Scientists '99 percent' certain they have found life on Mars

By Marshall Connolly (Catholic Online)
4/15/2012
Catholic Online (www.catholic.org)

Reevaluation of Viking 2 data reveals evidence of microbial life.

An international team of scientists says they have found evidence for life on Mars by re-reviewing results from the 1976 Viking 2 experiments. According to the scientists, a mathematical second look at the data reveals the presence of microbial life on the red planet.

A an image of Mars taken from the Viking 2 Lander in 1976.

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LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - A primary mission for the 1976 Viking 2 Lander was to search for evidence of life on Mars. Viking 2 used a scoop to obtain soil samples that were subjected to various radiological and chemical tests to find evidence for microbial activity in the soil. According to NASA scientists, the tests all showed negative results.

However, armed with new understandings, scientists have been challenging these results as they reexamine the original data. Now, according to a paper published by an international team of scientists and mathematicians, they believe the evidence in favor of life is substantial.

How substantial? About 99 percent.

Joseph Miller, biologist from the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine said, "On the basis of what we've done so far, I'd say I'm 99 percent sure there's life there."

This a bold statement for any scientist, and a bolder conclusion still for a team of them.

The new study evaluated the original data, but with a different mathematical perspective. Researchers say the original results were declared negative because scientists did not yet understand some of the complex chemical processes that were occurring. However, with new understandings available, they believe the original results match similar experiments done on Earth that show positive.

Planetary scientist Christopher McKay from NASA's Ames Research Center said, "Contrary to 30 years of perceived wisdom, Viking did detect organic materials on Mars. It's like a 30-year-old cold case suddenly solved with new facts."

Critics of course, warn the results are preliminary and that it is premature to make any formal announcement. However, the team's findings have been published in the International Journal of Aeronautical and Space Sciences.

They also caution that evidence of organics is not evidence for life, but the results of the new study suggest there was more activity in the soil than the mere presence of organics. Organics in this case are carbon-based molecules that form the basis of all life as we know it.

With the new research published, other scientists will have an opportunity to pick it apart and validate the integrity of the research. If they find the research methods to be sound, it will probably provoke another follow-up mission to Mars that will be designed to specifically answer the question once and for all.

However, even in the best case, that mission will be several years in the planning and likely take a year of travel to reach Mars. In that case, final word on the question may still be a decade away.

� 2012, Catholic Online. Distributed by NEWS CONSORTIUM.

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Pope Benedict XVI's Prayer Intentions for January 2013
General Intention: The Faith of Christians. That in this Year of Faith Christians may deepen their knowledge of the mystery of Christ and witness joyfully to the gift of faith in him.
Missionary Intention: Middle Eastern Christians. That the Christian communities of the Middle East, often discriminated against, may receive from the Holy Spirit the strength of fidelity and perseverance.

Keywords: Viking 2, Mars, life, red planet, evidence, research, study, data, NASA, Ames Research Center, USC

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1 - 6 of 6 Comments

john
1 year ago
Ooops...they made a mistake..it turned out not to be life on Mars..it was just a human fetus..nevermind people.If they can recognize a frozen ameba on some distant planet as life..how is it that they can't define life in the womb?Just asking.
Juneau Alaska
1 year ago
michael,

Your post about the "history of science" is wonderful to read. Individuals who share your belief need to speak out more loudly. Please gather at rallys, and write to your local papers.

Let your true thoughts be known and tell everyone you are Catholic too!

Mike
DarthJ
1 year ago
What rubbish. They seek that which they will never find. For Traditional Catholic cosmology, refer to the Kolbe Center for the Study of Creation.
mikem
1 year ago
in 1976, President Ford did not want the BiCentennial celebration which was planned for all over the USA to be ruined by the Viking craft finding life on Mars...so he ordered it to dig no more than a few inches deep into the Martian soil. It was built to dig 3 feet deep! The soil on Mars is irradiated by UV rays from the Sun, so that ALL organic molecules are broken apart, down to at least 18 inches deep. So, I am skeptical of this article right off the bat.
Viking was a great craft...designed to actually find LIFE. Nothing like it has been sent to Mars since. We have looked for signs of water. We have looked for "organics", i.e. carbon based molecules...but not LIFE. Even the new rover that will land on August 6th is not designed to find life...only the environmental suitability for life. Duh. When India sent its first space craft to the MOON, it found water in the soil. It looked for water and found it. We should look for life on Mars. Simple. It's stupid that we don't. How stupid?
billions of dollars....the fundamental Christians in NASA are choking it....they want Earth to be the only repository of life.
michael
1 year ago
Looks like these scientists are looking for more funding. The history of science is a history of funerals...burying one false theory after another. I struggle to see why science remains such an idol for modern men considering its failures. If science only united with the Catholic Faith, we could have true knowledge offered to all.
abey
1 year ago
Carbon based molecules are a structure to the life but not the life itself. Life & what causes it is unknown to science. The problem with today's scientist is that they try to explain anything & everything away, ignorant or not understanding the Biblical truth of "The Spirit" as the basis of life to which they know nothing & till this fundamental truth is understood at least to some extent Science can said to be chasing a delusion like the search for the so called god particle, but then they do have to keep their speculations alive, to secure funds & so it waits to be seen whether the search for life on Mars would turn to 100 from 99 or to 0. Pessimism does appear when an untruth is known, seen or even felt.

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