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Mars curious... What have they found?!!!
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So they are saying this discovery is "one for the history books." But they won't say what it is until sometime in December.
So, does this sound like scientific hyperbole, or maybe their idea of a big find is not exactly what the average person would consider big? What are the possibilities... carbon?
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513016/big-news-from-mars-rover-scientists-mum-for-now
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My stupid iPhone game: Nesen Probe, it's rather old, annoying and pointless, but it's free.
Was free. Now it's gone. Never to be seen again.
Off to join its brother and sister apps that could not
keep up with the ever updating iOS. RIP Nesen Probe.
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Clinically Insane
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Location: Chicago, Bang! Bang!
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"Mars questioning" is the PC term now.
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Clinically Insane
Join Date: Jun 2001
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They found an empty coke can.
-t
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According to NPR, it concerns a soil sample placed in the SAM module. SAM does gas analysis. Either from atmosphere, or given off by a heated sample. The analysis looks for elements, molecules, and isotope ratios. SAM seems to be optimized for analyzing organic (carbon-containing) molecules.
So it's most likely found a chemical only created by life. Or an isotope ratio favoring lighter isotopes than Mars ambient ratios. Life tends to favor the lightest isotope of an element.
Finding chemicals useful for future settlement (U235, gold, bauxite, etc) would be most interesting. But not big enough "for the history books".
Note: finding significant technetium in a sample would also qualify.
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I think they found a pot seed.
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"Faster, faster! 'Till the thrill of speed overcomes the fear of death." - HST
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I think it almost has to be organic. As said, it mainly analyzes gases and no metals are in gas form at that temperature (I seriously doubt that they try to heat anything up). I would guess that it is either complex organic molecules (in which case I would guess that they have traveled from Earth on an asteroid, thereby lending some credence to the panspermia reasoning), some simpler molecule that would be very useful if anyone tries to live there, or telltale signs of a different environment earlier in the development of the solar system. I don't think He3 deposits qualify, although that would be interesting in a longer perspective.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Clinically Insane
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Several hundred ballot boxes from Pennsylvania and Ohio.
And Florida. And Nevada. And Iowa.
But seriously, remember the flak around the 1996 announcement? I think they're being a little more careful this time around.
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We are all Martians. You heard it here first.
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Clinically Insane
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Hey buddy... I'm American.
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Addicted to MacNN
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Half buried statue of liberty.
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My sig is 1 pixel too big.
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Clinically Insane
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Location: 888500128, C3, 2nd soft.
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"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
- Thomas Paine
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Originally Posted by lpkmckenna
We are all Martians. You heard it here first.
That would be pretty wild. But unfortunately evolution kinda says that probably isn't the case. :|
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Originally Posted by knifecarrier2
That would be pretty wild. But unfortunately evolution kinda says that probably isn't the case. :|
Strictly speaking evolution doesn't talk about the origin of life, only about how life has evolved and changed into different species
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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Professional Poster
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Possible "orgainics" found.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/organics-on-mars-curiosity-rover_n_2232436.html?ncid=edlinkusaolp00000009
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__________________________________________________
My stupid iPhone game: Nesen Probe, it's rather old, annoying and pointless, but it's free.
Was free. Now it's gone. Never to be seen again.
Off to join its brother and sister apps that could not
keep up with the ever updating iOS. RIP Nesen Probe.
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Moderator
Join Date: Apr 2000
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden
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HuffPost: "A team of scientists announced on Monday that the Mars Rover Curiosity had found evidence of organic compounds on the Red Planet."
NASA press release that HuffPost links to: "We have no definitive detection of Martian organics at this point, but we will keep looking in the diverse environments of Gale Crater," said SAM Principal Investigator Paul Mahaffy of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
It may be that whatever peon wrote the HuffPost piece read this part:
"Reactions with other chemicals heated in SAM formed chlorinated methane compounds -- one-carbon organics that were detected by the instrument. "
and didn't understand that those organics were generated in the lab.
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The new Mac Pro has up to 30 MB of cache inside the processor itself. That's more than the HD in my first Mac. Somehow I'm still running out of space.
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