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The Potential for Extant Life in the Soils of Mars

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Microbiology of Extreme Soils

Part of the book series: Soil Biology ((SOILBIOL,volume 13))

In this chapter we discuss the present state of thought on the possibility that extant life in the form of micro-organisms may exist in the soils of Mars. The Viking missions of 1976 have been the only experimental packages sent to Mars with the specific objective of searching for extant life in Martian soil samples. Landed missions since then have been geological packages that, although examining soils and rocks for minerals that might have biological origins, relied on instruments which were not designed to look specifically for living organisms. The Viking experiments provided some evidence for the possibility of life; however, the general scientific opinion (with notable exceptions; e.g., see http://mars.spherix.com/spie2/Spie2001Oxides/Spie2001-oxides.htm) has been that these experiments showed negative results (Klein 1992; Dick 2006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Biotechnology Institute, University of Idaho, 441052, Moscow, Idaho, 83844-1052

    Ronald L. Crawford

  2. Environmental Science Program, University of Idaho, 721 Lochsa Street, Suite 3, Post Falls, ID 83854, USA

    David A. Newcombe

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  1. Ronald L. Crawford
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  1. Département de phytologie, Pavillon Charles-Eugène Marchand, 1030, avenue de la Médecine Université Laval, Québec (Québec), G1V 0A6, Canada

    Patrice Dion

  2. National Botanical Research Institute, Rana Pratap Marg, Lucknow, 226001, India

    Chandra Shekhar Nautiyal

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Crawford, R.L., Newcombe, D.A. (2008). The Potential for Extant Life in the Soils of Mars. In: Dion, P., Nautiyal, C.S. (eds) Microbiology of Extreme Soils. Soil Biology, vol 13. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-74231-9_11

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