Mars Rover 'Curiosity' Team Reportedly Will Reveal Major Discovery In December
Source: Huffington Post
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has apparently made a discovery "for the history books," but we'll have to wait a few weeks to learn what the new Red Planet find may be, media reports suggest.
The discovery was made by Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, NPR reported today (Nov. 20). SAM is the rover's onboard chemistry lab, and it's capable of identifying organic compounds the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it.
SAM apparently spotted something interesting in a soil sample Curiosity's huge robotic arm delivered to the instrument recently.
"This data is gonna be one for the history books," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told NPR. "It's looking really good."
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/11/20/mars-rover-curiosity-discovery_n_2167207.html
Can't wait! This is really exciting.
Hmmm... I wonder what Marco Rubio will say.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)with a kick and a rec
Berlum
(7,044 posts)Last edited Wed Nov 21, 2012, 08:16 AM - Edit history (1)
Confusious
(8,317 posts)Don't be humor impared.
emsimon33
(3,128 posts)roguevalley
(40,656 posts)leftyohiolib
(5,917 posts)Native
(5,942 posts)Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)Blue Velvet.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)AAO
(3,300 posts)We are Devo
(193 posts)melm00se
(4,993 posts)n/t
Joe Bacon
(5,165 posts)Turborama
(22,109 posts)Kablooie
(18,634 posts)I live a couple of miles from JPL.
trumad
(41,692 posts)Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)long long ago
tclambert
(11,086 posts)A bottle cap? A book entitled "To Serve Humans?" All the socks that have ever gone missing in the laundry?
Confusious
(8,317 posts)lunatica
(53,410 posts)They don't have feet so thus they have no need of socks.
Voice for Peace
(13,141 posts)FrodosPet
(5,169 posts)"Not sure what it means, but my new discovery has been code-named 'Operation Mind-Reading Alien Slug-Worm.' "
Pale Blue Dot
(16,831 posts)yodermon
(6,143 posts)sorry
We are Devo
(193 posts)Makes twitter worth it!
aandegoons
(473 posts)I am guessing it is an Earth meteorite.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)Posted yesterday in GD well over 12 hours ago : http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=1855602
referred to this link : Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513016/big-news-from-mars-rover-scientists-mum-for-now
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)This IS LBN and falls within the 24 hour time period required for LBN. Neither was it posted on LBN to begin with. Maybe you should aks the person who posted to GD why they didn't post to LBN.
Sheesh. This is why I rarely post anymore.
dipsydoodle
(42,239 posts)"Post the latest news from reputable mainstream news websites and blogs. Important news of national interest only. No analysis or opinion pieces. No duplicates. News stories must have been published within the last 12 hours. Use the published title of the story as the title of the discussion thread."
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)But by all means, please report me so this thread can be locked and no one will get this news on LBN.
Berlum
(7,044 posts)DippyDem
(659 posts)DainBramaged
(39,191 posts)Kolesar
(31,182 posts)With special guests: The Black Eyed Peas
ncteechur
(3,071 posts)reteachinwi
(579 posts)Perhaps its the anonymous evidence randome is so on about.
Setsuna1972
(332 posts)Botany
(70,508 posts)alcibiades_mystery
(36,437 posts)closeupready
(29,503 posts)whistler162
(11,155 posts)Waldo!
NomadicView
(6 posts)They found Saddam's WMD?
NomadicView
(6 posts)Evidence of vast quantities of water just below the surface? I suppose that's too much to dream for.
Odin2005
(53,521 posts)deutsey
(20,166 posts)It's hard to imagine anything else being so momentous...
Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)It would make sense that they'd take their time to release the information. You wouldn't want to be wrong about any of the results and data.
This could be a really exciting time for space exploration!
AAO
(3,300 posts)LongTomH
(8,636 posts).....only to identify organic (carbon-based) compounds. Finding organic molecules would, however, validate the results from the Viking Labeled Release experiment. That was designed to detect living organisms and did come back with positive results. When the Viking Gas Chromatograph failed to find organic compounds in the soil, most researchers assumed the Labeled Release results were due to 'exotic soil chemistry.'
Gil Levin, who designed the Labeled Release experiment, has always believed that the Vikings found life on Mars. If the Curiosity science package finds evidence of organic molecules, it will prove Dr. Levin right after 36 years.
Ian_rd
(2,124 posts)JustABozoOnThisBus
(23,343 posts)Created a whole tv show around "the decision".
Or maybe Geraldo Rivera - they discovered another of Al Capone's safes on Mars. The grand opening will reveal all.
Whatever it is, the suspenders is killin' me.
jpak
(41,758 posts)Puzzledtraveller
(5,937 posts)Zen Democrat
(5,901 posts)Godhumor
(6,437 posts)The rover then promptly exploded in slow motion to the sounds of Aerosmith.
2pooped2pop
(5,420 posts)I thought they might be there.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)that's where they are
barbtries
(28,797 posts)life on mars????
Lochloosa
(16,065 posts)onehandle
(51,122 posts)Ryano42
(1,577 posts)Dr. Strange
(25,921 posts)harun
(11,348 posts)once they started running the soil analyzers. I was like "Why did they go in to boring mode?". Then I thought they had to be pouring over some interesting finds to verify if they were correct or not. Then spent a lot of time in that one spot.
Too bad they are making us wait so long.
Gman
(24,780 posts)according to a couple of reports around. They are delaying the announcement to be very sure the readings are accurate.
meeshrox
(671 posts)a while ago (maybe weeks?) and decided to run another test. They figured that it could be trace amounts from the Earth air they brought with them in the instrumentation. They ran the test again and found no methane. But, this is separate from that event. From the NPR article:
"So why doesn't Grotzinger want to share his exciting news? The main reason is caution. Grotzinger and his team were almost stung once before. When SAM analyzed an air sample, it looked like there was methane in it, and at least here on Earth, some methane comes from living organisms.
But Grotzinger says they held up announcing the finding because they wanted to be sure they were measuring Martian air, and not air brought along from the rover's launchpad at Cape Canaveral.
"We knew from the very beginning that we had this risk of having brought air from Florida. And we needed to diminish it and then make the measurement again," he says. And when they made the measurement again, the signs of methane disappeared."
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513016/big-news-from-mars-rover-scientists-mum-for-now
This is something different and even more exciting!
harun
(11,348 posts)They have future tests planned that will be more sensitive to it.
The orbiting spacecraft have detected methane on numerous occasions. It wouldn't be big news if Curiosity detected it as well.
The only thing I can think of that they would find that would lead to this type of anouncement is detection of compounds in the soil that we know only arise from biological processes.
Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)Methane decays/bonds with other stuff rapidly. Unless there is an active biological process occurring, no methane should be found on Mars.
If they found methane, it could be huge.
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)From what you're saying, if it's a methane finding, it's a sign of CURRENT life on Mars. But...(I'm kind of stuttering over this)...what could it be? What kind of critters? Do bacteria emit methane? Do other tiny things? Algae? Mosquitos? Flies? Krill? Or snakes, or fish, or turtles? What could be emitting methane on Mars? Maybe under-the-surface life? But of what kind?
This could be a correction of their previous announcement, that they DIDN't find methane. Maybe they snuffed that because it was just too big a discovery, and have gone back and thoroughly verified it. But it could be--and probably is--something else. Evidence of past life? Evidence of oceans below the surface? "One for the history books" sounds pretty big.
But if it IS methane, what does this imply, as to the type of life?
Peace Patriot
(24,010 posts)Main article: methanogenesis
Naturally occurring methane is mainly produced by the process of methanogenesis. This multistep process is used by microorganisms as an energy source. The net reaction is:
CO2 + 8 H+ + 8 e- → CH4 + 2 H2O
The final step in the process is catalysed by the enzyme methyl-coenzyme M reductase. Methanogenesis is a form of anaerobic respiration used by organisms that occupy landfill, ruminants (e.g., cattle), and the guts of termites.
It is uncertain if plants are a source of methane emissions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methane
--------------------
I guess that answers my question. "Organisms in the guts of termites." Could be very tiny critters.
Mz Pip
(27,448 posts)I've heard they can survive just about anywhere and anything.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)they better check that out
aquart
(69,014 posts)I sucked at chemistry.
Victor_c3
(3,557 posts)You gotta love veteran's hiring preference.
Actually, I'm selling myself a little short. I actually do a pretty decent job with what I'm assigned. However, my area of expertise is in metals and other inorganics. Organic chemistry, other than the real basic stuff, is a stretch for me.
slackmaster
(60,567 posts)TomClash
(11,344 posts)And perhaps its source. That would be my guess.
James48
(4,436 posts)FailureToCommunicate
(14,014 posts)Tutonic
(2,522 posts)n/t
progressoid
(49,991 posts)Dr. Strange
(25,921 posts)Apparently it was Earth all along.
Enrique
(27,461 posts)glinda
(14,807 posts)Hassin Bin Sober
(26,330 posts)AlbertCat
(17,505 posts).... has been in Utah the whole time.
dexterborg
(28 posts)Bacteria or water would be my first guess... or alien urine hehehe
[img][/img]
onehandle
(51,122 posts)Just the 'chemistry' for the possibility of life will be a yawn.
We are Devo
(193 posts)An old Mars Times newspaper showing that a climate change denier had just been elected president of Mars.
allan01
(1,950 posts)the crash site of the galactica?
yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)TrogL
(32,822 posts)Liberaltalker
(59 posts)And now all of a sudden the Repugnant Party are doing a one eighty on thier whole stance on cutting funding for NASA. Now they want to increase the founding ten fold!
Livluvgrow
(377 posts)They will unveil that Mars is heaven because they found the flying spaghetti monster
AAO
(3,300 posts)glinda
(14,807 posts)sofa king
(10,857 posts)Ever since the Viking Labeled Release sent back a positive result, NASA has scrupulously avoided saying that they are testing for life on Mars.
I think it's because NASA fears losing its funding if the knuckledraggers in Congress find out their goat-herding manual was wrong about the creation of the universe.
