So what is brewing on Mars?

[Strangler Lewis]

Originally Posted by Ghoulish Delight

The President's interested? Must have found oil.

Or a copy of the Martian Bible.

[BarTopDancer]

Originally Posted by JWBear

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

Spoiler:

Better that than

Spoiler:

[Cadaverous Pallor]

They got the deer award?

[JWBear]

Originally Posted by Cadaverous Pallor

They got the deer award?

You're just being glib and suppressive.

[Alex]

Not very exciting but here's 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 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]

Originally Posted by Alex

Not very exciting but here's 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) 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:

Spoiler: