- Dr. Gilbert V. Levin, Mars Viking Experimenter,
today reported on his study that water exists on the red planet's surface
in sufficient amounts to sustain microbial life. His *findings (link to
full published paper - Stig) were presented to the Annual Meeting of the
Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE) in San Diego.
Dr. Levin, President of Biospherics in Beltsville, Maryland, shared authorship
with his son, Dr. Ron Levin, physicist at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in
Boston. The importance of the study, Dr. Gilbert Levin said, is that it
clinches the case that his Viking LR experiment found life on Mars in 1976,
a conclusion that he announced in 1997.
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- In recent years, all arguments against
the LR experiment had been eliminated except the claim that there was no
life-requiring liquid water on the surface of the red planet. Last February,
in discussing Mars against the background of startling new findings of
life in hostile Earth environments, Dr. Wesley Huntress, NASA's Associate
Administrator for Space Science, said: "We used to think that life
was fragile, but wherever liquid water and chemical energy are found, there
is life. There is no exception. Life may be a cosmic imperative."
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- Dr. Levin described a dynamic daily cycle
on Mars in which the extreme cold of the Martian atmosphere greatly restricts
its ability to hold water vapor. Thus, the scant water vapor on Mars is
forced down to the surface, where it is deposited in frozen form. As the
sun rises, the ice melts, but its evaporation is restricted by the low
vapor capacity of the overlying cold atmosphere. Levin cited Pathfinder's
results to show that the atmosphere immediately above the surface warms
considerably, equaling a spring day on Earth, but, just a couple of feet
above the surface, temperatures are sub-freezing. The warmed surface layer
of air absorbs water vapor until saturated. No more water can then evaporate
from the surface, and the ice remaining there melts into liquid water.
As the sun mounts, the temperature of the atmosphere above the surface
warms sufficiently to permit any remaining water and ice to evaporate.
However, during this daily cycle, the soil has been moistened with enough
water to sustain microorganisms.
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- Dr. Levin explained: "Based on Viking
and Pathfinder data, and consistent with the principles of thermodynamics
of the triple point of water, a model has been created for a diurnal water
cycle on Mars. The model predicts the presence of several tenths of a percent
to one percent water moisture in the topmost layer of the surface material
over large regions of Mars. Images taken by the Viking Lander cameras show
nightly deposits of surface water frost, even snow, verifying the prediction
of the model. Terrestrial experiments in natural environments, including
the Death Valley sand dunes of California, demonstrated that the amount
of soil water moisture predicted by the model is sufficient to sustain
survival and growth of common soil microorganisms." Levin states:
"This model removes the final constraint preventing acceptance of
the biological interpretation of the Viking LR Mars data as having detected
living microorganisms in the soil of Mars. It comes at a time when a growing
body of evidence from the Earth and space are supporting the presence of
life not only on Mars, but on many celestial bodies." As a result,
Levin pressed for early Mars biology missions, none of which is currently
planned by NASA, to verify and study life forms, and for caution in current
plans for returning a Mars sample to Earth.
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- Under its motto, "Technologies for
Information and Health," Biospherics' mission is to provide guidance
and products to improve the quality of life. In addition to its BioTechnology
unit, the Company offers telecommunications and database management information,
and proprietary environmental, food and medical innovations.
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- Our Internet address is: http://www.biospherics.com.
Copyright © 1998 Biospherics Inc.
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