The US space agency NASA has requested a fund of $2.7 billion for 2021 science mission which would be worth if scientists could answer whether humans are alone or not. In relation to this planetary mission, CEO of the Planetary Society Bill Nye, a noted TV personality and public science advocate argues that if the life first evolved on Mars then it can be assumed that humans are the descendants of ancient Martians.
In a recent interview, Nye also mentioned that NASA's proposed fund is not much to "Change the course of human history."
The space mission
As per the American Television presenter, maintaining support for a mission to bring a sample of Martian rock back to Earth for further study to find signs of life is his top priority, reported the Politico.
It should be noted that NASA's planetary mission will start this summer along with the launch of the Mars Rover 2020 which will be sent to the Red Planet to collect samples from the surface and then send them to Earth. In addition, Nye believes that the biggest challenge for the scientists will be overcoming Martian gravity to get samples off the surface.
Ignoring psace is not good
As per Nye, space is vast and optimistically potential. "If you stop looking up and out, what does that say about you? Whatever it is, it's not good" he said while speaking about why NASA should push forward with the troubled James Webb Space Telescope.
Ahead of the Planetary Society which he started with a former leader of the advanced planetary studies program at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Louis Friedman and Bruce Murray, who is a former director of the JPL, Nye is lobbying Congress to crank up the funding for NASA. He told the news organization that "the first thing every congressman said is... Are they worried about contaminating the Earth with Martian dust?" and "My answer is yes! If you thought of it, they thought of it. Those rocket scientists thought of it."
Is humankind descendants from ancient life on Mars?
A few years ago NASA's Mars Curiosity rover detected organic molecules in three-billion-year-old sedimentary rocks within five centimetres of the surface. The space agency stated that some of the molecules include thiophenes, benzene, toluene, and small carbon chains, such as propane or butane which have given the evidence for habitable environments that may have lasted for hundreds of millions of years on Mars.
Cornell University planetary scientist Jonathan Lunine earlier told Forbes whether life on Earth actually first originate on Mars or not is still a mystery. But he added that "Mars and Earth are close enough to have exchanged lots of material over the age of the solar system."
