Spacenut56 Posted December 9, 2013 #1 Share Posted December 9, 2013 (edited) pretty cool! The scientists behind the Curiosity rover mission on Mars have fleshed out their findings about an ancient lake that they now say apparently had everything needed to sustain microbes that can live off minerals. http://www.nbcnews.c...team-2D11708518 Edited December 10, 2013 by Saru Trimmed for length - added source link 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 9, 2013 #2 Share Posted December 9, 2013 NASA Curiosity: First Mars Age Measurement and Human Exploration Help NASA's Curiosity rover is providing vital insight about Mars' past and current environments that will aid plans for future robotic and human missions.In a little more than a year on the Red Planet, the mobile Mars Science Laboratory has determined the age of a Martian rock, found evidence the planet could have sustained microbial life, taken the first readings of radiation on the surface, and shown how natural erosion could reveal the building blocks of life. Curiosity team members presented these results and more from Curiosity in six papers published online today by Science Express and in talks at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Read more... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 9, 2013 #3 Share Posted December 9, 2013 Curiosity Rover Report (Dec. 9, 2013): Dating Younger RocksNASA's Curiosity has determined the age of a Martian rock and provided first readings of radiation on the surface of Mars.Credit: NASA/JPLSource: NASA/JPL - Videos Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qxcontinuum Posted December 10, 2013 #4 Share Posted December 10, 2013 So what are really the discoveries the rover has made? Other than what we know? I am confused! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hazzard Posted December 10, 2013 #5 Share Posted December 10, 2013 So what are really the discoveries the rover has made? Other than what we know? I am confused! What exactly does that mean? "what we know",... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithisco Posted December 10, 2013 #6 Share Posted December 10, 2013 What exactly does that mean? "what we know",... I think it is a valid question...("other than what we know") because the discoveries of stratification, water, oxygen have all been previously revealed prior to this mission. What may lay ahead is the real question. What will we learn that is outside of our knowledge? In other words wat qxcontinuum wants to know is what are the further revelations or affirmations that can be expected....IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheGreatBeliever Posted December 10, 2013 #7 Share Posted December 10, 2013 I don really consider microbes life.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted December 10, 2013 #8 Share Posted December 10, 2013 I don really consider microbes life.. WHAT? Its more or less how we started. There will NEVER be finds of ancient civilisations on Mars, microbes are the best we can ever hope for, and PROOF of Martian microbes will be PROOF of life on other planets, if only on one more planet 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khol Posted December 10, 2013 #9 Share Posted December 10, 2013 I don really consider microbes life.. you need to reconsider your statementmicrobes are in fact life..self replicating organisms with the same pre-programed agenda as us...consume and reproduce and of course it goes with out saying we are evolved from them finding this form of "life" on Mars would be an incredible thing in our lifetime to experience 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
George Ford Posted December 10, 2013 #10 Share Posted December 10, 2013 (edited) "Mars could have supported life". Well Bigfoot, vampires and the Loch Ness monster 'could' also exist. Are they trying to justify the vast expensive of this project by dropping little hints and 'rumors' that there may have been life on Mars. So far there is ZERO evidence for life on Mars. If the final conclusion of this project is that there was no life on Mars I would rather they would just say so. Then they can go looking somewhere else. Edited December 10, 2013 by bulveye 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted December 10, 2013 #11 Share Posted December 10, 2013 "Mars could have supported life". Well Bigfoot, vampires and the Loch Ness monster 'could' also exist. Are they trying to justify the vast expensive of this project by dropping little hints and 'rumors' that there may have been life on Mars. So far there is ZERO evidence for life on Mars. If the final conclusion of this project is that there was no life on Mars I would rather they would just say so. Then they can go looking somewhere else. There are no 'final conclusions'...the NEXT rover is designed better to look for traces of life http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-23259419 The rovers have all performed different tasks 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cbrown Posted December 10, 2013 #12 Share Posted December 10, 2013 (edited) Seriously ,how many times are they going to tell us the mars rover has found evidence that Mars could support life.I think we have figured that much out over the years from the lame cover ups and disinformation. Release the billion pictures that have been kept from us over decades unphotoshopped. Edited December 10, 2013 by calvinb Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seeder Posted December 10, 2013 #13 Share Posted December 10, 2013 Seriously ,how many times are they going to tell us the mars rover has found evidence