Big news imminent re: Mars ??

[BimboBob]

Lizard overlords!

dont jest!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ6mkkaNmDg&feature=related[/youtube]

I wasn't!!!!


It's either them or China.

 

[BoyBlue_1985]

Lizard overlords!

dont jest!!!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZ6mkkaNmDg&feature=related[/youtube]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-PCubUX30SI&list=PL84A91744A72011F6&index=34&feature=plpp_video[/youtube]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwYLI6yPwRY&list=PL84A91744A72011F6&index=33&feature=plpp_video[/youtube]

 

[Biggsy1]

Possibly the discovery of life ??

stunning if this is what they are hiding

they're keeping quiet about it until the facts have been checked.

"This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good," John Grotzinger, principal investigator for Curiosity told NPR.

According to Grotzinger, the data comes from the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which consists of a six-column gas chromatograph, a quadrupole mass spectrometer, and a tunable laser spectrometer. This gives SAM the ability to find organic life, if it exists.

So far Curiosity has done a sample scoop of soil for SAM earlier this month, and NASA announced more samples were going to be taken last week from an area the team have dubbed Rocknest. It appears they have found something very special, but Grotzinger says his lips are sealed.

"We're getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting," he teased. "The science team is busily chewing away on it as it comes down,"

Part of the caution comes from nearly getting burned in the past, Grotzinger explained. Earlier in the mission, SAM took a sample of the Martian atmosphere and found methane present, which is a good indicator that there was life on Mars, at least at one point.

Rather than splashing the news, the team flushed out the SAM chamber and took more air samples. This time there was no methane, so the team concluded that the methane detected earlier had come from air the instrument had picked up from Earth before leaving.

Space scientists are on tenterhooks for the moment, but the news will not be announced until next month at the earliest. Grotzinger plans to attend the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting on December 3 and will present some results then. ®

Keep us informed Corky

 

[another generation]

So, whatever life it may have been, it managed to fart?

 

[True_Blue69]

Probably because the kit they sent up hadn't been sterilised properly meaning it could have been contaminated with germs etc from earth.

this is the main problem - it's going to be very easy for someone to cast significant doubt on it, and quite rightly so

Well they didn't find life on the moon in the 60's and technology for sterilisation was worse then

Good point, only reason I said it was that there was a report that on one of the Mars missions (may be this one) they didn't sterilise something and there was a risk of contamination.

http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-rover-contaminated-with-earth-bacteria-2012-9

 

[Mrmcfc]

Lizard overlords!

Is that you Mr. Icke!?

 

[The Fat el Hombre]

Doubt they've found life. Probably just found a new rock or something

 

[Le Havre Oswald]

It doesn't count unless it has a soul.

 

[kunaguero10]

call me old fashioned or naive but nothing they 'discover' will affect anyone on earth, so i don't understand why everyone is arsed

 

[mcfcphil]

call me old fashioned or naive but nothing they 'discover' will affect anyone on earth, so i don't understand why everyone is arsed

don't know about old fashioned but that is certainly naive