Why won't we just send life to Mars, and let it try to recolonize it, instead of digging in the dead radioactive dirt there?
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answers:
Jeffrey K say: We want to know if life started and evolved on Mars.
Mars soil isn't radioactive.
Earth life probably couldn't survive on Mars.
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MysteryGuy say: We need to nuke the planet first to create an atmosphere.
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Ronald 7 say: I agree
Plant life would convert the Carbo Dioxide into Oxygen
But what Mars really lacks is Mass
It must have had such Mass before looking at its Giant extinct Volcanoes
And along with that a Magnetosphere and Water
It Mars was brought up to 80% of Earth's Mass it would become Active again and even Terraformable
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az_lender say: Cockell, Caitling & Waites (1999) found that although ants might need revitalization after only a few seconds of exposure to low Martian pressures (6 mb), some other insects such as dragonflies could survive 10 minutes all right in such low-pressure conditions. As another responder said, mosses and lichens would be expected to survive in the Martian atmosphere.
There is concern that introducing terrestrial life would make it impossible to determine whether life of some kind had already existed on Mars. We think there has been no life on Mars, but we aren't yet sure.
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quantumclaustrophobe say: Why let the microbes have all the fun? Besides... this is a job for *humans*.
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say: we have . nasa has been spreading moss , litchen , and algae , to try to grow an O2 atmosphere . the 1 % knows AGW is real and will make earth uninhabitable in less than 20 years . darpa has perfected the warp engine , a trip to mars would be less than a week . spaceX has been ferrying tankers of water to make lakes for the future irrigation . the rich have been hoarding massive amounts of cash to buy the several billion dollar one way tickets and starter condos on mars .
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busterwasmycat say: the dirt is not radioactive. the point of looking for life is not one about giving life, but seeing if there is life there already. If we wanted to see if we could give life to that planet, then we would try that. We do not try that because that is not what we want to know at this point in time. There will be a time when we likely will reach that as the desired goal. That time is not yet now.
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Atheist Dude say: No Oxegen
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Paula say: No life we have would survive more than a minute on Mars.
It is colder than Antarctica.
There is no water or oxygen there.
Most (all) of the YAnswers regulars know this.
So there is not much point of digging in the Martian soil.
We certainly know that we won't find any fossils there.
We have no evidence that Mars ever had any life on it.
So it would not really be a case of "recolonize" so much as establishing a colony.
Any colony we establish would need to be in a heated habitat with air and water - and food - provided.
edit
There is ice on Mars, but not water
And note that plants can not grow in an atmosphere of 100% CO2.
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Bill-M say: Where did you get the idea that the dirt was radioactive??
Also, How can you colonize a planet when then planet has to water or oxygen??
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CarolOklaNola say: Mars regolith is NOT radioactive. We don't want to contaminate Mars with Earth life is a major reason. . Life does not necessarily require oxygen in the atmosphere. Mars has plenty of oxygen bonded to iron., The oxygen can be mined. Mars DOES have water, but it is underground.
I hesitate to use the word "dirt" because dirt often has an organic component. The sand and clay on Mars may not have am organic component.
Where did you get the crazy idea the sand on Mars is radioactive?
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