ASTR 101 Chapter Notes - Chapter 2: Immunoassay, Microbiology, Peptidoglycan
5 Sep 2016
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Mars and earth have similar early history. 3. 5 billion years ago, mars was warmer, had liquid oceans, active magnetic field, and thicker atmosphere. Viking 1 and 2 were the only spacecraft thus far to search for life. Microbiologists have developed a cornucopia of tools for detecting microorganisms. Initial experiment: take scoop of soil, add carbon compounds as food for any microorganisms that might be in the soil. If existed, might expect them to consume food and release carbon dioxide. Viking missions saw this behaviour, but when combined with results of other experiments, was inconclusive. Second experiment: look for photosynthesis, but returned inconclusive results. Third experiment: add water into a soil sample. If life, would produce carbon dioxide, but produced oxygen. Final experiment: searched for organic compounds in the soil, but found none. Chemistry explained last two, but not first two experiments. Solution began to emerge after phoenix lander touched down in the northern polar region of mars.
