NASA Rewrites Viking History – Find Mars Soil In Chile

9 Responses to NASA Rewrites Viking History – Find Mars Soil In Chile

1. Baa Humbug says:

   January 8, 2011 at 6:04 am

   Well I just fired up Google Mars and took a quick look around. Nope, no life.

   Reply
2. suyts says:

   January 8, 2011 at 7:18 am

   Err, that’s nice, now why don’t we try the experiment on real Mars soil. It might be a bit more convincing.

   I ran a test on the water in my bathtub, nope, water on earth isn’t suitable for sea life.

   Reply
3. K says:

   January 8, 2011 at 7:40 am

   NASA should start writing papers on the research they really excel at, public relations and self promotion.

   Reply
   • stevengoddard says:

     January 8, 2011 at 7:41 am

     You forgot Islamic relations.

     Reply
     • BioBob says:

       January 8, 2011 at 8:36 am

       I didn’t think they were good at it, though.

       Reply
4. omnologos says:

   January 8, 2011 at 9:43 am

   A decades-long consensus shattered by a single experiment? Please don’t say…

   Reply
   • Mike Davis says:

     January 8, 2011 at 1:15 pm

     By a virtual experiment at that! They were experimenting on “Similar” soil! They also used equipment that was not available for the first test on Mars.

     Reply
5. Philip Finck says:

   January 8, 2011 at 2:16 pm

   If they found evidence of organics in the soil on Mars then that means there was/is life of some sort on Mars.

   That is something interesting for a change coming from NASA.

   Actually, I expect that there are a lot of good people at NASA. But just like any organization there are also a lot of total dolts but you often only hear from the as* holes.

   Reply
6. Curious says:

   January 8, 2011 at 4:42 pm

   http://www.gillevin.com/mars.htm

   RESEARCH ON MARS – Papers by Gilbert V. Levin, Ph.D.

   In 1952, Dr. Gilbert V. Levin invented a rapid, highly sensitive method to detect microbial contamination of water and food. In 1958, he obtained a NASA contract to develop the method to seek extraterrestrial life. The method was selected in 1969 for use on NASA’s 1976 Viking Mission to Mars. Originally named “Gulliver,” for the Lilliputians (microorganisms) it was seeking, it was renamed the “Labeled Release (LR)” experiment by NASA to indicate the technology used – the release of radioactive gas from radio-labeled compounds in the event they were metabolized by microorganisms in the Martian soil. Simply put, the LR squirted a drop of carefully designed radioactive food onto a tiny cup of Martian soil and monitored the air above the soil to detect radioactive gas that any microorganisms present might breathe out. Levin and his co-workers, notably Dr. Patricia Ann Straat, then spent the next decade developing the experiment and instrument, and in analyzing the results obtained from its successful operation on Mars. At both landing sites, some 4,000 miles apart, the LR returned evidence of living microorganisms. Initially discounted by NASA and most space scientists, the results of this milestone project have, nonetheless, been causing excitement and controversy ever since. In 1997, after 21 years of study of the Mars LR results, of new information scientists obtained about environmental conditions on Mars, and of the extreme environments in which life was found on Earth, Dr. Levin published his conclusion that the LR had, indeed, discovered living microorganisms on the Red Planet.

   Levin first presented his conclusion in an invited talk at the Annual Meeting of the International Society for Optical Engineering (SPIE) on July 30, 1997, in San Diego. On July 20, 1998, he presented another paper with new findings supporting that conclusion. Many attempts have been made since then by other authors to explain the Mars LR results as having been caused by chemical or physical reactions between the LR nutrients and the soil. No one, however, has duplicated the full experimental results the LR obtained on Mars. In recent years, there have been many important converts to the life theory, possibly the fore-runner of a major paradigm shift in humanity’s continual search for its place in the universe.

   Below are his publications related to Mars. They are presented in chronological order, from the early up to the latest scientific findings by him and others related to this intriguing issue, the resolution of which, as termed by NASA, would be “the greatest experiment in the history of science.”

   GILBERT LEVIN, Ph.D.

   Evolution and Life: Surviving Catastrophes and Extremes on Earth and Beyond, G. V. Levin, Astrobiology Science Conference 2010, April 26–29, 2010

   Extant Life on Mars: Resolving the Issues, G. V. Levin, J. of Cosmology, 5, 920-929, 2010.

   Methane and Life on Mars, G. V. Levin and P. A. Straat, Instruments, Methods and Missions for Astrobiology and Planetary Missions XII, RB Hoover, GV Levin, AY Rozanov, and KD Retherford, eds., SPIE Proceedings, vol. 7441, invited paper, no. 744110D, Aug. 5, 2009.

   Stereo-Specific Glucose Consumption May Be Used to Distinguish Between Chemical and Biological Reactivity on Mars: A Preliminary Test on Earth, comment, G. V. Levin, ASTROBIOLOGY, Volume 9, Number 5, 2009 (w response)

   The Revival Of Life On Mars, G. V. Levin, Instruments, Methods and Missions for Astrobiology X, eds. RB Hoover, GV Levin, AY Rozanov, and PCW Davies, SPIE Proceedings, 6694, paper number 6694-21, August 29, 2007.

   Analysis of evidence of Mars life, G. V. Levin, The Carnegie Institution Geological Laboratory Seminar, May 14, 2007.

   Possible Evidence for Panspermia: the Labeled Release Experiment, G. V. Levin, International Journal of Astrobiology, 6, 2, 95-108, 2007.

   Detecting Life and Biology-Related Parameters on Mars, GV Levin, JD Miller, PA Straat, RA Lodder, RB Hoover, IEEE Aerospace Conference, vol. 1, 2007.

   Modern myths of Mars, Instruments, Methods and Missions for Astrobiology, eds. RB Hoover, GV Levin and AY Rozanov, SPIE Proceedings, 6309, 6309OC-1 – 6309OC-15, September 1, 2006.

   Mars life – how Darwinian pressures might have shaped its form and function, Instruments, Methods, and Missions for Astrobiology, SPIE Proceedings, 5906, OD1-10, August 2005.

   [and some 60 more]

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