Copyright by James R Carlson
Dr. Hans Mark (1929 – 2021)
Dr. Hans Mark had a distinguished career that touched many lives. His career in space exploration began when he observed the space satellite Sputnik with his own eyes while standing on the roof of the Lawrence Radiation Labs in California. Later he joined the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) becoming the Director for NASA Ames in 1969. He then became the Deputy Director of NASA and was in charge of the first 8 Space Shuttle launches. He held numerous distinguished posts during his long career. His focus on space flight, space exploration, and the possibility of life on other planets is second to none.
In his extensive career, Dr. Mark was involved with many space based science missions including probes to Mercury, Venus, and Mars. Dr. Mark was involved with the search for life on Mars and helped develop the test for life in one of the rover missions. All biological life exchanges gases (animals, plants, fish, bacteria, etc.). Typical of life here on Earth is the exchange of O2 and CO2 gasses. So, on one Mars mission, the rover was supposed to put a probe onto the soil and pump in oxygen and see if it got back carbon dioxide. This was reversed on a second test to see if any life breathing in CO2 would exhale O2. This was the way they were going to determine if there was any life in the soil of Mars. The results were negative and there was no detectable life on the Martian surface.
Dr. Mark presented the history of ideas, which I love*, for the origin of the idea that life might exist on other planets. The first use of telescopes to study the solar system came from Galileo who observed the motion of Mars and its moons. In the 19th century, telescopes gave us more details of the surface of Mars than Galileo had. Giovanni Schiaparelli, in 1877, produced maps from his observations showing “canali” on the surface of Mars. This was later mis-translated from Italian into English as “canals” suggesting that they were engineered canals. The idea that engineered canals requires engineers/intelligent life was the beginning of the search for life outside our own planet. Hence, the whole idea of life on other planets spawned as an error of translation. There are in fact no engineered canals on Mars; only natural canals.
While Director of NASA Ames (where I had my internship thanks to Dr. Mark), Dr. Mark became acquainted with the work of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). He was, in fact, the first to fund SETI and, as noted above, was an advocate for space exploration and the search for life beyond our planet.
As an intern at NASA Ames, I used to attend meetings down the street at the offices of SETI. They had monthly meetings at what I call a ‘peanut butter brunch’ where you brought your own drink but were supplied with an array of bread, peanut/chocolate butters, fruit, etc. From the continental style buffet, we went into a small room where people would present their research into ‘ET’. More specifically, there were numerous professional scientists who attempted to demonstrate the possibility that life could indeed exist elsewhere in our universe.
Dr. Carl Sagan once commented that there are billions and billions of galaxies in the universe with billions and billions of stars in each galaxy with planets surrounding these stars upon which there might be life. Dr. Mark was a friend and early mentor to Dr. Sagan. You may recall the Pioneer 10 mission that had a plaque put on it by Dr. Sagan and another person. This plaque showed a man and a woman on our planet and a map of how to get here? Pioneer 10 was the first object to leave our solar system and this plaque was supposed to be a calling card for alien visitors it might encounter. For the record, the other person who helped put this plaque on the Pioneer 10 probe was Dr. Mark.
By the way, while attending one of the SETI peanut butter brunches, I was told that of all the stars known to mankind, there are only 6 planets that might have conditions good enough for life to exist. All other planets we know of are either too close to or too far away from their suns (stars) so water would either boil and turn into steam or freeze and become ice. The theory of life elsewhere suggests that life must have liquid water, not steam or ice, to live. So the odds are against SETI. No matter, the Drake Equation has been rewritten to allow for more time to find something.
Dr. Mark was also a dedicated Episcopalian and was interested in getting the idea of life on other planets before theologians to get their viewpoint. From their discussions the theologians answered and said that they didn’t think life existed outside of the Earth; but if it did, “Praise God.” None of the work that Dr. Mark did on this subject was trivial or speculative. He wasn’t a fanatic but sought responsible science and theology on the subject of life in the universe. His legacy will live on long into the future.
Today we are inundated with the idea of aliens visiting our planet. UFOs (Unidentified Flying Objects) are becoming IFOs (Identified Flying Objects). When anyone sees a UFO they immediately identify it as extraterrestrial life (IFO). This mental confusion doesn’t connect with scientific methods of verification and the belief in ET eventually takes on the form of religious zeal.
While SETI is still searching for intelligent life in the universe, we should recall from the Bible (Psalms 19:1) that the heavens declare His Glory - the Glory of God. The search for intelligent life should include the fact that God exists. In fact, God is the one who instilled scientific principles in his creation (Job 38:3). Laws of Nature govern the natural order in the heavens and on the earth (living and non-living natural functions). Science was once defined by Kepler and Newton as thinking the thoughts of God after Him by studying natural laws. This is one way of learning more about the intelligent life that actually created the universe.
* I was at one time a history major with a minor in religious studies at UT Austin. Later I changed my degree to Aerospace Engineering where Dr. Mark was a professor in a couple of my classes. I was an intern at NASA Ames thanks to Dr. Mark and after graduating with a BS in Aerospace Engineering, I worked testing aircraft survivability equipment and now work with the Missile Defense Agency. I owe a lot to Dr. Mark for my career.
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