Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Team Reportedly Will Reveal Major Discovery In December

Can I point out that if you look at the RAW images from JPL there is two interesting things to note - sol 31 is missing, but perhaps more significant to what is currently being discussed - sol 99....would have been the 15th of Nov...maybe something of nothing but judging from from sol 98 and sol 100 they were taking high resolution close ups of rocks using MAHLI and the ChemCam - it might also be interesting to note that the "Chemcam" team with Ken Herkenhoff had a meeting on the day that would have been sol 99.

Ill say it again, may bear no significance at all but based on what it looks like they would have been doing on sol 99 and what equipment they were using any "history book" discovery does appear likely to be microbial.........we were expecting this anyway I guess.

Originally posted by Soylent Green Is People

Originally posted by AceWombat04
Right now we have exactly one example of a planet with carbon based life on it: Earth. If we ever find conclusive proof of organic life - past or present - on another planet, let alone one in our very own solar system, the probability of life emerging throughout the cosmos goes up considerably by my understanding...

I agree with that in principle.

However, we would also first need to confirm that any life on Mars is TOTALLY INDEPENDENT of life on Earth. If Mars seeded Earth with life, or vice versa, then we would still know of life "originating" from only one place.

Having said that, I think it is highly likely that there is life out there in the vast universe in numerous places, considering the size of the universe.

edit on 11/22/2012 by Soylent Green Is People because: sppellling

That makes a lot of sense. Even that would be a hugely important confirmation, though - that either planet could have seeded the other with life. I know there has been theory and speculation about this for a long while now, but to have concrete confirmation of it would be really something too.

Originally posted by Lysis
I'm calling it now...

I'm with this guy

Word has it that it's just another rock.

I for one am not going to be holding my breath for any real announcement of any ATS world importance, all it will be is microbes have been discovered ( either fossilisd or not) we all know that microbes exist on other worlds FFS , I would love a real decent discovery reported by the agency that regularly edits and doctors photos but alas Never A Straight Answer, or these days Never A Significent Announcement.

OI Nasa, how about this one " As the Rover was pootling along the surface taking samples we discovered a metal object that looked like it has been crafted", or " we discovered a trail of exactly the same shaped indentations that indicate footprints".
Now THEY would be worthy or an announcement.

Originally posted by youwillneverknow
Can I point out that if you look at the RAW images from JPL there is two interesting things to note - sol 31 is missing, but perhaps more significant to what is currently being discussed - sol 99....would have been the 15th of Nov...maybe something of nothing but judging from from sol 98 and sol 100 they were taking high resolution close ups of rocks using MAHLI and the ChemCam - it might also be interesting to note that the "Chemcam" team with Ken Herkenhoff had a meeting on the day that would have been sol 99.

Ill say it again, may bear no significance at all but based on what it looks like they would have been doing on sol 99 and what equipment they were using any "history book" discovery does appear likely to be microbial.........we were expecting this anyway I guess.

Very good observation ywnk !!

From NASA

......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.

"...will impact the search for evidence of..."

Well, it narrows down a lot of possibilities
Any thoughts?

Be thankful while the Vault is open to you, for soon it will recede like a scroll.

reply to post by DataWraith


I agree in part, with what you said. Its true that those things would be significant. Of course finding evidence of a civilisation on another world within our solar system would be incredible and amazing and wonderful. But I must point out the following to you.

First of all, science is not a tool for the entertainment of mankind. It is instead a tool which offers mankind the oppertunity to study, observe, and learn from the universe. From the smallest particle, to the largest bodies of matter in the cosmos, science is the method by which we best learn about the things which affect our every day lives, from the way planets form, to the way our food is digested. Therefore, science should only come up with amazing things to say, when they have actually found them.

Second, we have never in the history of space exploration, come across a significant body of matter (therefore discounting things like cometary, or asteroidal objects), other than our own Earth which had more than the merest tangible HINT of anything approaching life, being on thier surface. Oh its certainly true that we ought to make sure to look much harder in future, and scientific bodies should be more open minded about the possibilities, but as yet, if the NASA announcement is anything like what is being rumoured at present, then this will be a VERY significant moment in the history, not just of space exploration, not just in terms of science, but will be a moment of significance to vast swathes of thinkers, theologians, philosophers, and armchair mooks like me, and many others here on the site, who understand the implications of a discovery of ANY life or building block thereof, anywhere other than this planet, right here.

