So what is brewing on Mars?

[Moonliner]

The President of the United States had a private briefing (http://www.universetoday.com/2008/08/02/the-white-house-is-briefed-phoenix-about-to-announce-potential-for-life-on-mars/)by the scientists working with the Phoenix lander about something more "provocative" than the discovery of water.

I curious, How big of a deal would it be to you if Phoenix did in fact prove the existence of life on Mars? (Note: I don't think that is the case here, at least not yet....)

Somehow I'm just not that excited about finding micro organisms on another planet.

[JWBear]

They found Jimmy Hoffa?

[Ghoulish Delight]

The President's interested? Must have found oil. I expect Haliburton to be running the next mission to Mars.

[CoasterMatt]

Halliburton = UAC :eek:

[scaeagles]

I think they found a hatch left behind by the Dharma Initiative.

[Disneyphile]

The President's interested? Must have found oil. I expect Haliburton to be running the next mission to Mars.
I wonder if Mars will be added to the "Axis of Evil"?

The Martians have probably been building an arsenal for some time now and may be on the brink of blowing their WAD (Weapon of Alien Distruction) all over the US! So, we must get 'em first!

[The Original OC Adventure]

Maybe they found a fossil, or at least something that looks like one.

[BarTopDancer]

Maybe it's the home base of the aliens from ID4.

[The Original OC Adventure]

I'm pretty certain it's not cappuccinno.

[JWBear]

Here's a picture of what they saw. It was leaked by the government.

http://locutus.ucr.edu/cool/alienWave.gif

[Strangler Lewis]

The President's interested? Must have found oil.

Or a copy of the Martian Bible.

[BarTopDancer]

Here's a picture of what they saw. It was leaked by the government.

http://locutus.ucr.edu/cool/alienWave.gif

Better that than
http://www.jaunted.com/files/5957/tom_cruise_bambi_katie.jpg

[Cadaverous Pallor]

They got the deer award? :confused:

[JWBear]

They got the deer award? :confused:

You're just being glib and suppressive.

[Alex]

Not very exciting but here's (http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001586/) a de-hyped recounting of the situation from wonderful astronomy blogger Emily Lakdawala. Essentially it is the opposite of what was inferred from the initial Aviation Week story. Rather than being positive news about the posibility of life on Mars there is dispositive news suggesting that organic life may have been pretty unlikely.

Key paragraphs:



The Wet Chemistry Lab component of the MECA instrument has now analyzed two Mars soil samples. In both (I think), the MECA results indicate that one of the components of the soil may be an ion called perchlorate (ClO4-), which is an oxidizer. Oxidizers can do bad things to organic molecules, so its presence -- if confirmed -- would suggest that the past environment preserved in the soil at Phoenix' landing site was not conducive to life.
HOWEVER, the TEGA instrument is also capable of detecting perchlorate. There have been two analyses of samples by TEGA. In one, the data could have been consistent either with the presence or absence of the perchlorate ion in the soil. In the other, the data suggested that perchlorate was NOT present.
The problem is that no special briefing happened. Without that, the "discovery concerning the potential for life' is suddenly much less interesting. The main goal of the Phoenix mission (http://www.planetary.org/explore/topics/phoenix/objectives.html) is to study the potential for past habitable environments on Mars; pretty much any measurement made by TEGA or MECA has some bearing on that question.

[Ghoulish Delight]

I see the coverup has already begun.

[Moonliner]

Not very exciting but here's (http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001586/) a de-hyped recounting of the situation from wonderful astronomy blogger Emily Lakdawala. Essentially it is the opposite of what was inferred from the initial Aviation Week story. Rather than being positive news about the posibility of life on Mars there is dispositive news suggesting that organic life may have been pretty unlikely.

Key paragraphs:

[/LIST]

Actually this news has rather exciting potential. Oxidizers (like perchlorate (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perchlorate)) are a key component in solid rocket boosters and they can be used to produce oxygen. Two very useful things if you are looking to land people on the planet.

Of course I am assuming that NASA/JLP is smart enough that they are not detecting the residue from their own landing rockets.

[Alex]

Certainly wasn't saying it isn't interesting, just that it wasn't good news about life on Mars which is what most people were thinking from the initial erroneous report.

I'm sure Richard Hoagland is fully in GD's (not serious but it is for Hoagland) camp that this is just the cover-up beginning.

[Pirate Bill]

Obviously some other alien life form completely destroyed the Martians in a devastating interplanetary war. And to prevent any further life from ever taking root there they salted the planet with perchlorate.

[Kevy Baby]

Here is what is brewing on Mars:

http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Lot/9992/billbeer.gif

[JWBear]

So that's where he disappeared to!

[BarTopDancer]

Dang it! I was hoping they would find a Dharma hatch. Or Hoffa. Or something. ANYTHING.

[sleepyjeff]

On a barely related note; does anyone else find James Micheners Texas and Ray Bradburys The Martian Chronicles a little too similar? :D