Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now

It turns out that it was a mylar weather balloon that they found.

NASA you are such a tease!

reply to post by zilebeliveunknown


I thought the same thing while reading the article. I didn't recall reading anything in NPR's report where the lead investigator implied that they had found evidence of life, past or present. It is almost as if this guy is giving away more info than the original story...if you spin it right...

i just have a feeling that its gonna be there are guinnea pigs/rats on mars

because of that damm pic lol

when i look at that pic of the guinnea pig that is what i see,

for the life of me i cant see a rock

I've just had really exciting news via email, but i'n not going to reveal until I receive the cheque. Lol


Fingers crossed it's a biggie from NASA this time. Why partially spill the beans then bang on about having to fend off reporters? NASA = Queens of Hype, they better prove me wrong.

I am convinced this has something to do with whatever Curiosity found doing earth samples. It was in the news last month and unless it was explained, which I don't think it was, then it must be to do with that

Could it, the rover have found bone, as in human remains? Just saying

methane?

Well no one emailed me about it...lol..gee I feel so out of the loop.....................

i'll say it again ! They've found....da dara dAAAA.... A ROCK !

They found organics. Don't know if they're complex or not, but it's organics.
That's all I know for now. Can't wait to find out the rest.
And this is all I am posting on this subject.

Several thoughts on all this - - The fellow at NASA who was downplaying Dr. Grotzinger's enthusiasm is Mr. Guy Webster. He is, by his own admission, a journalist or publicist, not a scientist. I doubt very much that he is privy to the scientific evidence that the Curiosity science team is holding onto so closely. Is he really in a position be be downplaying this?
It's been reported that NASA will make its announcement about this matter at the meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco, Dec. 3rd to 7th. Only about two weeks to wait. They're committed to telling, now.
The discovery of organic compounds may not sound too exciting, but if they are complex enough, the most reasonable source for them is living things.
If it turns out that Mars has or had life, we may be able to analyze it well enough to determine if it arose independently, or was started by life on Earth, carried in on rocks blown from Earth to Mars by asteroid impacts. It is also conceivable that life appeared first on Mars and was transfered in this way to Earth. If life on the two planets can be shown to have originated independently, we have life starting out on two planets in one solar system. This is a strong indicator of the ease with which life can begin. It speaks of a universe teeming with life.

The Rover found Erick Von Danicken taking pictures to illustrate his new book.

reply to post by OMsk3ptic


Well now...if they did find life on Mars, even if it derived from our Earth, it would prove life can survival and travel through space and survive on alien worlds. This would mean even if Earth is only place life was ever created that Earth may have spread life out into the universe that can evolve into intelligent beings given enough time. So in a way YES it does mean life can exists many places in the Universe.

reply to post by elevenaugust


One more for the limestone theory proposed by elevenaugust - what a cracking theory. That would tie this into the shiny rock and would be a phenomenal find indicating previous abundant life. They may have sampled the shiny rock to get the composition and found the right ratio of carbon, oxygen etc. compounds.

www.nasa.gov...

Thats what the NASA web site is currently saying about it.

Originally posted by Alexjustme
www.nasa.gov...

Thats what the NASA web site is currently saying about it.

WASHINGTON -- NASA will hold a news conference at 2 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 2, to discuss an astrobiology finding that will impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life. Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future of life in the universe.

Verrrry interesting. Sorry I don't have anything constructive to add. Just wanted to put this in my bookmarks for Dec. 2nd.

The only thing I can think of that would impact the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life is, well, finding evidence of extraterrestrial life.

reply to post by templar knight

One more for the limestone theory proposed by elevenaugust - what a cracking theory. That would tie this into the shiny rock and would be a phenomenal find indicating previous abundant life. They may have sampled the shiny rock to get the composition and found the right ratio of carbon, oxygen etc. compounds.

Calcium. If the shiny rock tests positive for calcium carbonate, it would be limestone.

Originally posted by Alexjustme
www.nasa.gov...

Thats what the NASA web site is currently saying about it.

That was from 2010

Boohoo! www.guardian.co.uk...

Whatever Curiosity has found, it is not evidence for life on Mars. It can't be. Curiosity is not designed to look for life. Grotzinger has stated this himself. In a Nasa video about the mission, he says, "Curiosity is not a life detection mission. We're not actually looking for life; we don't have the ability to detect life if it was there." Following up the internet speculation, Jeffrey Kluger of Time talked to Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory spokesperson Guy Webster and was told, "It won't be earthshaking, but it will be interesting." So what is the result likely to be? We know that it comes from the analysis of a soil sample using SAM, the on-board mini laboratory for sample analysis. The smart money is on a detection of so-called organic molecules. While scientifically important, organic molecules do not necessarily mean life. "Organic" in this context is a somewhat misleading term used to describe chemical compounds made from carbon bonded to hydrogen. They are essential for life, but not necessarily evidence of life because such molecules can be built from simple chemical reactions.