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Martian Contamination

I am not an exobiologist--and aside from conjuring up well-adpated
sci-fi Martian creatures with triple eye lids, biothermal mechanisms,
and radiation-hardened protective shells--I just can't imagine any life
"as we know it" surviving on Mars today.  The intense rain of UV
radiation would be an insurmountable challenge to even the most
primitive lifeform.  

In 1988 or 1989, biologist Debbie Moll of the University of Cincinnati
successfully observed a species of terrestrial soil virus surviving--in
a dessicated, suspended state and not in a vibrant, self-reproducing
state--in a lab "Mars Jar" filled with a Wyoming smectite clay analog.
But when the University announced the finding you realized that a key
factor was missing--intense UV radiation! Moll had the low pressure, the
extreme cold of Mars, but not the UV radiation.  I am sure that even
this little bug would not have survived the UV beating the surface of
Mars receives.  But that's Earth life I grant you.  Martian organisms
may have managed to adapt providing they had the time to evolve in the
first place.

> -----Original Message-----
> From:	ALMitt@kconline.com [SMTP:ALMitt@kconline.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, July 21, 1998 11:30 AM
> To:	meteorite-list@meteoritecentral.com
> Subject:	Re: Martian Meteorite
> 
> Hi All,
> 
> I have seen a (NASA?) web page indicating a total of 15 Lunar
> Meteorites which 
> now include Dar al Gagi 262 and 400. Use a search engine and type in
> Lunar 
> Meteorite and this page comes up with some others. So we would have
> three more 
> lunar specimens than Mars Specimens. However there is a twist to this
> and I 
> don't know the answer. Some of the meteorites found in antarctica are
> matched 
> pairs (I think two) so the question is do they consider this as one
> find or not?
> 
> I know the total weight for Martian stones are over two hundred pounds
> while 
> the total weight for the lunar material is much less so how do we
> figure?
> 
> --AL
> 
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