Posted on 11/24/2012 5:03:29 PM PST by lbryce
Data that NASA's discovery wee a sample of Martian dirt could be earth-shattering, but the space agency is taking time to check its work.
NASA's not sharing a 'historic' find on Mars... yet
Data from a sample of Martian dirt could be earth-shattering, but the space agency is taking time to check its work.
SAM, a mobile sample analysis lab, is currently mounted on Curiosity and finding interesting stuff in Martian soil.
It seems NASA and the Curiosity rover have found something exciting and nerd-tastic on Mars, but the space agency's scientists are holding back for now, despite how painful it appears to be for them.
NPR science correspondent Joe Palca happened to be in the room recently when John Grotzinger, lead scientist for the Curiosity mission at NASA, started receiving data on his computer from the rover's on-board chemistry lab, also known as SAM (sample analysis at Mars). SAM and NASA scientists on Earth have been busy analyzing a sample of Martian soil of late, and apparently the dirt from the Red Planet has a secret to tell.
"This data is going to be one for the history books, it's looking really good," Grotzinger said in the story that aired yesterday.
And that's about all he said.
Grotzinger and NASA have remained mum on what exactly Curiosity may have found in the Martian soil, saying it could be several more weeks until they're able to verify the data. The scientists need to make sure whatever earth-shattering find they have isn't an error or perhaps some kind of stowaway molecule or whatever it may be that hitched one really long ride from Earth.
So I contacted another space smarty-pants type not associated with NASA to see if he might have a guess.
Lewis Dartnell is a leading astrobiologist at The Centre For Planetary Sciences at UCL/Birkbeck in London. He makes it clear that with so little to go on, no one outside of NASA can know what the agency thinks it has, but, he says, "the SAM instrument is designed to detect organic molecules on Mars, so the smart money is on an announcement along those lines."
That's right, the smart money is on what we all were already thinking -- LIFE ON MARS.
The seas may be rising and more superstorms may continue to threaten humanity's most important megalopolises, but there could soon be an emerging market for condominiums on Mars to take our minds off of such challenges.
What do you think NASA's found on the fourth rock from the sun? Let us know in the comments. Or just tell us you know what it is, but then don't really tell us until next month.
The King... MY GOD, THEY’VE FOUND ELVIS!!!!!
Evidence from Bill Clinton.
I agree, it's got to be hydrocarbons, oil. Mars is greasy. Now we can make fuel for return trips home.
Here's what I think is the background of what is at issue here. Previously in the 20th century before space probes and larger telescopes which could measure the chemical composition of the planets, methane and hydrocarbons were thought to only exist on Earth, as they were created by living organisms. In fact, one early test for livf on other planets was to detect methane. Methane = life, as simple as that.
However, that got blown out of the water as all of our large gas giants have significant proportions of methane, plus at least the moon Titan. Yet no one now proposes that there is life there based on only the presence of methane. And so now we have at best inconsistent explanations as to why there is methane on different planets.
There has been methane detected on Mars. So, where does all this methane in the solar system come from? On Earth, it is declared to be biological processes, on other planets, it isn't, on Mars, they are sitting on the fence.
The origin of methane and petroleum itself has different theorys, including the Abiogenic petroleum origin, proposed by Thomas Gold. While that theory is not in favor, it was the only theory I know of that takes into account that methane is being found all across the solar system.
So basically, the methane on Marss is either being created by living organisms, or it is being outgassed from the rocks of mars itself, in a way that science has currently not supported.
life on Mars? A new food source. I hope they don’t taste like chicken, I’m all chickened out.
This is already being worked on.
That would make the needle jump too. Water would be very interesting but not really astounding.
How do we know that any biologic samples are not the result of contamination from the probes that we sent to Mars over the last decades? After all, scientists believe the much more implausible theory that life came to Earth aboard chunks of Martian soil blasted from the surface of Mars by a meteor impact, survived flight through open space and fiery entrance through the Earth’s atmosphere...
No, they already announced it. They were digging and found an old tennis shoe.
And if the Brits send electrical stuff up there, will they have to call the voltage datum “mars?”
Tribbles.
I am guessing it doesn’t matter what they claim they find, it will be whatever is need for more funding.
You are free to go to mars and check their findings yourself to see if they are making stuff up.<Just kidding>
“Statue of Elvis found on Mars!”
I seen it on the History Channel.
Previews of new episode:
Dead Bigfoot in WW II bomber found on Mars.
"Soon"? Perhaps in a geologic time frame. But 'soon' in our frame of reference? Um...no.
I mean, c'mon, like, that's GOTTA be from, like, Venus or Andromeda or some s*** like that. Eyeballs don't grow on trees!
Jimmy Hoffa...
yep, more funding to outreach to muslims to education about the great islamic space heros of the 7th century and that we need more windmills to counteract glowbull warming.
If they’ve found water and/or fossils then that could support the hydroplate theory...
Center for Scientific Creation - In the Beginning: Compelling Evidence for Creation and the Flood
http://www.creationscience.com/onlinebook/IntheBeginningTOC.html
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