What Has NASA's Curiosity Found on Mars? We'll Find Out Thursday

originally posted by: NightFlight
Attention:

There are no aliens...


They are MARTIANS !!!

Join the new century...

... MarShawn!!

a reply to: Moohide

They've confirmed the seasonal methane spikes which I think is good news , if life exists it lives underground.

a reply to: gortex

Correct, but they still dont know what causes the spike in summer.

A set of geological results recently delivered courtesy of Curiosity's drill bit provides a deeper understanding of the organic chemistry of the 300-million-year-old mudstone in two separate parts of Gale crater.

The samples were found to contain thiophene, 2- and 3-methylthiophenes, methanethiol, and dimethylsulfide.

These chemicals might not mean a great deal to most of us, but to areologists (that's Martian geologists) it's an indication that the organic chemistry in Martian mudstone is extremely similar to our own.

The super exciting part is that the method used to detect these chemicals indicates they're not floating around in the rock all alone, but are smaller pieces of organic chemistry that's been torn off even bigger, more complicated materials.

sciencealert.com - BREAKING: NASA Just Revealed Conclusive Evidence of Organic Compounds on Mars.

The nerdy, sciency part!

Finding that they probably from larger organic molecules is the interesting part. That, and they have survived the low atmospheric condition locked in ice.

Of course, MarShawn could have had a flock of cows!

a reply to: gortex

I try to get excited over this... I really do, but..

Seasonal methane spikes confirmed. Be still, my heart!

a reply to: beetee

I dont get excited when they say "press conference", its about how interesting you find this new information. I find it very interesting personally.

a reply to: beetee

95% of methane on Earth is created by life , seasonal methane spikes on Mars could be indicative of life beneath the surface of the planet.

a reply to: gortex

They only drilled about 5 cm deep. Solar radiation goes about one meter below the surface. After hundreds of thousands of years of radiation, which destroys organic material, there is still evidence at only 5 cm deep. Anything that robust could still be alive below the one meter mark.

a reply to: gortex

So, could the spikes be caused by ice evaperating releasing methane? Could it be trapped in porous rock and released with the warming of the rock in higher summer tempratures? I'm not convinced its life of any sort of life yet.

a reply to: Vroomfondel

When they drill down 2 metres we will know more, but the lower down you go the less influence from surface you have.

a reply to: Moohide

I'm not convinced its life of any sort of life yet.

I didn't say it was , but it could be.

a reply to: gortex


Lmao, are you serious ? You think that I think it is real ? ....Nope just like to have a joke....lighten up

Q: What organic molecules did you find, and how do they compare with anything that is found or produced on Earth?

A: [...] SAM detected fragments of much larger molecules that had been broken up during the high-temperature heating experiment. Thus, SAM has detected “macromolecular organic matter” otherwise known as kerogen. Kerogen is a name given to organic material that is present in rocks and in carbonaceous meteorites. It is generally present as small particles that are chemically complex with no easily identified chemical entities. One analogy I use is that it is something like finding very finely powdered coal-like material distributed through a rock. Except that there were no trees on Mars, so it is not coal. Just coal-like.

[...]All we can say from the data is that there is complex organic matter similar to what is found in many equivalent aged rocks on the Earth.

Q: What could be the possible sources for these organic molecules, biological or otherwise?

A: We cannot say anything about its origin. The significance of the finding, however, is that the results show organic matter can be preserved in Mars surface sediments. [...]

Q: The Curiosity rover found the first definitive evidence of organic matter on Mars in 2014. Now with these new results, what does this all say about the possibility that there is, or was life on Mars?

A: [...] On the other hand, the finding that complex organic matter can be preserved there for more than 3 billion years is a very encouraging sign for future exploration. “Preservation” is the key word, here. It means that, one day, there is potential for more sophisticated instrumentation to detect a wider range of compounds in Mars samples, including the sorts of molecules made by living organisms, such as lipids, amino acids, sugars, or even nucleobases.

MIT.edu, news, June 7, 2018 - 3 Questions: Roger Summons on finding organic matter on Mars.

Summons is a team member with author of the findings paper Jen Eigenbrode.

Last year, (June 1!!! Rover findings indicate stratified lake on ancient Mars), it was announced that there was a lake on the surface of Mars and it was there for a while as it repeatedly made stratified deposits they observed in various depths. Gale crater was a lake.

Now, "complex organic material" is the big announcement almost exactly 1 year later from the same location.

Next year, another drip of a "major NASA announcement" will probably come along. By then, James Web ST will be ready, so the year after that, when they point the thing at Mars, one more drip gets added into the impatience bucket.

There was life on Mars. There may be life present on Mars making the strange seasonal methane still.

NASA - Need Another Seven Anniversaries