Again, you have to be capable of understanding the enormity of the implications of such a discovery to truely appreciate the impact it will have on things. If you cannot see the discovery of microbial life as something to get excited over, then really and honestly, there is no hope for you at all.

I have a motto where the ability of people to be excited by the results of fringe science like this is concerned. If you cannot be amazed by this, then you dont deserve to be amazed at all.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Dont get me wrong when I say I'm not amazed, I'm amazed everyday by even what others would consider mundane and what people take for granted, but I HATE the way people bolster, bluff and hype information to appease a few.
If you find something why not just come out and say it rather than have a huge frikking show and a cliffhanger wasting everybodies ( including theirs) time, I mean how much time does it have to take to say "Look, whilst Rover was sampling the Martian surface we found microbes?" instead of saying " Look we have an important thing to say in a few weeks".
Geez even if they said " Look we think we've found microbial life on Mars and we will investigate further" and if it turns out to be a glitch then admit to it straight up, its not rocket science is it? ( pun intended)

Even if NASA found cellular life on mars people are understanding enough ( hopefully ) and aren't going to be running round thinking their gonna be zapped by Aliens.....

reply to post by DataWraith


NASA have to go through as close to a peer review, or at least a detailed internal review, before publishing or announcing a result of import. This is right and just.

Regarding the idea that people are not going to assume that they are in danger of being zapped by aliens, there is a person who lives just down the road from me, who when asked cannot tell you the name of the planet on which they live! Never underestimate the stupidity of your fellow man !!

Realistically speaking, NASA,as a scientific organisation predominantly, have to be sure of thier findings. If they make an announcement, it has to be as accurate as possible, lest the whole organisation be bought into disrepute in the professional realm. Of course, the opinion of thier detractors outside the space industry are all of no importance what so ever to thier continued existence, but the opinions of fellow scientists? Those are very important, especially if they are to recruit serious people to thier organisation.

I already know what there going to say..

::Nasa official:: Mars is really made out of red cheese..

World reporters.:: everyone looks shocked::

meaning the common man/woman/child will never really know whats on mars cause theyve deemed it too explosive and would mess with there setup of controlling the masses.

So they'll say something, and folks will believe them.

But it won't be the truth.

reply to post by Eye of Horus


Why not wait to hear what the announcement actually consists of before throwing muck around Eye of Horus? Why not allow the infomation to come out, before trying to assault the position of those you obviously feel are lying to you?

Another quick point, if you really think that NASA are about lying to you, then what better way of pulling the wool over ones eyes, than to make one believe that even the truth is a lie?

Originally posted by LordAdef

From NASA

......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.

"...will impact the search for evidence of..."

Well, it narrows down a lot of possibilities
Any thoughts?

The press release you are linking to is from November 29, 2010

It was about extremophiles they found in Mono Lake, CA. Those extremophiles thrive and reproduce in the most toxic (arsenic) of environments.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
reply to post by Eye of Horus

 

Why not wait to hear what the announcement actually consists of before throwing muck around Eye of Horus? Why not allow the infomation to come out, before trying to assault the position of those you obviously feel are lying to you?

Another quick point, if you really think that NASA are about lying to you, then what better way of pulling the wool over ones eyes, than to make one believe that even the truth is a lie?

TrueBrit, I agree with you on everything you say concerning the proper scientific assessment and evaluation of data and the impact and value of it. I for one am the biggest fan of NASA and have defended them against the cover-up yelling crazies all the time. However, I have to say that this stinks. NASA either sucks the big one when it comes to communicating with the public or, at least in this case, they're trying to keep the lid on a major discovery.

Carefully examine what happened:

Grotzinger tells a reporter that recently (as in "not today") they fed a soil sample to the rover, and that the analysis of said sample shows earthshattering data for the history books. A scientist of Grotzinger's stature, experience and expertise doesn't make baseless and careless statements and certainly doesn't use such qualifiers if it is a rather mundane discovery.

Then the PR guy comes in and completely reverses Grotzinger's statement, not shying away from in fact ridiculing him. PR guy says that the data came in "while the NPR reporter was at Grotzinger's office" - but Grotzinger said it was data they collected "recently" - and that Grotzinger was referring to the Mars mission in general - which he wasn't, as he spoke of a specific soil sample.

