NASA – The Primordial Scoop

Spacek vs. Benner: Thanksgiving showdown about life on Mars

A heated debate between Steven Benner and Jan Spacek, discussing life on Mars, its metabolism, and utility of a Steven's model of Martian metabolism.

By admin November 23, 2023Life, Life on Mars, Mars, NASA1 Comment

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A way forward for NASA astrobiology

Last week at the Mars Society Convention I had an opportunity to talk to fellow astrobiologists, leaders of NASA Mars Exploration Program, and concerned public. Here are my thoughts.

By Jan Spacek October 12, 2023Astrobiology, Life, Life on Mars, Mars, NASANo Comments

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The Mars’ magnetic shield would not work

Contrary to the popular belief, the magnetic shield would have a negligible effect on regeneration of Martian atmosphere.

By admin November 14, 2022Mars, NASA, Single ScoopsNo Comments

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How to Search for Life on Mars

This post provides additional discussion and references for How to Search for Life on Mars (Robert Zubrin, Steven Benner, and Jan Spacek, submitted to Scientific American)

By admin April 21, 2022Astrobiology, Life on Mars, NASANo Comments

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NASA Headquarters Misses the Ball. Polyelectrolytes as the Key to Agnostic Life Finding

Synthetic biology, 20 years ago, taught NASA how to search generally, agnostically, and universally for alien life. NASA still does not understand the opportunity

By Steven A. Benner April 16, 2022Life, Life on Mars, NASA, Synthetic BiologyNo Comments

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Is ignorance bliss? NASA’s NfoLD Workshop

Cite as: Benner, S. A. (2022) "Is ignorance bliss? NASA’s NfoLD Workshop". Primordial Scoop, e20220403. https://doi.org/10.52400/TMUG1175 One approach to find new ways to solve an old problem begins by throwing…

By Steven A. Benner April 3, 2022Astrobiology, NASANo Comments

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2022 State of NASA Address: Astrobiology at NASA no longer looks for life on Mars

NASA gave up on looking for life on Mars, while planning to irreversibly biologically contaminate its surface. It is now up to private philanthropists to support life searching missions, while Mars is still biologically pristine. We know how to do it.

By Jan Spacek April 1, 2022Astrobiology, Life, NASA1 Comment

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Science traceability matrices. Organized thinking, or organized biases?

NASA's workshop this week seeks to use STMs to speed the creation of new ideas to guide missions to detect life in the Solar System. But do STMs simply provide a veneer of respectability to old ideas, blocking the emergence of the new?

By Steven A. Benner March 25, 2022Astrobiology, NASANo Comments

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Is NASA making itself irrelevant to the search for life in the cosmos?

NASA holds this week a workshop to consider looking (again) for existing life on Mars … but only 20 years from now. By then, humans may have been on Mars for a decade, thanks to Elon Musk, or (maybe) someone less interested in planetary protection. Thus, in 2042, detecting indigenous Martian life will likely be much more difficult. NASA will be too late.

By Steven A. Benner March 23, 2022Astrobiology, NASANo Comments

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Culture, Consensus, and Why NASA Committees Write Things That Are Not True

Science begins when individuals challenges the consensus. Unfortunately, NASA committees are likely to throw such individuals to the sharks.

By Steven A. Benner November 2, 2021Astrobiology, NASA, Single Scoops4 Comments