Lunar and Martian Paleontology

摘要

Though out Earth's long history, large meteors causing extinction events have struck our planet. Each one of these events has blasted large amounts of ejecta around the globe. The projected speeds of ejecta and atmospheric shock waves are certainly stupendous. The observed effects of the pieces of Comet SL-9 creating massive explosive plumes above Jupiter, where the atmosphere and gravity are far more expansive than Earth's, proved that small objects at high speeds can have cataclysmic effects on a target world. Many no longer doubt the destructive effects of a large meteor to our civilization and our lives. I am not attempting to merely repeat what we know about past large meteor impacts and what effects future large meteor strikes could have on our world. Certainly, far more intelligent and educated individuals have already done extensive work on these subjects. I have drawn on their works for this paper. Many have heard the reason we explore the solar system is to better understand the Earth. I wish to add an additional positive to the reasons for traveling to Mars and returning to the Moon. The possibility that freeze dried biological material, blasted from the Earth in the past, is now intermingled with regolith and polar ice deposits on the Moon and Mars. Although subjected to micro-meteors, cosmic rays, and solar radiation, none of this material has undergone fossilization or biologic decomposition. The future discovery of this material would revolutionize biology, especially paleontology. Scientists could have in their hands the preserved biochemistry of life from many of the past extinction events on Earth. The value of prehistoric plant and animal fragments (especially chunks of dinosaur bones) would certainly exceed that of the rarest meteorites. Again, what I can calculate or discover is far exceeded by the many fine minds here in the U. S. and around the world. If these people think the possibility exists, we should work on how to detect this sparse material on the vastness of Mars and the Moon. Some might say this material has spent countless millions of years on these worlds, so what is the hurry? To that I would say, "What are we waiting for!?"