Curiosity Rover makes "Earth shattering discovery"!

The Mars Science Laboratory team has hinted that they might have some big news to share soon. But like good scientists, they are waiting until they verify their results before saying anything definitive. In an interview on NPR today, MSL Principal Investigator John Grotzinger said a recent soil sample test in the SAM instrument (Sample Analysis at Mars) shows something 'earthshaking.’
“This data is gonna be one for the history books,” he said. “It’s looking really good.”
What could it be?

"gonna"?

Damn! I can't wait for this release now!

Grotzinger says it will take several weeks before he and his team are ready to talk about their latest finding.

From the Pons and Fleischman school of hype.

We expected 'earth shaking' results from the curiousity mission, so no big surprise they found some. What it means may be a different story. My suspicion is they found evidence of ancient martian life, that probably existed billions of years ago. It remains exciting.

We expected 'earth shaking' results from the curiousity mission, so no big surprise they found some. What it means may be a different story. My suspicion is they found evidence of ancient martian life, that probably existed billions of years ago. It remains exciting.

" The discovery was made by Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, NPR reported today (Nov. 20). SAM is the rover's onboard chemistry lab, and it's capable of identifying organic compounds — the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it.

SAM apparently spotted something interesting in a soil sample Curiosity's huge robotic arm delivered to the instrument recently."

Okay, let's analyze this: the chemistry lab spotted something in a soil sample. If the report is an accurate summation of what happened, and if the "spotting" does not include any visual analysis (i.e. with a camera), then the "spotting" would have to have been accomplished through a test that the lab is capable of conducting.

The lab "is a suite of instruments provided by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center for the Mars Science Laboratory. SAM comprises a gas chromatograph, a quadrupole mass spectrometer, and a tunable laser spectrometer, with the combined capabilities to identify a wide range of organic (carbon-containing) compounds and to determine the isotopic ratios of key elements. (Isotope ratios are clues to understanding the history of Mars’ atmosphere and water.) SAM will also look for and measure the abundances of light elements, such as hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, typically associated with life."

So, what could it find with one of those tests? The tests available define the range of potential discoveries. It can't have found something that it is not capable of looking for.

I'm guessing it possibly found some evidence that would indicate life currently exists, or has existed, on Mars.

I would speculate that Curiosity found the four nucleotides of DNA in a single Martian sample. That wouldn't be all that thrilling in itself, because these nucleotides are also found in asteroids, but if the nucleotides were found in shocking amounts then that might suggest they are the product of (past) life. That would be pretty cool, but boy am I hoping for a big fossil or alien artifact instead. ;)

But a spokesman for NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the project, appeared to pour cold water on the hopes of space enthusiasts looking forward to an earth-shattering discovery.
"John was delighted about the quality and range of information coming in from SAM during the day a reporter happened to be sitting in John's office last week. He has been similarly delighted by results at other points during the mission so far," spokesman Guy Webster said.
"The scientists want to gain confidence in the findings before taking them outside of the science team. As for history books, the whole mission is for the history books," Webster said.