7 Sep
2011
7 Sep
'11
7:03 a.m.
On 9/6/11, Gary Vardon <gvardon@webtv.net> wrote:
Yours truly went to an ACS meeting in Denver last week. I attended two days of talks about the chemistry of the solar system mostly devoted to mars. NASA representatives were there and mentioned plans to send a sample return mission to Mars. One key point mentioned is that Mars has perchlorates in its soil. Perchlorates are good oxidizers.
That kind of stacks the deck against microbial life as we know it, doesn't it? Are the perchlorates responsible for the reddish hue of the Martian regolith?