Location
Radisson Resort at the Port, Convention Center, Jamaica Room
Start Date
2-5-2001 2:00 PM
Description
The discovery of organic material imbedded in the Martian Meteorite Alan Hills (AH) 84001 in 1996 changed science. Many people now consider the possibility that microbial life existed on or may still exist on the planet Mars. NASA, The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the European Space Agency (ESA) are considering packages and experiments for future Mars robotic missions to detect the presence of microbial life near the surface of Mars. We should pursue these worthy efforts. However, the surfaces of Mars and the Moon may very well hold evidence of life, both microbial and macroscopic, from Earth’s past. I will discuss how past meteor strikes causing large extinction events can positively affect today’s science.
Paper Session II-B - Lunar and Martian Paleontology
Radisson Resort at the Port, Convention Center, Jamaica Room
The discovery of organic material imbedded in the Martian Meteorite Alan Hills (AH) 84001 in 1996 changed science. Many people now consider the possibility that microbial life existed on or may still exist on the planet Mars. NASA, The Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), and the European Space Agency (ESA) are considering packages and experiments for future Mars robotic missions to detect the presence of microbial life near the surface of Mars. We should pursue these worthy efforts. However, the surfaces of Mars and the Moon may very well hold evidence of life, both microbial and macroscopic, from Earth’s past. I will discuss how past meteor strikes causing large extinction events can positively affect today’s science.
