NASA The Tease

[Windigo]

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/337457

Mars Curiosity Rover: NASA hints at historic discovery
Posted Nov 22, 2012 by Robert Myles
NASA talked tantalisingly about a discovery made by its Mars Curiosity Rover this week that could "get in the history books" but finding out what exactly that discovery may be will have to wait a few weeks until NASA has checked results.


NASA/JPL Caltech
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity used a mechanism on its robotic arm to dig up five scoopfuls of material from a patch of dusty sand called "Rocknest," producing the five bite-mark pits visible in this image from the rover's left Navigation Camera (Navcam). Each of the pits is about 2 inches (5 centimeters) wide.In an article published on US public radio station's NPR website this week, John Grotzinger, one of the leaders of NASA's Mars exploration program is quoted as saying,
"This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good."
According to Space.com, we will not know for several more weeks what these result may be and the meeting of the American Geophysical Union to be held in San Francisco between December 3 and December 7 is being talked about as the venue for an important announcement.
Curiosity has recently been analysing soil samples scooped from the Martian surface at an area NASA scientists have called 'Rocknest.' The samples are analysed by Curiosity's onboard Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) apparatus.
Speaking to website 20minutes.fr earlier this year, Dan Limonadi, one of the scientists responsible for the analysis of Martian samples said that the mission of SAM and Curiosity was not necessarily to find organisms which were alive today but rather to "determine whether Mars has ever been habitable."
Patrick Coll, deputy director of Paris based Laboratoire Interuniversitaire des Systèmes Atmosphériques or LISA (Interuniversity Laboratory on Atmospheric Systems), which is also engaged in analysis of data from SAM, said on the LISA website, following media speculation that SAM may have found life on Mars,
"Contrary to what you may read in some media, SAM cannot find living organisms, since the analytical laboratory is responsible for defining the chemical composition of samples whether from the soil or the atmosphere. Obviously if SAM detects or identifies organic compounds, it should try to answer the question of what may have brought these about. In that event, it would not just be for SAM to answer the question of where organic compounds may have originated, but all the instruments of the MSL (Mars Science Laboratory) cross-referencing their results to better understand the origin of such compounds, whether biological or otherwise."


NASA/JPL
Integrated Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument for Mars Science Laboratory rover "Curiosity".The SAM on board the Curiosity Mars rover analyses samples of the Martian soil and atmosphere. This includes testing for possible traces of methane and other organic compounds, the essential chemical 'building blocks' for to life as we know it. If such molecules were detected, it would mean they could have been produced by living organisms, but equally, they could have geological origins, particularly methane found in meteorites.
Recently, NASA thought it had detected such compounds but then realised it was a contaminated sample arising from the trip from Earth. For this reason scientists are being ultra-cautious before announcing any definitive results.
Analysis of the recent samples scooped up from the surface of Mars by the NASA Curiosity rover has been conducted 20 hours a day, every day, from November 10 to November 20, reports LISA. There will now be a pause in research for the US Thanksgiving holiday from today. Mars watchers will have to wait another two weeks for what may, or may not be, an Earth shattering, or should that be Mars shattering, announcement.


Read more: http://www.digitaljournal.com/print/article/337457#ixzz2CyX7DFi9

[Windigo]

I am betting that they have found complex organics that strongly suggest that there was or still is life on Mars.

Take that Neo-con religious bitches!

[LongBlade]

I don't see incompatibility in either politics or religion involved in finding life outside the planet. There might be a few flat earthers out there who literally believe the Bible's timeline, but I don't know anyone personally.

I doubt you do, either.

[Windigo]

I don't see incompatibility in either politics or religion involved in finding life outside the planet. There might be a few flat earthers out there who literally believe the Bible's timeline, but I don't know anyone personally.

I doubt you do, either.

I am certain you haven't looked at all, I cannot imaging that it would be gard at all to find young earth creationists in the Tea Party

[LongBlade]

I am certain you haven't looked at all, I cannot imaging that it would be gard at all to find young earth creationists in the Tea Party

You're right. I don't seek out crazies. Just telling you there are zero I've run (knowingly) across in my nearly half century on the planet.

