Mars robots may have destroyed evidence of life!

Have Mars landers been destroying signs of life? Instead of identifying chemicals that could point to life, NASA's robot explorers may have been toasting them by mistake!

At low temperatures, perchlorates are relatively harmless. But when heated to hundreds of degrees Celsius they release a lot of oxygen, which tends to cause any nearby combustible material to burn. For that very reason, perchlorates are used in rocket propulsion.

The Phoenix and Viking landers looked for organic molecules by heating soil samples to similarly high temperatures to evaporate them and analyse them in gas form. When Douglas Ming of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and colleagues tried heating organics and perchlorates like this on Earth, the resulting combustion left no trace of organics behind.

hmm maybe because nasa destroyed them before they could find them?

Whats going on here! Is nasa on a mission to find life or to destroy it? I certainly hope they dont hide anything from us! But they would never do that, would they? You decide...

Link

I like it, NASA on a mission to conquer Mars by frying all life instead of research it.

Is the Rover only sampling stuff by heating it up or does it have other sample methods ?

I can't understand why they have to heat up chemicals to test them. Test them don't destroy them.

reply to post by Chovy


Could be due to the Martian atmosphere why they need the samples in a gaseous form, or it might just be the best way for them they could attach a sampling device to the rover ?

Well, as far as government run organizations go, NASA is among the better organized, but as with any government organization they are still a bunch of goofs.

Many scientists have spoken about the fact that the instrument package didn't have anything that would have been high on their list if someone asked them what to include.

The method NASA is using is viable, however it can deliver debatable results. I don't know enough to recommend what I would use to find life on Mars, but many do and have said Nasa aint doing it right, lol.

Originally posted by Chovy
I can't understand why they have to heat up chemicals to test them. Test them don't destroy them.

The idea was that heated, life would produce certain gases (such as carbon). It seems to be the easiest way (at the time, remember this was over 30 years ago) to test for life.

Over 30 years ago Phoenix Lander was just a few months ago in my timeline

phoenix.lpl.arizona.edu...

And the Rovers have nothing to do with it, They are not heating anything. All they are doing is grinding fossils

reply to post by IgnoreTheFacts


A radical anti NASA comment? I'm shocked...

Hey If I got into Edwards at the end of August, ya wanna do lunch?

Originally posted by zorgon
And the Rovers have nothing to do with it, They are not heating anything. All they are doing is grinding fossils

those rovers are murderers. they probably killed Martian bacterial life.

reply to post by Chovy


Do you bathe? I guess that would make you a murderer.

Originally posted by Chovy

those rovers are murderers. they probably killed Martian bacterial life.

Man once this hits the MSM we will never hear the end of it.
[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/2cf6b03c5cd1.jpg[/atsimg]

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Chovy

 

Do you bathe? I guess that would make you a murderer.

I don't go to other planets and burn traces of life if that's what your asking.

reply to post by Chovy

those rovers are murderers. they probably killed Martian bacterial life.

So it's only murder if you kill martian bacterial life, not earthly bacterial life.
What are you, some kind of planetary specieist?
They aren't talking about bacteria, they're talking about molecules.


[edit on 7/24/2009 by Phage]

reply to post by SLAYER69


Now cut that out I found that picture first

Originally posted by zorgon
reply to post by SLAYER69


Now cut that out

I found that picture first

I'm waiting for Phage to inform him about the millions of martian bacteria that get killed every year by being crushed by "Rocks that plummet from the sky"

Originally posted by Chovy
those rovers are murderers. they probably killed Martian bacterial life.

No just grind fossils into oblivion...

Slide from Dr Jim Garvin's presentation




Close up of rock with fossil... The name of the Rock is Humphrey




Here is Humphrey with drill marks from the RAT (Rotary Abrasive Tool)



Animation of the drilling by ArMaP



Closeup of the hole... no fossil in sight

reply to post by zorgon


I heard about those fossils. Story is rover found some growth on it and started to grind away at it. Seeing that damage made me angry.

I already posted this a while back, but ATS decided to delete it because it was already in the Current Events board. I felt it more appropriate to be in this forum.

Oh well.

Still interesting stuff though, and something to highly consider next time sending up a rover.

Originally posted by zorgon
Over 30 years ago

Phoenix Lander was just a few months ago in my timeline

I was referring to the Viking mission; Phoenix was not specifically equipped to look for life but rather explore the conditions for life.

Originally posted by DoomsdayRex
I was referring to the Viking mission; Phoenix was not specifically equipped to look for life but rather explore the conditions for life.

AH That old thing

Well its still not dead yet

[ex[In 1997, Biospherics' President and CEO, Dr. Gilbert V. Levin, announced his new conclusion that his 1976 Viking Labeled Release (LR) life detection experiment found living microorganisms in the soil of Mars.

If your a paper junky like me there are tons of em here on this issue
mars.spherix.com...