Challenge: Design a Martian

Shalin Koticha, Parth Trivedi, Sahil Jain and Lakshya Sindhwani
Members of the Science Club
Dhirubhai Ambani International School, Mumbai, India

Life on Mars

The organism is an example of an "extremophile" -- an organism that can survive in some of the harshest conditions on Mars.

What kind of life form may exist on Mars?

• This creature should be able to produce its own food.
• It should be able to survive on other gases than only oxygen.
• Ultraviolet rays should not harm it. It could have a strong and resistant protective covering over its body.
• It should survive at very low and very high temperatures.
• It should be strong enough to resist the vacuum of space.
• It should be intelligent enough to build a dwelling for itself.
• Scientists have recently discovered the presence of frozen water on Mars. The water exists in the form we know - underneath a semi-frozen surface and sometimes gushes out as "wash-outs" in gullies and causing the "Mars mud" to form! It is therefore highly probable that the life form that exists in Mars is an under-water aquatic form.

Komodo Tree Holder
This is the first of the two creatures we have designed that can be fit to be a Martian. It is a kind of lizard found on the surface of certain parts of Mars during the day time. As you see, it grows a plant on its back by which it makes food for itself on the tree less planet.

Martian Fungi
This is a life form, which survives under the surface of Mars. It is like fungi, grows on walls of the underground caves. It obtains all its water from the frozen rivers of ice underneath the surface and needs no light to make food. It survives in the cold temperature and reproduces like a fungi, without using the process of pollination.

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