So, PR guy is basically saying that either a) the NPR reporter was misrepresenting what Grotzinger said or even completely made it up, or b) Grotzinger is an inept scientist who doesn't know what he's talking about.
We can rule out (a), because Grotzinger would have come out and pointed out the misrepresentation by NPR, and, given Grotzinger's credentials, we can also rule out (b).

What happened is like a Meteorologist saying "tomorrow it will be 85F, clear and sunny skies" and then they cut to the news anchor, and he's saying "Well, Jim is always happy with the weather and what he actually meant is that tomorrow it will be -20F and a blizzard will bring a foot of snow".

Sorry, but I can't help but smell a rat.

The problem could be that Guy Webster, the journalist/ publicist for JPL/NASA has a lot less information about this discovery than Dr. Grotzinger and the Curiosity science team do. This is natural, at this point, considering his position, and the fact that the scientists are holding their information so closely.
Mr. Webster is presumably responding to all the speculation about the possible discovery of life on Mars.He is probably recalling that he was told that the Curiosity mission isn't seeking life, or equipped to detect it directly. He may not have considered the possibility that Curiosity could find something it wasn't actually seeking, or that it can indeed indirectly detect the presence of life, via its chemical 'biosignature'.
This could happen if an organic (carbon containing) compound was found, and analysis of of the carbon isotopes revealed a predominance of the lighter ones. These are favored by living things. We have no better explanation for their predominance than the presence of life.

reply to post by nv4711


I can see the reasons for your concerns about the discovery and the end legitimacy of the revalations that will be made by NASA . You are perfectly correct that the behavior of PR guy seems somewhat contradictory to the statements given by the actual scientists involved.

However, as I am sure you are aware, the reason that an organisation like NASA HAS a PR department is to ensure that what NASA says to the public is part of a narrative that makes sense, and is accurate, and is not based PURELY on supposition and incomplete results. Now, scientists get just as excited by the possibility of a discovery, as they would about actually making one, and even more enthusiastic than us laypeople do very often.

Heres the thing. Do you remember the time when an Italian outfit claimed to have discovered a faster than light neutrino? It turned out being utter twaddle, and the statement, which would have been fantastic if true, made everyone concerned look like twits. Turned out that the results they had gotten, were based faulty due to an imperfect measurement. Now, that might seem like "Well, fair enough, we all make mistakes!". Well, on face value, I could agree, but the thing is that accurate measurement is one of, if not the most important thing about practical experimentation in physics.

If we apply the same logic to the NASA matter that we are discussing, then its pretty simple to see that NASA have no CHOICE but to be very careful with thier facts here. First of all, if they turn out to be wrong about thier discovery, then one of the biggest scientific bodies in the world, will be a total laughing stock, and public confidence in thier abilities will drop. In a decade where thier funding has been cut, and the space shuttle is now grounded, NASA simply cannot afford to drop the ball on anything remotely important like this.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Yes. John Grotzinger is a human being, not an emotionless robot, and it is quite possible that he got a little overly excited when he was talking to the NPR reporter than he should have been.

When talking about big discoveries, it is important that these big discoveries are confirmed, double-checked-and reconfirmed prior to make a public announcement, and John Grotzinger (being human) perhaps got a little giddy and he spilled the beans a bit too early, going outside NASA's organizational "check valves".

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Hey, I dont begrudge him the elation and excitement that comes with something as massive as this announcement seems to be. Dont get me wrong, the face that he is excited enough to speak so passionately and with such enthusiasm gives me confidence in his belief in what he has discovered. Put another way, I have been impressed by the boyish wonder that appears to be eminating from the lead scientists, because it lends wieght to the honesty of what they are doing, and what remains to be said about it.

This is thrilling news. I have always believed that this is part of Cosmic Journey Mark II This is the first stage of it. First thing will be OOOOOOOOOOH! We have found microbacterial life on Mars. Huzzah! Then the funding will come to send manned missions to Mars. Once we have an manned presence on Mars then stage 2 will take place. Perhaps a signal will be detected from an ET civilisation and then this in turn paves the way for stage 3 which is Full Contact. Exciting times ahead I think, but only if we can stop killing each other and dont blow ourselves to kingdom come.