What's up on Mars?

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Dick Jacobson
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What's up on Mars?

Post by Dick Jacobson »

Why is NASA suddenly all hush-hush on the latest findings from the Mars Phoenix lander? According to an article in Aviation Week (http://www.aviationnow.com/aw/generic/s ... nnel=space), NASA has secretly briefed the White House on the latest findings and is planning a public announcement in a few weeks. The findings are said to be highly "provocative" regarding the "potential for life", though current or past life has not actually been discovered. The scientists working on the MECA instrument were kept out of last week's press conference to avoid disclosing information prematurely.

What have they discovered that is so provocative? Evidence that there is liquid water underground? Have they found all of the 20 or so elements needed for Earth-based life? Evidence that Mars was once warm and wet, or had oxygen in its atmosphere? Probably it is more complicated than this and they want to announce the results in a carefully worded scientific report. The Viking landers in 1976 and the ALH84001 meteorite in 1996 showed some ambiguous evidence that could be interpreted as signs of life. Maybe the new evidence is a lot less ambiguous.

Or maybe they have actually discovered life, or the remains of a technical civilization, and aren't ready to disclose it. Have they found unnatural elements or compounds (plutonium, technetium, super-heavy elements, fluorocarbons?) Or remains of nanotechnology? Does the big ice cap under Phoenix contain the frozen remains of a once heavily polluted atmosphere? Is Phoenix sitting atop a garbage dump of a long-vanished civilization?

I admit this is all wild speculation, but my curiosity is sky-high. Anyone else care to speculate?
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Bob Young
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Post by Bob Young »

You never know with these guys... :wink: I am very stoked though as time goes and our technology is developing enough to make more than some wild stab. I for one am expecting that we will find confirmation of simple life elsewhere (most likely ancient) but do see that they would want to be sure and very careful with how and when it is announced, it will certainly cause some groups some issues...
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Dave Venne
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Post by Dave Venne »

At this point it looks like a case of the media and blogosphere taking some meager announcements and reading more into them than is there. Here is today's NASA release:

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/phoen ... 80804.html

Apparently Phoenix has detected perchlorate in a couple of samples, and is waiting on a third analysis to confirm the finding. Perchlorate is a strong oxidizer and its presence is not a good sign that life may exist in the soil. None of the articles I've read suggest that soil perchlorate would be a show-stopper for life on Mars in general, however.
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Post by Jon Hickman »

Perhaps they've discovered that men REALLY ARE from Mars... :lol:
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Dick Jacobson
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Post by Dick Jacobson »

Craig Covault at Aviation Week has posted an update to his August 1 story, trying to explain away the (apparently) over-optimistic implications of that story. Apparently the "provocative" findings about the "potential for life" are provocative in the negative sense, at least if you would like to believe that there is or was life on Mars.

As Emily Littella would say, "Never mind!"

I guess my topic should have been titled "What's up on Earth?"
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