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In order for us to prove that Mars was habitable, we need to find traces of actual past life.
zilebeliveunknown
reply to post by wildespace
I think we have the latest results from Curiosity to thank for that. Data from Curiosity shows signs of a habitable environment: neutral liquid water and a plethora of organics and other compounds.
In order for us to prove that Mars was habitable, we need to find traces of actual past life.
What we learned with Curiosity is that Mars had all the necessary ingredients for life to existed, but we didn't find actual traces of past life there.edit on 16-2-2014 by zilebeliveunknown because: (no reason given)
A habitat is an ecological or environmental area that is inhabited by a particular species of animal, plant, or other type of organism. It is the natural environment in which an organism lives, or the physical environment that surrounds a species population.
Wiki
Just because a planet was or is habitable doesn't mean that it is/was habitated (sp)
zilebeliveunknown
reply to post by schuyler
The only real question in this thread is why you insist on interpreting a clear mission statement to determine whether Mars EVER WAS habitable into the idea that it IS habitable.
I just realized my mistake there, it should've read that they're saying with certainty that Mars WAS habitable.
I'll try to edit that part.
1. Determine the habitability of an ancient environment.
2. For ancient environments interpreted to have been habitable, search for materials with high biosignature preservation potential.
So, when I say habitable I mean life included.
IMO if planet was/is habitable it was/is life there.
The Mars 2020 rover mission will explore the geology of a once habitable site
Argyll
reply to post by zilebeliveunknown
IMO if planet was/is habitable it was/is life there.
Hmm...that sentence doesn't make a lot of sense.....but if I'm reading it right you are claiming that if a planet is capable of supporting life....then there must be life there....is that what you are saying?
Just because you define it that way doesn't mean NASA or other scientists mean it that way.
To say a planet is habitable means that it is capable of supporting some type of life, but doesn't necessarily mean it does or did support life even though it's capable of it.
zilebeliveunknown
I didn't define anything, it's the simple definition of the term habitability.
In order for some area to be habitable it needs to be habitable with life and only life.
zilebeliveunknown
reply to post by opethPA
Thanks for grammar lesson mate.
Except they didn't say it is currently habitable but rather it was in the past.
You're missing the point.
Yes, they didn't say it's currenty habitable, we can agree on that.
The point: They've never before stated in any context that Mars was habitable.
zilebeliveunknown
Argyll
reply to post by zilebeliveunknown
IMO if planet was/is habitable it was/is life there.
Hmm...that sentence doesn't make a lot of sense.....but if I'm reading it right you are claiming that if a planet is capable of supporting life....then there must be life there....is that what you are saying?
No.
It not necessarily means that if planet could support life that there must be life, but if a planet once was or is habitable there needs to be life.
You don't expect a planet to be habitable with rocks.
schuyler
zilebeliveunknown
reply to post by schuyler
The only real question in this thread is why you insist on interpreting a clear mission statement to determine whether Mars EVER WAS habitable into the idea that it IS habitable.
I just realized my mistake there, it should've read that they're saying with certainty that Mars WAS habitable.
I'll try to edit that part.
But they are not saying that. They are saying that a mission objective is to DETERMINE if Mars EVER WAS habitable. That is NOT saying that it "WAS HABITABLE." To wit:
1. Determine the habitability of an ancient environment.
i.e.: DETERMINE IF the ancient environment WAS HABITABLE
2. For ancient environments interpreted to have been habitable, search for materials with high biosignature preservation potential.
i.e.: IF THEY DETERMINE THAT THE ANCIENT ENVIRONMENT WAS HABITABLE, THEN (and only then) search some more to see if they can find evidence.
This ENTIRE THREAD is based on YOUR MISINTERPRETATION of the mission objectives.edit on 2/16/2014 by schuyler because: (no reason given)