California: February 17, 2008 - Monica Groover seeks interview from San Diego, California, from Dr. Raj Baldev, Cosmo Theorist from New Delhi, India about his opinion on the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Mission. Dr. Raj Baldev, you have already given interviews on this subject, please offer your comments whether there is life on Mars or there ever was life on the Red Planet?

Dr. Raj Baldev (Cosmo Theorist), “You have asked a brilliant question, which has recently been taken up by the BBC. As per MER (Mars Exploration Rover) Mission, it gave no tangible proof whether life existed on Mars in the past. This is a big question and needs critical analysis.  I have already given my views in earlier interviews to you and other journalits that it is not so easy to explore human settlement on Mars.

“As per the DATA sent by MER, it is not definite to say whether there is or was any life on Mars. The data sent back from NASA rovers Opportunity and Spirit, the results are very discouraging since the evidence suggests that the planet is too salty for even the toughest organisms on the Earth to survive.” Dr. Raj Baldev said.

Dr. Raj Baldev continues: The new results indicate as presented at the American Association for the Advancement of Sciences (AAAS) in Boston, that even though the planet has enough indication of water in the past, its reservoirs or seas would have been extremely acidic with poisonous concentrations of minerals.

“In those circumstances, even if the conditions were the most favorable on Mars, it was not possible for any life to survive.  Though they say that even microbes could not persist. But in my views, only the reptiles and microorganism were likely to be there that too inside the rocky caves and not on the surface of the planet, “Dr. Raj Baldev said.

“Even Dr Andrew Knoll, a biologist at Harvard University, who addressed the AAAS meeting carrying the same opinion, said, "It was really salty - in fact, it was salty enough that only a handful of known terrestrial organisms would have a ghost of a chance of surviving there when conditions were at their best.”

Dr. Raj Baldev said: “In short, the NASA MER Mission, which was given a signal of a great success, is doubtful to my mind. The Opportunity and Sprit have operated on Mars for a longer period than any other mission, hence carries more weight on their data. They have carried out observations of atmospherics and geology, but the scientists have not been able to get any substantial clue or success in relation to life on the Red Planet.”

Dr. Raj Baldev further said,“Both rovers, which have been turning around and on the planet for nearly four years, would have naturally given their own analysis but what are they?  However, they have not stimulated the hope of scientists in this regard, their tall claims of life on Mars look to have been dashed to the ground.

“The analysis of the Martian regolith and rocks, observing atmospherics and geology, not forgetting the spectacular panoramic photography, have not so far been able to find any compelling evidence of life on Mars, now or before. Even the Spirits big discovery, which returned in December, failed to give any conclusive results about the life on Mars, Dr. Raj Baldev said.

“One thing I would like to say that the results of the rock analysis are taken from one region and it is not conclusive, other regions might be different and might give some encouraging news about life on the Red Planet, hence this should not be treated as final result.” Dr. Raj Baldev said. “However, I remain stick to my earlier views.”
 
The Phoenix Mission is currently en-route to Mars and one of its mission objectives is to carry out advanced analysis for Martian life. Phoenix lands on May 25 of this year to hunt for life in the frozen North Pole. Also, the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) is expected for launch in 2009 and will continue the hunt for organic compounds in the Martian regolith, as per BBC.
 
Photo Courtesy : Universe Today