NASA confirms water on Mars

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Dax01 said:
Is it any good? I've been meaning to see that.
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It's very good, kind of mixes the stories of 2010 and 2061 together though, other than that, it's a worthy sequel for sure.
 
Cianalas said:
Fungi can do that? I always thought they were completely heterotrophic. Wouldn't they need some sort of preexisting organic material to utilize?
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Not sure, but some types of fungi are photosynthetic -- or in the case of Chernobyl, radiosynthetic.
 
There's actually microbes on Earth that can put themselves into suspended animation for millions of years, while they wait for conditions to improve. They've found some in ancient ice on earth and when they heated them up they reanimated.

Wouldn't be shocked if they find some of those in the Martian ice.
 
thefro said:
There's actually microbes on Earth that can put themselves into suspended animation for millions of years, while they wait for conditions to improve. They've found some in ancient ice on earth and when they heated them up they reanimated.

Wouldn't be shocked if they find some of those in the Martian ice.
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They are waiting....
 
thefro said:
There's actually microbes on Earth that can put themselves into suspended animation for millions of years, while they wait for conditions to improve. They've found some in ancient ice on earth and when they heated them up they reanimated.

Wouldn't be shocked if they find some of those in the Martian ice.
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see this is why we need to leave mars alone.
 
There could very well be microscopic life on Mars and finding this would no doubt be a huge step in space exploration, however the goal extends far beyond. I don't believe that intelligent life will be found on mars unfortunately, there would most likely be buildings of some sort or creatures about on the surface. I suppose there could be lava monsters or something silly underground of mild intelligence but seems far too much of a faerie tale.
 
Not to sound corny(too late), but this is really exciting. Ive always been a nerd though... :/

oxrock said:
There could very well be microscopic life on Mars and finding this would no doubt be a huge step in space exploration, however the goal extends far beyond. I don't believe that intelligent life will be found on mars unfortunately, there would most likely be buildings of some sort or creatures about on the surface. I suppose there could be lava monsters or something silly underground of mild intelligence but seems far too much of a faerie tale.
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Lets just pray that whatever we find(if we find anything) isnt extremely advanced. I cant imagine the dread I would feel if some cloaked alien materialized on screen and "killed" the camera recording it. Maybe it would be forgiving and kind to us...who knows. :D
 
I say we terraform the shit out of Mars. Sure, none of us will live to see the end product, but at least it will be awesome either way.


...right?
 
SRG01 said:
Not sure, but some types of fungi are photosynthetic -- or in the case of Chernobyl, radiosynthetic.
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Interesting. Do you have any links to some reading material on these photosynthetic/radiosynthetic fungi?
 
i read somewhere that fungi may exist on Venus. This was a long time ago and I'm not sure if this is even true.
 
Hootie said:
I say we terraform the shit out of Mars. Sure, none of us will live to see the end product, but at least it will be awesome either way.


...right?
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Read the book Mars the Red Planet. Anti aging pills ftw.
 
Well... White House briefed on potential for Mars life

The White House has been alerted by NASA about plans to make an announcement soon on major new Phoenix lander discoveries concerning the "potential for life" on Mars, scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology.

Sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars. Rather the data relate to habitability--the "potential" for Mars to support life--at the Phoenix arctic landing site, sources say.

The data are much more complex than results related NASA's July 31 announcement that Phoenix has confirmed the presence of water ice at the site.

International news media trumpeted the water ice confirmation, which was not a surprise to any of the Phoenix researchers. "They have discovered water on Mars for the third or fourth time," one senior Mars scientists joked about the hubbub around the water ice announcement.

The other data not discussed openly yet are far more "provocative," Phoenix officials say.

In fact, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory science team for the MECA wet-chemistry instrument that made the findings was kept out of a July 31 news conference at the University of Arizona Phoenix control center. The goal was to prevent them from being asked any questions that could reveal information before NASA is ready to make an announcement, sources say.

The Bush Administration's Presidential Science Advisor's office, however, has been briefed on the new information that NASA hopes to release as early as mid August. It is possible an announcement would not come until September, to allow for additional analysis. That will depend upon the latest results still being analyzed from the spacecraft's organic oven and soil chemistry laboratories.

