So... Curiosity has been on Mars for 5+ years. And it still has a lot to see/go to.
- Thread starter Insane Metal
- Start date
Netherscourge
Banned
I still think they should take samples from the liquid basins.
They're worried about contamination with microbes, but how else do you search for life if you're worried about that?
We'll never know for sure unless we at least try to get a sample.
They're worried about contamination with microbes, but how else do you search for life if you're worried about that?
We'll never know for sure unless we at least try to get a sample.
Saint Gregory
Member
Has the Rover been able to visit that area yet? I'd like to know how accurate the ending of Zak McKracken and the Alien Mindbenders really is.We've certainly made some progress...
/s
https://www.universetoday.com/12288...-curiosity-rovers-arm-when-it-takes-a-selfie/
tl;dr: It's stitched from multiple photos. The camera arm was edited out of each photo before stitching.
Forerunner
Member
Nuclear.
PjotrStroganov
Member
SiegfriedFM
Member
Curiosity, the near Jupiter shots and the Pluto flyby are some of the most amazing achievements in recent history. I don't follow development, but it's amazing to see the results.
I'm happy to have bought this in the brief period it was available. Although it's a fairly simple set to recreate using standard parts.
Something I thought about at that time: we have a remote-control nuclear powered robot minivan with a laser analysis eye and selfie cameras that regularly posts on Twitter, on Mars. How remarkable is that?
I'm happy to have bought this in the brief period it was available. Although it's a fairly simple set to recreate using standard parts.
Something I thought about at that time: we have a remote-control nuclear powered robot minivan with a laser analysis eye and selfie cameras that regularly posts on Twitter, on Mars. How remarkable is that?
crimzonflame
Member
I dont know if this is the right thread to ask, but its something I always wondered. Is there only one Mars? Or does every galaxy have one? Similar to how there multiple moons in out solar system.
Frozenprince
Banned
It's always awe inspiring to me.
I pray I live long enough to see the day we as a species touch our own feet on it's surface.
Not sure if serious?
Mars is a planet, about half as wide as Earth. It goes round the sun, as do the other 6 planets in our solar system (Mercury, Venus, Earth and Mars are small and rocky. Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune are much bigger and mostly gas). Most of those planets have moons of various sizes going round them. Earth is unusual for how big its moon is compared to itself.
There are planets going round other stars too. We've detected lots of them in our galaxy and it's fair to assume that every star has some planets. We haven't directly detected planets as small as Mars around other stars, but again it's fair toassume they exist. None of them will be exactly like Mars, just as none of them will be exactly like Earth or Jupiter. There are 100s of billions of stars in our galaxy alone, and something like 2 trillion galaxies in the universe (although they are smaller the older they are). So the number of planets in the universe is probably more than 40,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
It will be a *very* long time, if ever, before we can get detailed looks at planets around other stars because they're so far away. So it's a tough subject to make definitive statements about.
No rover has gone there yet but we've gotten some photos of the area since (smh at NASA wasting valuable time and resources on "proving" that a ridiculous conspiracy theory isn't real, though I understand why they did it, of course).
Insane Metal
Member
I also used to believe that, but as I learned more, it became evident that this is not really possible. Mars has been absolutely sterile for at least 3 billion years. That's a long time in biological and geological terms. Even on Earth it took a long time for life to start going, let alone evolve into something more complex. If Mars ever had any kind of life form, it was for a very brief period and very simple organisms. Most evidence point to a period between 3.6 and 3.8 billion years ago, which is exactly the age of Gale Crater where Curiosity is in right now. By the way the rover confirmed through soil analysis that the place had all the necessary ingredients for life in that period, with fresh water flowing on the surface.
If life was a common thing on Mars we would have evidence of that all over, including in the hundreds of Martian Meteorites we collected so far, but that is not the case. Only one or two of them seemed to show some evidence of very primitive bacterial life but that evidence is so weak that is was never confirmed.
That sucks if true! Of course, it is a double edged sword: it sucks because extraterrestrial life would be the most significant discovery of all time, but the absence of evidence thereof just furthers how absolutely special this planet, people and life itself is.
I do think that if they find anything on Mars, it wouldn't be on the surface. Something in a cave or underground somewhere. But maybe that's my Earth experience talking.
Wolfgunblood Garopa
Member
Wow, that's one of the best mobile sites I've ever seen. The piece is great, too.