Keep looking, Windy. I wish you luck. In a nation of 300 million I'll readily concede we have a few lunatics out there. LMK when you meet one.

[besilarius]

Surprisingly, the Vatican is spearheading efforts to debate how humanity should prepare for meeting extraterrestrials.
Of course, their point of view is based on how we treat them.  With the way Europeans treated the indigienous peoples of the Americas as being a worst case situation based on ignorance and "might makes right".
http://www.foxnews.com/world/2009/11/10/vatican-seeks-signs-alien-life/

Don't always agree with the Vatican, but at least some body is debating this issue before it occurs.

[GDS_Starfury]

[Mr. Bigglesworth]

I am betting that they have found complex organics that strongly suggest that there was or still is life on Mars.

Take that Neo-con religious bitches!

That would be a new form of Lunatic!
That would crater the God made Heaven and Earth in 7 days crowd.
They will moon for the good old days when people were gullible.


Pass baton to Bob.

[Windigo]

I am betting that they have found complex organics that strongly suggest that there was or still is life on Mars.

Take that Neo-con religious bitches!

That would be a new form of Lunatic!
That would crater the God made Heaven and Earth in 7 days crowd.
They will moon for the good old days when people were gullible.


Pass baton to Bob.

Personally, I think LB doesn't stray far from his socio-economic group and he is sheltered. I wonder if he realizes why there are shows like "Honey-boo-boo" and "Unwed Mothers" and "Duck Dynasty" and why they are so popular

[bob48]

I am betting that they have found complex organics that strongly suggest that there was or still is life on Mars.

Take that Neo-con religious bitches!

That would be a new form of Lunatic!
That would crater the God made Heaven and Earth in 7 days crowd.
They will moon for the good old days when people were gullible.


Pass baton to Bob.

A Titanic effort on your part, now you can rest in a sea of tranquility - but I'll try not to Leda you on. (phew!)

[Windigo]

I am betting that they have found complex organics that strongly suggest that there was or still is life on Mars.

Take that Neo-con religious bitches!

That would be a new form of Lunatic!
That would crater the God made Heaven and Earth in 7 days crowd.
They will moon for the good old days when people were gullible.


Pass baton to Bob.

A Titanic effort on your part, now you can rest in a sea of tranquility - but I'll try not to Leda you on. (phew!)

Though Formidable & Illustrious, I am not Indomitable, so if we are going another round I am going to put a Hood over my head

[LongBlade]

Personally, I think LB doesn't stray far from his socio-economic group and he is sheltered.

Perhaps I am, but I think you're the guy in error here. I've spent some time reading online articles and a solid minority believe the Earth was created within the last 10,000 years.

Both my wife and I just chatted. We *think* we might be able to ID a few folks in Atlanta who used to be neighbors who might, maybe believe that.

But I'm going to tell you I think your data is suffering from some measurement errors.

Beliefnet cites a number of Gallup polls over the years which measure the question as to whether people believe the Bible is "literally the word of God." http://www.religioustolerance.org/ev_publia.htm

I suspect that a good chunk of Americans *do* believe it is literal. Except...where they don't.

Ask them in a poll if that's what they believe and they'll tell you yes.

But ask them if the Earth was created 7,000 years ago? I know a lot of people who are Bible-thumping Christians who absolutely reject that notion. If you asked them if the Bible was the absolute Word-of-God they'd tell you yes. But not all those dots connect the way you think they do.

[eyebiter]

I'd bet they found traces of water.

[LongBlade]

I'd bet they found traces of water.

Traces of water, while interesting and highly signficant, don't qualify for a long tease of "historic" proportions.

I'm betting proto-life. That would be historic.

Well, water would be historic, too, but I don't think anyone will be surprised if life was found to have lived on Mars. Most of us are expecting it.

[Con]

I am betting that they found obamas college transcripts and NASA is going to demand that trump pays up
  ;D

Con