Autotrophy on Mars (4): What Next?
Posted inAstrobiology Life on Mars Mars

Autotrophy on Mars (4): What Next?

What should we do with a 50-year-old life-detection experiment whose signal was real, but whose interpretation remains tangled in false positives, false negatives, and missing follow-up work? This article lays out the unresolved weaknesses in Viking’s HHH carbon-fixation results, then turns the problem into a set of concrete astrobiology challenges—suggesting how Earth-based tests and a modern IMPRESS-style instrument could finally clarify whether Mars once gave us a genuine sign of autotrophic life.
Posted inAstrobiology, Life on Mars, MarsNo Comments
Viking Experiments on Mars: Fixing a Half Century of Mistakes
Posted inAstrobiology Life Life on Mars Mars NASA

Viking Experiments on Mars: Fixing a Half Century of Mistakes

Half a century ago, Viking delivered evidence suggesting metabolically active life on Mars, but its legacy was derailed by a mistaken GC–MS interpretation that shaped Mars exploration for decades. This is the firsts article in a series that reexamines Viking’s experiments and results from primary data, shows how they were (mis)interpreted, and that suggests life-finding strategies.
Posted inAstrobiology, Life, Life on Mars, Mars, NASANo Comments
Ribonucleic acid is formed by percolating ribonucleoside triphosphates through basalt glass
Posted inLife on Mars Origin of Life Single Scoops

Ribonucleic acid is formed by percolating ribonucleoside triphosphates through basalt glass

This simple reaction is the last step in a modeled "discontinuous" process that moves from sulfite- and borate-stabilized carbohydrates, a post-impact atmosphere, and rock species delivered from basalt glass, all of the way to what might be the process forming what might have been the first genetic molecules on Earth ... and Mars.
Posted inLife on Mars, Origin of Life, Single Scoops1 Comment