What's up on Mars?
Posted: Mon Aug 04, 2008 10:27 am
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?
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?