Starship Asterisk*

Kaarlo wrote:Chris,
The geological record of Proto-Earth is (literally) frozen in meteorites, asteroids and comets.

geckzilla wrote:
I think the droughts on Mars would put the Sahara to shame.

Sure, go to Mars if you don't mind being freeze dried.

• Or to the northern margin of Mercury's Caloris basin:

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA17496 wrote:

[img3=""To freeze a being solid, then hang him on a wall like some trophy?"
―Han Solo, expressing disdain for the Galactic Alliance's carbon-freezing methods"]http://cdnph.upi.com/sv/b/i/UPI-3241379 ... ercury.jpg[/img3]

<<If there are two things you should remember, it's not to cross a Hutt, and that Mercury's surface can throw up all kinds of surprises. In this image, a portion of the terrain surrounding the northern margin of the Caloris basin hosts an elevated block in the shape of a certain carbonite-encased smuggler who can make the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs. This block may be part of the original surface that pre-dates the formation of Caloris, which was shaped by material ejected during the basin-forming event.>>

http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Carbon-freezing/Legends wrote:

[b][color=#0000FF][size=150]PIA17496: He Will Not Be Permanently Damaged[/size][/color][/b]

---

"Oh, they've encased him in carbonite. He should be quite well protected. If he survived the freezing process, that is." ―C-3PO

<<Carbon-freezing was the process of freezing stored tibanna gas in carbonite to preserve it while it was being transported over long distances. In the freezing process, the gas was pumped into a freezing chamber where it was mixed with molten carbonite into a solid block. The gas was released later at its destination or at the processing center. Carbon-freezing could induce hibernation sickness after being released, as was the case with Han Solo. The Alderaanian Medical Association established that inhaling carbon-freezing smoke was a health risk.

Darth Vader ordered the modification of a freezing chamber on Bespin's Cloud City so that he could freeze Luke Skywalker—eliminating any chance of escape—to transport him to the Emperor. As a test, the process was tried on Han Solo, who survived the freezing process through the use of a special device and was eventually freed from his trap.

During the Galactic Civil War, a large number of Sith Troopers and possibly a Sith Master, frozen in carbonite, were discovered by the Nightsister Silri with the help of a Sith holocron stolen from Jabba the Hutt by Tyber Zann. Additionally, bodies were sometimes preserved in carbonite, as in the case of the Senatorial Tombs on Coruscant.>>

BMAONE23 wrote:

Asterhole wrote:

heehaw wrote:Can you imagine a human colony on the surface of this planet? Growing crops, to feed themselves ... somehow? With no water to speak of? Their energy sources being ... what? Not solar power, from a very very distant sun.

No water on Mars? Au contraire... There's plenty to be found, but it's locked up as ice in the Polar caps and subsurface permafrost. Exposed to the thin Martian atmosphere, water ice quickly sublimates as vapor and never has the chance to exist as a liquid. However Human technology could find ways to extract and store water.

Those multilayered formations are testament a wetter, warmer past of Mars' history billions of Earth years ago. Did Life have a chance to form back then? I think probably not, but who's to know?

All that is needed is a Biosphere (with an air lock) set into the ground and given an earthlike Atmospheric pressure and temperature. Once both are approaching that similar to Earth, the Permafrost would thaw and the water would be released in a liquid form

Kaarlo wrote:Chris,
Please don't (on purpose?) forget/omit the BIF evidence: the very first life was oxygen-generating (and consequently CO2-consuming).
Here's a new term applicable to the firs life ("proto-life") on any young planet, Earth and Mars included: Photogenic. How's that?

Cygnus X-1 wrote:
This is the most amazing pic ever back from Mars!!!

Layers! Amazing!!!!!

Mr Spif wrote:
Weird side question ... Who is Dr Kremer and why does he get to label the picture with his name?

ta152h0 wrote:earthuakes on that dead planet ?

Asterhole wrote:

heehaw wrote:Can you imagine a human colony on the surface of this planet? Growing crops, to feed themselves ... somehow? With no water to speak of? Their energy sources being ... what? Not solar power, from a very very distant sun.

No water on Mars? Au contraire... There's plenty to be found, but it's locked up as ice in the Polar caps and subsurface permafrost. Exposed to the thin Martian atmosphere, water ice quickly sublimates as vapor and never has the chance to exist as a liquid. However Human technology could find ways to extract and store water.

Those multilayered formations are testament a wetter, warmer past of Mars' history billions of Earth years ago. Did Life have a chance to form back then? I think probably not, but who's to know?

jnnel@shaw.ca wrote:In the center of the scree are more than ten rocks whose surface have multiple round nodules.
All the other rocks have flat planes as would be if cleaved from sedimentary formation.

What are the nodules?
Sedimentary conglomerate?

Did Curiosity have a close look to be sure they were not signs of life (eg coral-like)?

Kaarlo wrote:Chris,
With "photosynthesis" I mean here this: "central-sun-UV-radiation-driven-oxygen-gneration-in-primordial-hydrocarbons-and-CO2".
Since such term is a bit clumsy, I simply used photosynthesis. Perhaps you coud suggest a proper - possibly a new - term instead?

Asterhole wrote:The earliest beginnings of Life on Earth were only complex protein chains. How stable they were in an aqueous environment (which at the time was probably quite toxic by today's standards) is not known. Nor is it known by exactly which process caused the protein chains to become self-replicative. Lots of educated guesses such as lightning and volcanism, but all the same we'd have to know what conditions on either Earth or Mars were like 4 - 5 billion years ago - and we don't.

But hope springs eternal in the search...

Kaarlo wrote:The first life on Earth likely was photosynthetic. Evidence: Banded Iron Formation (BIF) deposits 4+ billion years of age: free oxygen generated by floating algal mats was immediately and totally consumed by water-soluble ferrous iron (Fe2+, greenish in color) that immediately precipitated as ferric iron (Fe3+, rust red in color) that - together with pale colored silica - deposited on ocean floor as BIF.
On Mars - and on any young planet, early Earth included - find FIB (apply geology and geophysics: magnetometer, gravimeter..) and you'll find the microfossil you're looking for.