Amerikai Magyar Szó, 1976. július-december (30. évfolyam, 27-51. szám)
1976-08-19 / 32. szám
entists think it is not very likely. According to TRW, Inc., scientist Frederick S. Brown, who was in charge of building ' the biological package, a poll was taken of participating scientists. They.were asked what they felt was the chance of tion that life evolves of necessity when the right chemicals are present. “The search for life on Mars is like buying a ticket in a sweepstakes in which the chance of winning is low, but the By Wil Kälber prize to be won is very high,” is how Caltech biologist Norman Horowitz puts it. Should life be detected, it will support growing speculation life evolves of necessity when the right chemicals are present. “The question we are asking is the question of the oneness of terrestrial life and the possible multiplicity of living beings, rather than just: ‘Wouldn’t it be nice if we found something out there,’ ” says Dr. Soffen. Should it turn out Mars is uninhabited, this also would be important and interesting, the biologists maintain. By comparing conditions on Earth and Mars, it may be possible to gamer clues about why life evolved on the one but not the other. Studying a lifeless Mars might also give needed insight into the role life plays in maintaining Earth's atmosphere. A fashionable theory, the Gaia hypothesis, holds that the activity of living things stabilizes the Earth's atmosphere and climate. If this is the case, then cutting down the world’s forests and other similar activities are likely to have unfavorable climatic effects. Studying Mars could test this hypothesis, project scientists feel. Unanswered question It is unlikely that Viking - as sophisticated at it is - will give the final answer to the question of life on Mars, however. “Whatever we* get, there’s going to be a raging controversy,” foresees Harold Klein, the space-agency scientist who heads up the biological experiments. “The experiments might show up negative, while organisms are placidly munching on the zirconium paint on the outside of the lander,” says Dr. Sagan. Although the search for alien life is in the limelight, the Viking mission contains an ambitious complement of other scientific investigations. Mars is a world of marvels. It holds a volcano the size of Missouri and a “Grand Canyon” which would stretch all the way across the United States. Although Mars is exceedingly dry, its surface is laced with thousands of winding channels which leading scientists feel could only have been cut by wet, flowing water. But except in the deepest canyons, water would evaporate away (due to low atmospheric pressures) if it was not frozen or absorbed by the dry soil first. . Where is the water? The most likely explanation for the channels is that sometime in the past Mars had a thicker atmosphere and flowing water. If so, Mars might be in the midst of an “ice age” far more severe than any which have ravaged earth. But ice ages end. An Earth in disguise? “Might we be able at some future time to prod Mars into returning to its pleasant past environment and - if there is no indigenous life - hosting immigrants from the distant planet Earth?” Dr. Sagan speculates. If the ice age theory is correct, then the stuff which makes up the Martian atmosphere during its “earthlike” periods must be hidden somewhere. As the two landers search for life, the orbiters which accompany them will be searching for clues. One place they will look is the polar caps - attempting to measure and classify the material locked away there. Over the last decade, geology has been revolutionized, and the basic principles of how the Earth’s crust moves - and how this causes earthquakes, mountains, and Volcanoes - have been worked out. Study of another geologically active planet may help refine this new insight, Vikipg geolo gists feel. Its giant volcano - Nix Olympica - and the tremendous rift system suggest Mars may be going through an early stage of geological evolution similar to what happened on Earth billions of years ago. The Viking landers are equipped -with sensitive seismometers to record earthquakes and to determine whether the interior of Mars is similar to that of Earth “To really understand Earth, we need to know what happens on other planets. The solar system is the key to Earth,” says Harvard professor Richard Goody. Thursday, Aug. 19. 1976. ___________________________ óhaza ____________7 NASA photo cap« of Viking In orbit with lllo-aearch lander and diacarded capsule on surface