that Mars could support life.I think we have figured that much out over the years from the lame cover ups and disinformation. Release the billion pictures that have been kept from us over decades unphotoshopped. They did, and they are all on-line too Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sundew Posted December 11, 2013 #14 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I don really consider microbes life.. They may not be life in the sense of warm and cuddly, i.e. a fuzzy bunny rabbit, but they are certainly life. If life exists on Mars it will almost certainly be what are called extremophiles, life that can withstand freezing, or intense radiation, or can digest rock. There is water on Mars lock up in the soil, perhaps some organism has learned to extract it chemically. We have examples of such life on Earth, algae that can live inside rocks in Antarctica, bacteria in caustic lakes and near boiling undersea vents, single celled life that can digest heavy metals and so forth. I think if you want to find life in our solar system that might resemble higher terrestrial life you will likely have to look beneath the ice on Europa, where there might be multicellular life. But there is no guarantee that Earth is not unique when it comes to life, we simply like to extrapolate statistics and say that because the universe is so large and there are so many planets being discovered, life must exist elsewhere. Proving it however, remains to be seen. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
khol Posted December 11, 2013 #15 Share Posted December 11, 2013 They may not be life in the sense of warm and cuddly, i.e. a fuzzy bunny rabbit, but they are certainly life. If life exists on Mars it will almost certainly be what are called extremophiles, life that can withstand freezing, or intense radiation, or can digest rock. There is water on Mars lock up in the soil, perhaps some organism has learned to extract it chemically. We have examples of such life on Earth, algae that can live inside rocks in Antarctica, bacteria in caustic lakes and near boiling undersea vents, single celled life that can digest heavy metals and so forth. I think if you want to find life in our solar system that might resemble higher terrestrial life you will likely have to look beneath the ice on Europa, where there might be multicellular life. But there is no guarantee that Earth is not unique when it comes to life, we simply like to extrapolate statistics and say that because the universe is so large and there are so many planets being discovered, life must exist elsewhere. Proving it however, remains to be seen. Amazing isn't it? life adapting and thriving in the most adverse of conditions here on EarthIts a strong indicator that life has existed on Mars If we do find it,it would be extraordinary! I would be hugely disappointed had we gone through this huge expense and come back with no confirmation on this Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 11, 2013 #16 Share Posted December 11, 2013 I think it is a valid question...("other than what we know") because the discoveries of stratification, water, oxygen have all been previously revealed prior to this mission. What may lay ahead is the real question. What will we learn that is outside of our knowledge? That's true only up to a point. Although it was known that liquid water had existed on the surface of Mars in the past what was not know was whether that water was pure or so laden with chemicals that life would be hard/difficult (think Dead Sea on Earth). Curiosity has shown that fresh water existed on Mars, water that would probably have been pure enough to drink. That in itself is an important discovery made already by this mission. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 11, 2013 #17 Share Posted December 11, 2013 Its a strong indicator that life has existed on Mars No it isn't. It is a strong indicator that life COULD have existed on Mars. Not the same thing at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithisco Posted December 11, 2013 #18 Share Posted December 11, 2013 That's true only up to a point. Although it was known that liquid water had existed on the surface of Mars in the past what was not know was whether that water was pure or so laden with chemicals that life would be hard/difficult (think Dead Sea on Earth). Curiosity has shown that fresh water existed on Mars, water that would probably have been pure enough to drink. That in itself is an important discovery made already by this mission. The Dead Sea here at home, is far from lifeless. It cannot support Macroscopic life, but bacteria and fungi do live in it. Quite honestly the discovery of ANY life on Mars will be a great achievement, and certainly would justify the cost of the various programmes in the past and in the pipeline. In fact, considering that the UK "found" 100Bn pounds to bail out corrupt banks (what did we get for that investment? More of the same), then what NASA and ESA achieve is quite extraordinary and real value for money...IMO 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Waspie_Dwarf Posted December 11, 2013 #19 Share Posted December 11, 2013 what NASA and ESA achieve is quite extraordinary and real value for money...IMO I couldn't agree with you more. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZaraKitty Posted December 13, 2013 #20 Share Posted December 13, 2013 Well, liquid water is said to have existed a long with an atmosphere that sustained it all (much like ours). So, why not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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