The dilemma of whether there is life on Mars impacts on the method used for sampling. The NASA Mars Sample Return Mission should be used to resolve the problems

Levin, Gilbert V.

English

NASA Technical Reports Server

N@# = 1833 1 THE LIFE ON MARS DILEMMA AND THE SAMPLE RETURN S ON 
Levin, Gilbert V., Biospherics Incorporated 
109 
It has now been established (1-10) that: 1. the amount of water on 
Mars far exceeds initial estimates with liquid water detected within meters 
of the Mars surface, 2. for at least a billion years large quantities of 
water flowed on Mars, 3 .  Mars environmental conditions then were such that 
life might have developed as it did under similar conditions on Earth, and 
4. a wide variety of life forms has been found in the most Mars-like 
environments on Earth. There is an emerging consensus from the 
NASA-oriented science community concerning the likelihood that life 
developed on early Mars. Many scientists, including some of the authors 
just cited, now propose to make the search for fossils an important part of 
the Mars Sample Return Mission. However, no one of them mentions the 
possibility of encountering livinq organisms. These scientists hypothesize 
that a catastrophic loss of much of the atmosphere on Mars with consequent 
cooling and loss of liquid water ended the red planet's experiment with 
life. They believe the changes exceeded life's ability to adapt, but that 
such events on Earth, while also drastic, did not. No basis for such a fine 
distinction currently exists. Indeed, scientific developments trend 
contrariwise. Life has been found within rocks, within permafrost, and on 
the dark floors of permanently ice-covered lakes in the Antarctic. 
Heretofore unknown life forms have been reported in other extreme 
environments thought uninhabitable. That extant terrestrial bionts many 
possess, if not in a single organism, all the characteristics necessary for 
survival on present-day Mars cautions against accepting this arbitrarily 
imposed limit on evolution with its far-reaching consequences. The dilemma 
thus created, that life on Earth evolved to survive, but that life on Mars 
did not argues against a long sought General Theory of Biology. 
Furthermore, the Viking Mission legacy exacerbates the dilemma. None 
of the efforts made by the numerous investigators attempting to explain away 
the positive findings of the Viking Labeled Release (LR) life detection 
experiment on Mars has proven scientifically acceptable (11). The primary 
Viking Mission objective, to determine whether life exists on Mars, remains 
unresolved. The LR Mars data more than satisfied the pre-launch criteria 
(12,) for a positive finding (13). However, the Viking gas chromatograph 
mass spectrometer (GCMS) reported (14) no organics in the Mars "soil". This 
finding was generally accepted by the scientific community as a bar to life 
on Mars. Later, however, it was revealed (15) that an Antarctic soil gave a 
positive LR response while the GCMS failed to detect any organic matter in 
the soil which, by wet chemical methods, was found to contain 0.3 percent 
organic carbon. These results make it possible to accomodate the Mars LR and 
GCMS data with the presence of living organisms. 
Specific criteria (10) have now been proposed to detect fossils on Mars 
through imaging. A study of Viking Lander images (16) made to seek visual 
evidence to confirm the LR data, found colored patterns on rocks satisfing 
these criteria. Furthermore, lapse-time studies of these images over one 
and two-year periods indicate possible changes in the patterns. 
The NASA Mars Sample Return Mission would be vitally affected by the 
presence of life on Mars. However, no experiments are presently planned to 
seek living organisms in the Mars "soil" or to protect humans exposed. The 
extensive studies (17, for example) of the problems of viable sample 
integrity and human safety have been set aside on the unwarranted assumption 
that Viking had demonstrated the sterility of Mars. 
https://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=19890008960 2020-03-20T04:07:50+00:00Z
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THE LIFE ON MARS D I L W  
Levin, 'G.V. 
110 
At a recent satellite workshop (181, in which US and USSR scientists 
compared objectives for exploring Mars, polarized views evolved. The US 
scientists discussed their plans to look only for fossil evidence of extinct 
life on Mars. The USSR scientists countered vigorously that they will look 
for living organisms on Mars. 
A major objective of the Mars Sample Return Mission shou1.d be the 
resolution of the life problem. A method for doing this is proposed. It 
follows the time-tested scientific axiom of elaborating on productive 
investigations. Even if the active agent producing the LR response on Mars 
is nonbiological, the reactivity of the Mars surface material is of 
extraordinary interest. It's elucidation should be of high priority. The 
new Mars lander, therefore, should seek to verify the LR experiment, and 
then expand the technology to explain the reaction. A simple way that might 
determine whether the reaction is one of living organisms would be to supply 
the LR nutrients, including the L- and D-isomers, separately. A response 
from only isomer but not its enantiomer would essentially prove the presence 
of life. If life is found, important biochemical information could be 
obtained. Atmospheric composition, temperature, pH, water content and the 
like could be controlled and measured for this purpose. 
The sample size required for all phases of this study would be aliquots 
of one cc for a total not exceeding 100 cc. A return to the Viking landing 
sites might be desirable for replication. However, should the response be 
attributable to living organism, they are probably pervasive on Mars as on 
Earth and sites might be selected to accommodate other scientific objectives 
as well. In addition to testing surface samples, as was the case with 
Viking, attempts should be made to obtain deep-hole samples from 
environments possibly similar to those unexpectedly found to support life in 
the Antarctic. 
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Fanale, F.P., Op. Cit. 1. 
Space Life Sciences Symp. Proceedinqs, (in press) June 21-26, 1987. 
Des Marais, D., Op. Cit. 6. 
Owen, T., OP. Cit. 6. 
Wharton, R. and McKay, C., Op. Cit. 6. 
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Levin, G.V., (1972) Icarus, 16, 153. 
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The life on Mars dilemma and the sample return mission

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