QUESTION:
Is it true that Mars is the perfect planet for life? Could it be in
underground water?

ANSWER from Bruce Jakosky on December 12, 1997:
Mars seems to have all of the ingredients necessary for life--there is
liquid water (based on the geological features that appear to be water
carved), the necessary biogenic elements (such as oxygen, carbon, hydrogen,
and so on), and a source of energy that can be utilized by living organisms
(heat from volcanoes and chemical energy in surface minerals).  Therefore,
it seems very possible that life could have originated on Mars and that it
could even exist today.  Of course, this does not mean that life DOES exist,
but only that it COULD exist.

One of the geological pieces of evidence for water is the presence of flood
channels.  These appear as a if large amounts of water flooded to the
surface from some underground region.  The best explanation is that the
crust of Mars is filled with water, much as the crust of the Earth has water
in it (groundwater).  At a depth of a few kilometers, the temperature would
be warm enough that ice would melt and water would be stable.  Of course,
getting access to this water is difficult--one might have to drill several
kilometers into the crust to reach liquid water. And, once the water came to
the surface, it would freeze.  Bacteria-like organisms might have gone to
the water, instead of having the water come to them--they might live deep
underground, where water is plentiful.

We'll only find out about life on Mars by going there and looking.

ANSWER from Donna Shirley on December 11, 1997:
We're also trying to see if there was ever life on Mars, but won't have the
answer until at least 2008.

Donna Shirley