The instrument in question here, SAM, explicitly cannot prove the existence of life--according to NASA's press releases. But what do you know? It can measure the gas content of a sample and determine what organic chemicals, if any, are found. It can measure the percentage of carbon-14 isotopes found in those chemicals, and we know that life selects against carbon-14. I think it can detect the chirality of molecules, and if a predominance of one "handedness" of those molecules is observed that too may suggest that life has been busy selecting those.
My father helped build the Labeled Release experiment and for over thirty years now he has been saying, "we found evidence of life on Mars, we just couldn't figure out what it was."
Now, perhaps, we can. But because our country's science is funded by a bunch of idiots who reject the findings of science because it conflicts with their own magical thinking, NASA isn't going to say so until it's screwed down so tight it cannot be undone.
theHandpuppet
(19,964 posts)Not just controlled by the GOP, but GOP Reps from the South.
House Committee on Space, Science and Technology
Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics
Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), Chairman
Subcommittee on Energy and Environment
Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), Chairman
Subcommittee on Research and Science Education
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-AL), Chairman
Subcommittee on Technology and Innovation
Rep. Ben Quayle (R-AZ), Chairman
Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight
Rep. Paul Broun (R-GA), Chairman
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)I really don't think NASA's exactly been sitting on things just to avoid offending fundamentalists. The more anti-science chunks of the population - on both sides of the aisle - are going to hate it just as much no matter what they do or find.
Ter
(4,281 posts)To me major is a fossil, plant, or a statue. They're going to announce something like they found a little water under an ice cap or something. Please prove me wrong.
randome
(34,845 posts)He's such a prankster.
area51
(11,909 posts)Delphinus
(11,830 posts)wonderfully funny replies!
randome
(34,845 posts)Anyone know anything about this or is it just bullshit?
They found a 7.62 cm diameter ring of unknown origin. Using Vickers test for hardness it exceeded 10,000HV, that for diamonds. Actual composition is of an unknown element or combination of elements. It is extremely unlikely to have been produced naturally. Curious markings on the outer edge are being examined and initial thoughts are they are not naturally occurring and suggest intelligent creation.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)It's obviously BS.
randome
(34,845 posts)Evasporque
(2,133 posts)keep it safe.
colorado_ufo
(5,734 posts)for a Hobbit to wear . . .
toddmiller
(75 posts)Marrah_G
(28,581 posts)mainer
(12,022 posts)I've been disappointed before by NASA's "big" announcements. Water won't excite us. Even an amino acid or two won't really excite us. So what could be "one for the history books"?
Duer 157099
(17,742 posts)1) almost anything that is new is an exciting discovery to a scientist
and
2) anything that is discovered on Mars will be "one for the history books."
humanistcafe
(14 posts)... suspense! That little Rover is something else. To think where we've come in the last hundred years. Exciting.
murielm99
(30,741 posts)bug-eyed monsters, just like those early science fiction pulp magazines said.
ThoughtCriminal
(14,047 posts)- Ray Bradbury
glinda
(14,807 posts)Bradical79
(4,490 posts)Saying a discovery is "one for the history books" will mean something much different to a lot of non-scientists and those who aren't science enthusiasts, than it will for actual science geeks. I'm excited though, and should be interesting to a lot of people here
colsohlibgal
(5,275 posts)My thought is if this was not really major and/or startling they would announce this in a pretty prompt time frame.
Being really into this kind of stuff, I subscribe to the two most popular science magazines, I'm anxious to hear and maybe see what this could be. Once again if this weren't really, really big I doubt they would delay announcing it or ramp up speculation like this.
closeupready
(29,503 posts)If not, perhaps methane and other gases in proportion to what would be expected to occur in the presence of carbon-based life forms.
emsimon33
(3,128 posts)KamaAina
(78,249 posts)The 21st?
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)They're announcing the findings at an annual conference that runs across those days.
randome
(34,845 posts)So I think a fossil or artifact is out of the question. Methane would be too anticlimactic.
Signs of life that they need to verify whether or not it came from Curiosity itself would fit.
AlphaCentauri
(6,460 posts)They have to notify the mining companies first, before making it public
valerief
(53,235 posts)SWTORFanatic
(385 posts)They do this all the time.
We found traces of methane that may be indicative of life or prehistoric life, but we're not sure, it's only in trace amounts...
Wolf Frankula
(3,601 posts)It's the TARDIS!
Wolf
hexola
(4,835 posts)Seriously - where can one go to find quality conversation on this topic?
The hundred or so of predictable responses are really boring...even the Freeper thread was more interesting...
Warren DeMontague
(80,708 posts)Seriously, if they have evidence of life, this is huge.
First question, to my mind: independent origin or planetary cross contamination?
Its totally possible that these things would be VERY distant cousins.
Rosa Luxemburg
(28,627 posts)donco
(1,548 posts)Trajan
(19,089 posts)They spotted the stack of empty pizza boxes and a pile of Diet Rite cola bottles ....
( Do they even make Diet Rite anymore ? )
StarryNite
(9,446 posts)No matter where you go, you always see beer cans and cig butts.