Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

https://www.space.com/39294-mars-rover-c...tures.html

EXCERPT: Have trace fossils been found on Mars? In browsing the first new batch of 2018 photos taken by the Curiosity rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), researcher Barry DiGregorio speculated on whether the Red Planet robot found trace fossils on Mars. DiGregorio is a research fellow for the Buckingham Centre for Astrobiology in the United Kingdom and author of the nonfiction books "Mars: The Living Planet" and "The Microbes of Mars."

"They look remarkably similar to Ordovician trace fossils I have studied and photographed here on Earth," DiGregorio told Inside Outer Space. "If not trace fossils, what other geological explanations will NASA come up with?"

MORE: https://www.space.com/39294-mars-rover-c...tures.html

From the story in CC's link:

In the end, however, can the Mars robot differentiate a crystallization process from a biological one?

"That's pretty challenging on Earth to distinguish those two things without being able to put these things into a lab to look for the presence of organics," Vasavada said. "We have a very limited capability overall to understand whether something is biological or not."

So... we might never know.

Well, there's people willing to go look for themselves.

(Jan 7, 2018 05:38 AM)Syne Wrote: [ -> ]Well, there's people willing to go look for themselves.

but not pay for it themselves.

(Jan 7, 2018 06:31 AM)RainbowUnicorn Wrote: [ -> ]

(Jan 7, 2018 05:38 AM)Syne Wrote: [ -> ]Well, there's people willing to go look for themselves.

but not pay for it themselves.

Yeah, but as it stands, there's a good chance they're not coming back either.