, water goes from ice directly to vapour with no liquid phase in between. "Life as we know it" requires liquid water as a medium. Possibly at the bottom of the deepest valleys on Mars or deep (like km) underneath the surface we might still find remnants of life.
What we will most likely find on Mars with our rovers is a history of life once existing. Life, from a billion years ago when it was warmer and wetter and plate tectonics still worked and essential chemicals weren't locked up in rocks.
Or even a few yards under the surface! As long as it was able to evolve into something that breaks down minerals and can produce energy without sunlight it just needs enough moisture and an energy source to reproduce.
It depends on time and distance. We may never find life, even if there's a lot of it out there. This would be the case even if we had a lot of time and the ability to travel fast, but it is especially unlikely if we destroy our our capacity for technology through, for example, climate change-induced societal collapse or nuclear war. And that's the road we're presently on.