Word: earthed
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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...from the sun. But he also noted surprisingly large amounts of such rare gases as argon, neon, krypton and xenon, which suggested that the moon may prove a promising solar observatory. At California's Lick Observatory, astronomers were finally able to get a reading on the distance between earth and moon. Using the reflector left behind by the astronauts, the Lick astronomers calculated that their distance from Tranquillity Base at the time was precisely 227,000.42 miles...
...first, the data sent back to earth by two Mariner spacecraft more than 60 million miles away seemed to offer as little hope as the lunar rocks that life would be found elsewhere in the solar system. Flying past the planet Mars, the small, instrument-packed spacecraft detected no evidence of nitrogen, an indispensable ingredient of life on earth. Probing the upper reaches of the Martian atmosphere, they failed to find anything like the ozone shield that protects the earth's surface from the sun's deadly rain of ultraviolet radiation. Even their stunning close-up photographs from...
...week's end the infra-red spectrometer on board Mariner 7, the second of the two vehicles that flew past Mars, detected two gases-ammonia and methane-that could indicate the presence of primitive life. Both are produced on earth by biological decay. George C. Pimentel, a University of California chemist, said that he was unable to determine the amount of ammonia in the Martian atmosphere, but he estimated the concentration of methane as "no more than a few parts per million." In the earth's atmosphere, the amount is about 1.5 p.p.m.-and added rather jovially that...
...microbes or other primitive forms of life may yet be discovered on Mars. In a number of studies, biologists have already shown that algae, plant seeds and even beetles can survive temperatures similar to those found on the red planet. "Considering the extreme conditions that organisms tolerate here on earth," adds the University of Hawaii's Sanford Siegel, a physiologist whose studies on low-temperature life have been supported by NASA, "I would be very surprised indeed if we didn't find life on other planets...
...linear features laid out by intelligent beings, as some scientists once believed, but apparently rough, uneven splotches that lose their geometric-looking form on closer examination. Far from being the outpost of an advanced civilization, Mars more and more seems to be something of a primordial version of the earth, as it might have been billions of years ago. Says Caltech Geologist Robert Sharp: "We are looking at what could be baby pictures of the earth...