Announcement on Mars forthcoming.

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In summary: I'm just waiting for something definitive!In summary, the Phoenix project team appears to be preparing to announce something more exciting than the mere presence of water on Mars.
  • #1
turbo
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Didn't know where to put this, so GD for now. The Phoenix project team appear to be preparing to announce something more exciting than the mere presence of water on Mars.

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/WH08018.xml&headline=White%20House%20Briefed%20On%20Potential%20For%20Mars%20Life&channel=space
 
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  • #2
Do you think they called the vatican a few weeks ago to warn them ? :rolleyes:
 
  • #3
I'm hoping for some organic matter.
 
  • #4
hypatia said:
I'm hoping for some organic matter.

I'm hoping for footsteps :biggrin: !
 
  • #5
Ah the test involved stirring water from Earth with Martian soil. It wil be interesting.
 
  • #6
lisab said:
I'm hoping for footsteps :biggrin: !

I'm hoping for a Starbucks.
 
  • #8


Oil.

Now, lift the off-world drilling ban!

Serious note: probably live bacteria. Nothing to see really.
 
  • #10


I like the one 'comment' on that second link---
Gerald Butler: Mars. Desert Planet. Maybe they found “Spice”!


(maybe they found MTBE)
 
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  • #11


They probably found something that would increase the potential for life even more.
 
  • #12


http://c.imagehost.org/0241/foundhim.jpg

I'm having too much fun.
 
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  • #13


OAQfirst said:
http://c.imagehost.org/0241/foundhim.jpg

I'm having too much fun.

Is that Jimmy Hoffa?
 
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  • #15


rewebster said:
Is that Jimmy Hoffa?
lol!

Actually, it's...
Where's Waldo
 
  • #16


arildno said:
Hmm..Osama bin Laden, perhaps?

No no, the WMDs man, the WMDs!
 
  • #18


DaveC426913 said:
The rumour mill is jumping on the latest evidence from Mars. They seem to think, whatever it is, it's more important than water.

First of all there is likely nothing more important to life as we understand it than water.

Secondly, what a shocker it would be to find that Mars has a similar element distribution in the soil samples? Let's see. It aggregated into its current form most likely in its next out from the Earth slot from the sun. Would there be a reason to suppose that it would be dramatically different is all I can wonder?

But the current Martian extremes of temperature and lack of atmosphere would surely be extinction events here on Earth even if all other things were equal.

So what that there are several dimensions that are within range of satisfactory for life with so many additional hostile conditions not met nor likely to ever be met?
 
  • #19
Bush had to be briefed first ?? This means we may never know what was found.

Why did NASA have to tell an unintelligent life form that we have discovered another unintelligent life form.??
 
  • #20
edward said:
Bush had to be briefed first ?? This means we may never know what was found.

Why did NASA have to tell an unintelligent life form that we have discovered another unintelligent life form.??

"Heard about the recent news reports implying I may have found Martian life. Those reports are incorrect," she Tweeted. "Reports claiming there was a White House briefing are also untrue and incorrect."

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/08/rumors-abound-a.html
 
  • #22
Hey may be they found my boots
 
  • #23
edward said:
Bush had to be briefed first ?? This means we may never know what was found.

Why did NASA have to tell an unintelligent life form that we have discovered another unintelligent life form.??

Maybe they told him about a long lost relative?
 
  • #24


LowlyPion said:
First of all there is likely nothing more important to life as we understand it than water.

Sorry, I was misunderstood.

I was not saying there was "something more important than water to life", I simply inimtated that the discovery seems to be bigger news. While not official yet, I think we are nearing certainty that we will find conclusive evidence of water on Mars any day now. Certain enough that when it won't be Mars-shattering news...


I get the impression that this upcoming news may be even bigger - some are wildly suggesting maybe even evidence for organic molecules.
 
  • #25


DaveC426913 said:
I get the impression that this upcoming news may be even bigger - some are wildly suggesting maybe even evidence for organic molecules.
Well, the article does say that they mixed Earth water with the Mars soil.
 
  • #26


LowlyPion said:
Secondly, what a shocker it would be to find that Mars has a similar element distribution in the soil samples? Let's see. It aggregated into its current form most likely in its next out from the Earth slot from the sun. Would there be a reason to suppose that it would be dramatically different is all I can wonder?
As some wise person once said, "we just don't know until we know". Even 'confirmation of what we expect' is important new information.

LowlyPion said:
But the current Martian extremes of temperature and lack of atmosphere would surely be extinction events here on Earth even if all other things were equal.
Not for microbes. I think "mere" bacteria would send exobiologists into raptures of delight.
 
  • #27


DaveC426913 said:
Not for microbes. I think "mere" bacteria would send exobiologists into raptures of delight.
The article said that they did not find bacteria.
 
  • #28
They need to announce it soon before expectations get so high that people end up disappointed.
 
  • #29


Evo said:
The article said that they did not find bacteria.
I know, I was merely refuting LowlyPion's complete hypothetical that all life would be wiped out in an extinction event - if it had existed.
 
  • #30


DaveC426913 said:
I know, I was merely refuting LowlyPion's complete hypothetical that all life would be wiped out in an extinction event - if it had existed.

My point is that there are numerous dimensional aspects (temperature, gravity, element availability, agitation, media, shelter, energy supply, etc.) to this sweet spot that has cradled and developed life through evolution on Earth and merely finding a couple of prerequisites without finding a sufficiently large enough overlap in the remaining dimensions seems a bit of a non-event to me.

Surely it would be interesting if they could find complex organics, more than say the kinds of methane lakes apparently on Titan, but I hold little hope of it.
 
  • #32
Evo said:
They need to announce it soon before expectations get so high that people end up disappointed.
It seems the Aviation Week article is at least partly bogus, so there may not even be anything there to announce.

Unless it's this:
Toxin in soil may mean no life on Mars

http://www.cnn.com/2008/TECH/space/08/04/nasa.mars/index.html
 
  • #33
That's disappointing.
 
  • #34
it still may be there
 
  • #35
Large areas of Las Vegas are contaminated with perchlorate from the previous manufacture of solid rocket fuel.

It also occurs naturally in the desert soils of the southwest, and appears to be formed in a manner that requires an atmosphere??

The perchlorate the scientists found is present with high concentrations of naturally occurring chloride and other salts, and represents thousands of years of atmospheric deposition and concentration through evaporation. The new study is an outgrowth of previous work showing that nitrate frequently occurs in arid-region soils, as well.

http://toxics.usgs.gov/highlights/perchlorate_sw_soils.html
 

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