Arthropods on Mars?

As presented in this report numerous fossils like forms resembling a variety of marine arthropods including crustaceans, sea spiders, scorpions, arachnids, nematodes, annelids, tube worms, sea snakes, Kimberlla, Namacalathus, Lophotrochozoa, armored trilobites and millipedes have been found in Gale Crater (on Sols 302, 553, 753, 781, 809, 869, 880, 905, 1032), and Meridiani Planum both of which have hosted rivers, lakes, and inland seas. Similar specimens are mixed within a variety of divergent fossillike forms and are also found on distant sediment and mud stone. All specimens are distinct from underlying substrate and there are no obvious patterns or repetitions typically produced by erosion or weathering. Although without extraction and direct examination it is impossible to precisely determine the identity of all these specimens, the same problems bedevil identification of Burgess Shale fossils some of which are presented in this report for comparative analysis. The discoveries presented here and in other reports supports the theory that metazoans and other marine organisms evolved in the lakes, oceans and inland seas of Mars

Evidence of Life on Mars?

Evidence is reviewed which supports the hypothesis that prokaryotes and eukaryotes may have colonized Mars. One source of Martian life, is Earth. A variety of species remain viable after long term exposure to the radiation intense environment of space, and may survive ejection from Earth following meteor strikes, ejection from the stratosphere and mesosphere via solar winds, and sterilization of Mars-bound spacecraft; whereas simulations studies have shown that prokaryotes, fungi and lichens survive in simulated Martian environments--findings which support the hypothesis life may have been repeatedly transferred from Earth to Mars. Four independent investigators have reported what appears to be fungi and lichens on the Martian surface, whereas a fifth investigator reported what may be cyanobacteria. In another study, a statistically significant majority of 70 experts, after examining Martian specimens photographed by NASA, identified and agreed fungi, basidiomycota (“puffballs”), and lichens may have colonized Mars. Fifteen specimens resembling and identified as "puffballs" were photographed emerging from the ground over a three day period. It is possible these latter specimens are hematite and what appears to be “growth” is due to a strong wind which uncovered these specimens--an explanation which cannot account for before and after photos of what appears to be masses of fungi growing atop and within the Mars rovers. Terrestrial hematite is in part fashioned and cemented together by prokaryotes and fungi, and thus Martian hematite may also be evidence of biology. Three independent research teams have identified sediments on Mars resembling stromatolites and outcroppings having micro meso and macro characteristics typical of terrestrial microbialites constructed by cyanobacteria. Quantitative morphological analysis determined these latter specimens are statistically and physically similar to terrestrial stromatolites. Reports of water, biological residue discovered in Martian meteor ALH84001, the seasonal waning and waxing of atmospheric and ground level Martian methane which on Earth is 90% due to biology and plant growth and decay, and results from the 1976 Mars Viking Labeled Release Experiments indicating biological activity, also support the hypothesis that Mars was, and is, a living planet. Nevertheless, much of the evidence remains circumstantial and unverified, and the possibility of life on Mars remains an open question. (4) (PDF) Evidence of Life on Mars?. Available from: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331792376_Evidence_of_Life_on_Mars [accessed Jul 05 2020]