Should we just try and put life on Mars?

Question

With all of the missions going to Mars, shouldn't we just put a few seeds or plants into one of them and see what happens when they get there. They might just die or they might flourish, but at least we'd know if Mars really could sustain life...

Answer 1

Ya except if we put life there now and it turns out there already was some than Earth's more complex life would eradicate it and mankind would have murdered the only other life we have ever found... that wouldn't be starting our journey to space on a good note would it.

Plus, liquid water cannot exist on the Martian surface and most life on Earth requires liquid water to reproduce. First Mars needs to be warmed just a little to let the equator sustain liquid water for a few months of the year. Then genetically engineered algea could be brought there where they will reproduce through Mars's warmer "growing seasons" and laying dormant for the freezing parts of the year. Hopefully by this point we would have warmed Mars up enough to melt the carbon dioxide ice caps and thicken the atmosphere and warm it up some for the agea to flourish further. After quite awhile the planet will be warm enough in some regions for larger plantae like trees... thats when the REAL oxygen production begins. Flash forward a few hundred years and you've got a cozy New Earth.... can't just through seeds at Mars just yet =)

Answer 2

There are already microbe cultures living on mars.  They stowed away on the first mars lander Viking 1.

We should plant a variety of different seeds to see which ones can survive longest, perhaps even build a foodchain.

I bet cockroaches could live on mars.

Answer 3

Nooooo were already s******g up our planed you s***w the moon up!

Answer 4

Not yet. We don't want to contaminate anything that may be there that we don't know about. Sending something foreign to another planet will kill any life or whatever there.

Answer 5

great subject. thats why we are going to explore it. life needs certain factors to survive. I believe humans have come from Mars. really. its known to have once sustained life. what happened probably will happen here one day and we will need to go elsewhere. space missions are trying for this it seems. at the proper time in history we will try this experiment. would you go?

Answer 6

Im suprised they havent built a moon base yet.

But seeds on mars sounds a good start.

Answer 7

Its important initially to keep Mars free from plants ,germs, bacteria, etc so that it can be completely studied WITHOUT interference from Earth bound life. Otherwise we can't be sure which came from Earth, and what is natural on Mars.

After making these determinations, then we can and will experiment with possible cultivation.

Answer 8

For those worrying about contaminating Mars, its too late!

Mars already has organic material originating from Earth.

Over the last couple of billion years Earth has been bombarded with meteors (some of them big ones) and organic matter has been ejected into space. Some of it will have found its way to our near neighbours, including Mars.

Scientists will eventually find organic material on Mars. Initially it will be hailed as evidence of life on Mars, and then analysis will show where it came from.

Answer 9

natural habitat? What natural habitat? There is nothing but rocks and possibly ice. If humans can start terraforming we should. We cant destroy a planet that is already dead.... duh!

Answer 10

No.  It'd completely s***w up attempts to identify whether Mars already has living organisms.  That possibility hasn't been ruled out.

Answer 11

No.  Although Mars may once have been able to sustain life (we don't have enough evidence to judge either way on that one), it is a completely hostile environment now.  You couldn't grow anything in Martian dirt.  Soil as we know it on Earth is actually a complex mix already full of microscopic life, which is essential for plants to grow in it.  Not to mention radiatiation, extreme cold etc.  I'm not sure you could even get enough CO2 out of the thin Martian atmosphere for a plant to breathe.

If you wanted to seed life on Mars, you would need to start with microscopic life specially adapted (or genetically tailored) to survive in extreme conditions.

Answer 12

It's not very likely that Mars could sustain any life as we know it, for now. There is enough sunlight to power photosynthesis, and gravity isn't an issue, but lack of liquid water is. Still, there may be microbes in underground ice layers, in conditions only slightly more extreme than the most extreme found on Earth.

With more air pressure on Mars, and higher temperatures, then there would be a chance for some hardy plants to actually survive, but to achieve that, we need to begin actively terraforming Mars.

This is rather a large ethical question, as well as a logistical problem. Right now, it is easy to simply say that it is wrong to wantonly destroy an entire planet's natural habitat merely to open it up to human colonization and development. I mean, we're pretty close to destroying this planet, so why do we have the right to destroy another one too?

But in 50 or 100 years, with new technologies, and billions more people alive (provided we haven't already killed ourselves off), the colonization of Mars will be more feasible, and once humans are living on Mars, then it is inevitable that the original habitat will be affected and finally co-opted by an ecosystem more suited to humans.

So, in answer to the original question, no, we shouldn't try to put life on Mars until, and unless, the humans living there need it to help them survive.

Answer 13

good idea,but you most convince the NASA scientists too...

Answer 14

It would never work.

1. The soil on mars is sterile. Between unobstructed UV and the peroxides in the soil nothing could even take root. And lets not forget the obvious...lack of liquid water.

2. Its very cold. But even if we tried to shield them, the above problem would negate any benefit of a controlled environment.

So, you have to ask the question, what are the opportunity costs associated with terraforming Mars. At this time I don't see it as practical. Someone else may disagree...