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<img width=600 src="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
marvin_martian_postcard_color_banner_pixeltoonsink.jpg"><p>
Life on Mars?</center></td>
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The fascination with Mars and life led to attempts to find life on Mars. The 
first serious attempt was with the Viking landers launced in the 1970s. 
There were dedicated biological experiments on board designed to search for
<font color=magenta>Law As We Know It (LAWKI).</font> That is, the Viking 
experiments were designed to detect life based on the example we know best, 
that is, life on Earth. Is this sensible?</td><td> 
<a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/life/viking.html">
<img width=500 
src="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/Sagan_Viking.jpg">
</a></td></tr></table>
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More recent missions to Mars have greatly improved our picture of the Martian
surface and the conditions on Mars today. Curiosity was launched on Nov 26, 
2011 reaching Mars on Aug 5, 2012 (landing in 
<a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/1024px-MSL_landing_sites_topograph.png">
Gale crater</a>).<p>
<a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
curiosity-mars-rover-self-portrait-martian-sand-dunes-pia20316-br2.jpg
">
<img width=600 src="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
curiosity-mars-rover-self-portrait-martian-sand-dunes-pia20316-br2.jpg
"></a>
<br>
<a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
pia16051_figure_1_raw_smaller-full.jpg
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<img width=600 src="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
pia16051_figure_1_raw_smaller-full.jpg
"></a>
<a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
pia20332-figa_sol1302_ml_mcam06191_w_labels-cr.jpg
">
<img width=600 src="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
pia20332-figa_sol1302_ml_mcam06191_w_labels-cr.jpg
"></a>
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<td><a href="http://mars.nasa.gov/programmissions/science/goal1">
<a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
NASA-Curiosity-Rover-Top-Science-Discoveries.png">
<img width=500 src="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/
NASA-Curiosity-Rover-Top-Science-Discoveries.png"></a></td>
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A tantalizing (but inconclusive) result was published in the 1990s. A 
Martian meteorite was discovered on Earth in the Allan Hills of Antarctica. 
Meteorite ALH 84001 was argued to bear evidence of past life on Mars:
</td><td><center>
<a href="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/life/alh84001.html">
<img src="http://pages.uoregon.edu/~imamura/121/images/alh84001.gif"></a>
</center></td></tr></table></center>
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