The Irish Times and the Royal Irish Academy present a lecture on what Martian life might be like, writes Dick Ahlstrom
Is there life on Mars and if so what does it look like? And if Mars is devoid of life today, was it ever there in the past?
An expert in early life on Earth and the potential for life on Mars visits Dublin next month to deliver an Academy Times lecture entitled A Tale of Two Planets: Earth, Mars and Life.
The speaker is Prof Andy Knoll, the Fisher Professor of Natural History at Harvard University, Boston, and a member of the Mars Exploration Rover science team.
His research focuses on ancient rocks on Earth and the evidence they provide for very early terrestrial life. The same work is immediately applicable when searching for signs of early life on Mars.
Knoll will describe how Earth has supported a huge diversity of living organisms for nearly four billion years. He will contrast this abundance with the situation on Mars.
The Red Planet is smaller and further away from the sun and contrasts starkly with Earth in terms of providing a home for life. It is cold, dry and chemically harsh and even three to four billion years ago was already arid and regionally acidic and oxidising, Knoll argues.
Water-cut channels that scar the Martian landscape suggest that still earlier in its history Mars may have been a different place, however. It may have been more like Earth and perhaps even habitable, he suggests.
"If life ever took root on Mars, the most likely places to find its palaeontological signature are sedimentary rocks found in Mars' oldest terrains, more than four billion years old," he believes.
Prof Knoll will blend the latest findings from satellites orbiting Mars and from the Rovers, which are currently traversing the Martian surface, with Earth-bound research into ancient life. He will discuss what level of confidence planetary scientists have that evidence of early life will also be found on Mars.
The ongoing Academy Times lecture series is jointly organised and sponsored by the Royal Irish Academy, The Irish Times and Depfa Bank.
The lecture takes place at 6.30pm on November 9th in the Burke Theatre, Arts Block, Trinity College, Dublin. The lecture is free and open to the public but places must be booked to ensure access to the event.
To reserve a place go to the academy's website, www.ria.ie, and click on the lecture button. Alternatively, a small number of tickets will also be made available by phoning the academy on 01-6762570