Phoenix scientists have said from the start that neither the TEGA organic chemistry lab nor the MECA wet chemistry system could detect current or past life.
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Awesome news.

As for terraforming Mars, isn't Mars too small to support a heavier atmosphere?

So even if we mined oxygen/CO2/nitrogen for more atmosphere, would Mars be able to hold it?
 
What if they found... an artifact?!?! A bolt?!?!?! An old candy wrapper?!?!?!! Osama?!?!?!?!!!!!!
 
The key is in the soil and water, and how the two behave together at that site on Mars
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It is intriguing that MECA could have found anything more positive than that, but NASA and the University of Arizona are taking steps to prevent word from leaking out on the nature of the discovery made during MECA's second soil test, in which water from Earth was automatically stirred with Martian soil.
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Connected?
 
Imagine if we found a life form identical as to one on Earth, be it a bacteria/microbe whatever. How fucked up would that be??
 
Ether_Snake said:
Imagine if we found a life form identical as to one on Earth, be it a bacteria/microbe whatever. How fucked up would that be??
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WHAT IF WE FOUND A RACE OF KILLER ROBOTS THAT WERE FORMULATING AN ATTACK AGAINST OUR PLANET THEN WHAT WOULD WE DO
 
Dolphin said:
Get a person up there pronto NASA, like within the next 5 years.
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Maybe if we gave them a little money they could actually do it (though 5 years is impossible given the current development of the Ares rockets). Instead of 0.58% of the national budget. (2007 total).

Just spending 1% of our budget on NASA would revolutionize what NASA could do. 1 fucking percent.

NASA can do any number of amazing things, it's simply a question of budget and time and effort.
 
Imagine all the money wasted in Iraq could have gotten us pretty far by now. 4 billions a month people.

The US could be pumping oil from moons:p
 
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26012037/

Scientist says buzz over Mars life is ‘bogus’
Phoenix team and White House knock down rumors about big findings

Rumblings in the media suggest some intriguing findings from NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander mission that relate to the question of life, specifically whether it could have survived on Mars in the past.

The issue bubbled up when it was reported Friday that the White House had been briefed about some interesting results from Phoenix's wet chemistry laboratory, part of the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer suite of instruments, also known as MECA.

Not so, says Phoenix principal investigator Peter Smith, of the University of Arizona, who denied that any details of the MECA findings had been shared and called the reports "bogus and damaging information."
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When the writer of the Aviation Week story, Craig Covault, was contacted by Space.com, he attributed much of the confusion and media hubbub to other news outlets picking up his story and mistakenly reporting that his article said that NASA had discovered life on Mars.

"Note the [Aviation Week] story said very, very clearly three times or so, NO life on Mars detected and Phoenix can NOT [detect life] in the first place," Covault wrote in an email.
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abstract alien said:
Lets just pray that whatever we find(if we find anything) isnt extremely advanced. I cant imagine the dread I would feel if some cloaked alien materialized on screen and "killed" the camera recording it. Maybe it would be forgiving and kind to us...who knows. :D
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I'd be more worried about a even a single bacteria that has evolved to survive in such a brutal environment being caught inside the rover.

Then, when the rover is brought back to Earth, the bacteria multiplies in the much nicer environment and fucks people up.
 
DrEvil said:
It's very good, kind of mixes the stories of 2010 and 2061 together though, other than that, it's a worthy sequel for sure.
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how so? I thought 2061 came out well after the 2010 movie.
 
Immortal_Daemon said:
I'd be more worried about a even a single bacteria that has evolved to survive in such a brutal environment being caught inside the rover.

Then, when the rover is brought back to Earth, the bacteria multiplies in the much nicer environment and fucks people up.
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For one, I don't think it's in any plans for these rovers to rove back to Earth. :)

For another, if something has evolved to be so adapted to Mars, Earth might not be a great place for it. To make an example that sounds off immediately, what if I were to say "Sharks have learned to survive where we would drown. If they come up to a safe place like where we live, they'll take over!"
 
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