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House Subcommittee Hearing on Possible Life on Mars
September 12, 1996
On September 12, 1996, the Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee
of the House Science Committee held a hearing on the
implications of evidence of possible life on Mars,
complete with a meteorite from Mars and a model of
a robotic rover planned for future exploration of
that planet.
Included in the panel was Dr. Richard Zare, Professor
of Chemistry at Stanford University and Chairman of
the National Science Board, who has conducted research
on the Mars meteorite ALH84001, which was found during
an annual National Science Foundation expedition to
collect meteorites in Antarctica . Dr. Zare described
his research and the strong circumstantial case it
makes that the meteorite contains evidence of primitive
life forms. Dr. Zare emphasized that his research
was possible only because of the long-term investment
in basic research techniques and instrumentation made
possible with federal funds over the years.
Dr. Wesley Huntress, Associate Administrator for Space
Science, and Dr. David McKay, Assistant for Exploration,
represented NASA and testified on how the recent research
would affect the strategy for future NASA missions
to Mars, which will now focus on landing at sites
most likely to yield additional information on early
Martian life. Additional research will be conducted
on the dozen known meteorites from Mars over the next
two years to determine if they also contain evidence
of life.
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