114 replies to this topic

[Nasty Gash]

I have it on good authority (who requests anonymity) that they found a large bust of Richard C. Hoagland.

[Setton]

Abramelin, on 21 November 2012 - 07:48 AM, said:

"Looking forward to staring at ******* dirt for the next two years."

Try doing a geology degree. Staring at dirt for 3 years. Curiosity doesn't know how lucky it is...

Coffey, on 21 November 2012 - 01:18 PM, said:

Or they are causing loads of hype, if so then it's a pretty pathetic thing to do. Also why nto jsut tell everyone what they think they have found and then say "but we are not sure yet?" What's with all the hype and then makign a big deal out of it. It's like they treat the public like children. Media does this with games and films etc with announcements, I expect more from Nasa.

No, it's just how these things are done in the scientific community. Word always gets out about an interesting result so they issue a statement to say they found something and will explain more when they are sure. There's few things more damaging to a scientist's reputation than publishing a groundbreaking result then having to retract it.

[pallidin]

Look, it was probably just Curiousity having to go to the bathroom.
It was a long trip, ya know.

[Troublehalf]

Maybe it could be what we hope... But different. Imagine we find life, but not bacterial or sentient or creature, but plants. Imagine we find oil. Which means the existence of life at some earlier time. When people go "life" they think of big aliens with huge eyes, you know, standard greys, but it would be just as amazing to find bacteria or even plants!

Lots of time for clandestine governments to cover it up !

[Coffey]

Setton, on 21 November 2012 - 09:50 PM, said:

No, it's just how these things are done in the scientific community. Word always gets out about an interesting result so they issue a statement to say they found something and will explain more when they are sure. There's few things more damaging to a scientist's reputation than publishing a groundbreaking result then having to retract it.

OR just release a statement saying "it COULD be.... and we jsut want to make sure before comfirming it". OR don't say anything at all until the information is correct. That seems more mature and intelligent instea dof making an announcement liek it's an Xfactor final.

The fact they say it will chnage the history books will make them look far worse than any cliam if it turns out not to be correct. So that suggests they have confidence in their find. Making an announcement for an anouncement is just typical media style garbage, I thought better of NASA than that.

[pallidin]

Troublehalf, on 21 November 2012 - 11:04 PM, said:

Maybe it could be what we hope... But different. Imagine we find life, but not bacterial or sentient or creature, but plants. Imagine we find oil. Which means the existence of life at some earlier time. When people go "life" they think of big aliens with huge eyes, you know, standard greys, but it would be just as amazing to find bacteria or even plants!

Lots of time for clandestine governments to cover it up !

Not sure how far down into the Martian surface the scoop goes, but I imagine only an inch or two, or three, maybe even four.
But certainly not far enough down to uncover anything other than close, subsurface organic residues.

Just my VERY unscientific opinion, of course.

Edited by pallidin, 21 November 2012 - 11:23 PM.

[sean6]

dont get your hopes up

NASA downplays ‘Earth-shattering’ Mars finding


http://www.cosmosmag...e;-mars-finding

http://phys.org/news...-nasa-rows.html

Edited by sean6, 21 November 2012 - 11:32 PM.

[bison]

Dr. Grotzinger did not make an announcement on behalf of NASA about the new Curiosity discovery. He merely gave his personal reaction to the situation, during an interview on the National Public Radio network. NASA's announcement will come in a couple of weeks at the American Geophysical Union meeting.

[bison]

sean6, on 21 November 2012 - 11:26 PM, said:

dont get your hopes up

NASA downplays ‘Earth-shattering’ Mars finding


http://www.cosmosmag...e;-mars-finding

http://phys.org/news...-nasa-rows.html

                                                                                                                                                                                                                 The  fellow doing the downplaying is one Guy Webster, who says of himself on Facebook: 'I cover the Mars beat for the news office of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory'. He seems to be a journalist or publicist, not a scientist. As such, he is presumably not privy to the new information that the Curiosity science team, which includes Dr. Grotzinger, are holding onto so closely.  When they are ready to spread the news of what has been discovered, they will likely inform him.

Edited by bison, 22 November 2012 - 12:01 AM.

[sean6]

bison, on 22 November 2012 - 12:00 AM, said:

The  fellow doing the downplaying is one Guy Webster, who says of himself on Facebook: 'I cover the Mars beat for the news office of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory'. He seems to be a journalist or publicist, not a scientist. As such, he is presumably not privy to the new information that the Curiosity science team, which includes Dr. Grotzinger, are holding onto so closely.  When they are ready to spread the news of what has been discovered, they will likely inform him.

yes i want to believe to sorry

[newyork]

Probably found a wrapper from a twinkie, even the aliens bought them up before they are gone for a while.

[Abramelin]

Ashiene, on 21 November 2012 - 04:26 PM, said:

They discovered that Mars once had flowing water, again. This time, it's a confirmation.

Water found on Mars!

[brothers]

Maybe they are ittsy bittsy tinny weinny people and we are killing them with out very big robots crushing them even finer.

[keithisco]

There is nothing more disingenuous than saying "we have found something that will change history", then refuse to put anything out there for other experts to consider. Why not publish the Raw Data and ask the International Community to contribute to its deciphering?

[Colonel Rhuairidh]

keithisco, on 22 November 2012 - 04:57 PM, said:

There is nothing more disingenuous than saying "we have found something that will change history", then refuse to put anything out there for other experts to consider. Why not publish the Raw Data and ask the International Community to contribute to its deciphering?

We have plenty of that in (for example) the Extraterrestrials & UFOs forum. Any number of people who are very eager to see what they want to see from the pictures have been released that the Mars Rover, everything from crystal cities to guinea pigs.