Pondering life on Mars

Here is a nice article by Sir Patrick Moore that appeared in the New York Times online. He talks about how Mars, if we find evidence of life, will prove that life will exist in the universe when it can--assuming, as well, that Mars at some point has had suitable conditions for life. If we don't find life, we'll still be wondering. It's all pretty neat to think about. I'm not sure if people will be able to read the article unless they're subscribed, so in case you can't access it, here's an excerpt:

We may be virtually certain that many planets moving around other stars are similar to Earth in size and mass, and that many of their parent stars are of a solar type; after all, our Sun is a very ordinary star. It follows that in the galaxy there are vast numbers of planets that are suitable for life of the kind we can understand – that is to say, carbon-based life. (I do not propose here to discuss truly alien life-forms; that would lead into totally uncharted waters!) The vital question, then, is this: will life automatically appear upon a world where conditions are tolerable, and will it then develop as far as its environment permits? If we could find just one world that does support life, we would be entitled to claim that life must be widespread all over the universe. And to me, it seems that the clue may be given to us by our near neighbor, the red planet Mars.

(Sir Patrick Moore, "Is Life Elsewhere?" New York Times Online, March 25, 2007)

Mars over the centuries

Here is a short description of how Mars has been viewed by different cultures over the centuries. As one might expect, the planet Mars, due to its red color, has usually been connected with warriors and warfare. I think it would be interesting to study how much of this continuity is due to cultural dissemination and how many cultures arrived at this symbolism independently of each other.

Martian Literature

I found this interesting article about why we refer to "humans" and life on Mars as Martians while we do not do the same for Saturn (Saturnians). The obvious answer for this class would be "well duh, Saturn and Venus don't have atmospheres, they can't support life." You know, all the important stuff Bernie has taught us. But what about the people who don't know these things? Why does Mars provide such a great breeding ground for fiction? I like the quick over views of each novel or series and might even read some of them (if I ever get out of school and finally read for fun again).

Avatar Mars

Former video game heavy weights are set to develop a whole Mars based virtual environment through their company Avatar Reality. The company, led by Kazuyuki Hashimoto, former chief technical officer of Square and an ex vice president of technology at Electronic Arts tells reporters that unlike most of their former endeavors this is not a game. Participants will be able to explore the vast world in real time and interact with other "players" through personalized avatars. Also partnered with the company are former president of Nintendo of America Minoru Arakawa, and Alexey Pajitnov, the creator of Tetris.

For more information go to: www.avatar-reality.com

Mars in Popular Culture

Here is a nice overview from Science Friday about the prevalence of Mars in popular culture--in mythology, film, art, and literature. It does an especially good job of pointing out the evolution of cultural demonstrations of Mars over the decades, showing how as science progressed, people focused less on the possibility of aliens living on Mars.

First female in space craves Mars visit

The first ever female in space, Valentina Tereshkova, on her 70th birthday Tuesday told reporters of a wish to visit Mars. Tereshkova attained icon status and was an inspiration to women everywhere when, at 25 years of age in 1963, she spent 71 hours in the Earth's orbit. She went on to say that it is her biggest dream and always has been. She would even go if it meant never coming back. Although her return to space seems improbable, you can't blame a person for hanging tight to their dreams.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/03/07/first.female.cosmonaut.reut/index.html

Naming Mars

Today in class I was struck by the names given to different features like Eden and Utopia. I did a little searching around and found that the naming of Martian features is actually quite frustraing. Because the rovers Spirit and Opportunity are running longer than expected scientists have had a hard time keeping up with the data they collect and have started to name boulders after sushi and ice cream flavors. Here is a little blurb about the tast at hand.

cool video

As the Rosetta passed Mars on its recent swingby it took some cool shots. These were put into a video by the OSIRIS Team. The cool thing about the videos is that you can see Phobos' shadow in transit.

Virtual Mars Base

I recently visited a cool website called www.visitmarsnow.org. It is a website that recreates what a Mars Base would look like and consist of in the near future. There you can tour the whole base which includes a green house, rover, and a monument commemorating all of the nations involved in Mars exploration. Every single aspect of the base is covered, from the laboratory, galley, and even the bunk room. If you click on the base itself you can explore the inside and see what it looks like. It even highlights at least one key feature of that particular part of the base. Anyone interested in seeing what it would be like to live on Mars should definitely give this place a visit.

ode on a martian urn

Here is a rather gloomy poem about Mars as we currently know it thanks to modern science. It brings up the subject of time, leading one to wonder if there is nobody around to pass the time, is the time really there? I'm sure Liebniz or Einstein would have some input on that one, but it's neat to think about. I'm not sure I agree with the poet that there's "nothing to explore." Unless this is sort of a Schroedinger's cat situation--if there's nobody there to explore, is it really there? Hmmmmmmmmm. Does a rover count?

Mars as Art

I know I am always posting art related things but this is where my interests lie in regards to Mars. These are NASA sanctioned pictures of Mars, some of them are in false-color which makes for some pretty alien-like images. Others are tons of pictures mushed together to create what looks like a huge landscape. I think whole novels could be written with regard to these pictures, they're amazing! No wonder so many stores are written about this planet, there are so many ways these pictures could be interpreted. I for one want to believe the alien stories, but logic has to rear its ugly head. Anyways, I hope you enjoy looking at these pic.s and creating stories like I did!