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Mars Meteorite

Mars Meteorite. 28 September 2016. Quiz 1 results. Range: 11-100 Average: 71 Curve: A 80-100 B: 70-79 C: 60-69 D: 50-59

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Mars Meteorite

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  1. Mars Meteorite 28 September 2016

  2. Quiz 1 results • Range: 11-100 • Average: 71 • Curve: • A 80-100 • B: 70-79 • C: 60-69 • D: 50-59 • General advice: Write the answer to the question asked! Extra words and sentences can cost you if incorrect. Proofread and check your answer. Most of the correct answers were on the review sheet

  3. Meteorites from Moon, Mars • Found in Antarctica: It is easy there • More than 40 from Moon, more than a dozen from Mars • Igneous rocks (from molten material)… ages 0.2-1.3 billion years old • Trapped gases are the same as Mars atmosphere measured by Vikings • One found in 1984 may show evidence of life

  4. Pictured: An Ancient Martian?

  5. Meteorites from Mars ALH84001 Found in Antartica (in Allen Hills) in 1984 It was ejected from Mars about 17 million years ago and spent 11,000 years in or on the Antarctic ice sheets controversial: contamination? • Contains magnetite associated with certain microorganisms • But only 25% of the magnetite probably associated biologic activity • evidence of pre-terrestrial aqueous alteration • polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons • Structures resembling the mineralized casts of terrestrial bacteria but too small – nano-bacteria?

  6. Meteorites from Mars Nakhla (from Egypt desert)Contains polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons but probably contaminated controversial Yamato000593 (from YamatoGlacier, Antarctica) • formed about 1.3 billion years ago from a lava flow on Mars • contains evidence of past water alteration Did life on Earth come from Mars?

  7. But… • Non-biological explanations are possibel and not ruled out • Some veins require high temperature, not consistent with life (200- 500 C) • Fossil is too small, similar structures can form without life • Most scientists doubt that ALH84001 shows life • This may only be resolved by returned Mars samples

  8. Do we have a proof that life exists on Mars? • Do we have a proof that life does NOT exist on Mars? • Do we have a proof that life NEVER existed on Mars?

  9. What have we learned? • Old ideas that Mars had plants and inhabitants were disproved by the first space missions • Mars had much more liquid water in its past, but it is too cold for liquid water on the surface now • Mars may have water today, though minimal and very salty: frozen at poles, buried as permafrost; the rest lost to space • Viking experiments failed to detect life: positive results from chemistry, not biology; but only looked for Earth-like life • Curiosity finds methane variations, possible life indicator? • Martian meteorite probably does not show life • Follow the water!

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