NASA set to announce new Mars discovery

[qxcontinuum]

They should better explain what has been ignored so long to be discovered on Mars respectively fossils and elements that they refuse to take close ups.

Instead I bet I will hear again about some discoveries made that I knew about since 1970's when I used to read science magazines.  Another funny thing is that these discoveries tend to happen every year at about the Same time. Fantastic!

Edited June 6, 2018 by qxcontinuum

[Tom the Photon]

4 hours ago, Raptor Witness said:

What happened next is interesting, but my life on earth was never the same. 

Don't stop there!  Tell us what happened next!  Share your discoveries with all of us.  If you've beaten the whole of NASA to this you deserve phenomenal recognition.  A Nobel Prize or two, at least, and a host of honorary doctorates.  Don't be modest - tell us what you discovered!

[Myles]

 My guess is that they announce another piece that helps fit the puzzle together that water was once flowing on Mars.  

I'm hoping for a more clear sign of life.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

15 hours ago, NicoletteS said:

You know they always play up some boring announcement this way so people tune in but judging from this added article it seems like maybe this time they finally did find an important fossil.

 

Nonsense. 

NASA simply announced, as they always do, that they are having a live press conferenceto discuss new scientific findings. How is that "playing it up"?

As for it being boring, all scientific announcements are boring to those that don't understand their signicance. 

[Waspie_Dwarf]

As others have said Curiosity is not designed to look for life.

You can always make a more educated guess by looking at the list of speakers at these events.

It is significant that the list of speakers includes a chemist specialising in the watrr cycle and a biogeologist specialising in organics.

There is no astrobiologist. 

It seems to me that this discovery may be chemistry based (so not fossils) and be organic in nature but is not going to be the discovery of life itself. 

[geraldnewfie]

it will be some small amount of information on this, they found ice or water, they will never tell us the real information only the stuff the US gov allows them to tell us.

[Myles]

1 hour ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

Nonsense. 

NASA simply announced, as they always do, that they are having a live press conferenceto discuss new scientific findings. How is that "playing it up"?

As for it being boring, all scientific announcements are boring to those that don't understand their signicance. 

I understand where you are coming from, but even you can admit that NASA has a publicity department.   I am sure they were instructed to get this out into the press.   They want the publicity.   It's good for them.   It's good for us too.  

The NASA announcement will stream live online and on the agency’s terrestrial television platform NASA Television from 2pm EDT.  The event will also be streamed on Facebook Live, Twitch TV, Ustream, YouTube and Twitter’s Periscope platform.

I would say that qualifies as "playing it up".   However, there is nothing wrong with playing it up.  

[UFOwatcher]

With the hype I will prepare to be disappointed, again...

[spud the mackem]

Aha, they've found a cave with drawings of saucer shaped objects on the walls, now that would be worth waiting for.

[TripGun]

I will set the timer on my VCR

[+Noteverythingisaconspiracy]

2 hours ago, geraldnewfie said:

it will be some small amount of information on this, they found ice or water, they will never tell us the real information only the stuff the US gov allows them to tell us.

If "they" don't tell us everything, how do you know ?

[pallidin]

For myself, Mars news is interesting... however exciting or mundane it might strike me.

 

 

 

 

[Merc14]

1 hour ago, pallidin said:

For myself, Mars news is interesting... however exciting or mundane it might strike me.

Well said pallidin and I agree.  Just think how little we knew just a couple decades ago and now we find news about whatever "mundane" if it isn't proof of life, something that may never happen anyways.

[qxcontinuum]

14 hours ago, Waspie_Dwarf said:

As others have said Curiosity is not designed to look for life.

You can always make a more educated guess by looking at the list of speakers at these events.

It is significant that the list of speakers includes a chemist specialising in the watrr cycle and a biogeologist specialising in organics.

There is no astrobiologist. 

It seems to me that this discovery may be chemistry based (so not fossils) and be organic in nature but is not going to be the discovery of life itself. 

You are wrong . Curiosity is part of the Mars Exploration Program which primary mission continues to be the exploration of life on Mars. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Program

Goals/strategyEdit

According to NASA, there are four broad goals of the MEP, all having to do with understanding the potential for life on Mars.^[8]

Goal 1: Determine if life ever arose on Mars

Edited June 7, 2018 by qxcontinuum

[qxcontinuum]

It could be related to this . 

https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/02070/soas/rdr/ccam/CR0_581260872PRC_F0701752CCAM01070L1.JPG

Edited June 7, 2018 by qxcontinuum

[Myles]

1.25 hours and counting.

https://www.nasa.gov/

 

[bison]

13 hours ago, qxcontinuum said:

It could be related to this . 

https://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/proj/msl/redops/ods/surface/sol/02070/soas/rdr/ccam/CR0_581260872PRC_F0701752CCAM01070L1.JPG

 Isn't that an intriguing-looking little object! The image was taken through the magnifying  camera, so they were clearly interested. The current 'sol' date for the Curiosity mission is 02075. Given the date of the linked image, it was taken just five days ago. That seems about the right length for a preliminary investigation, prior to an announcement. 

[Mr.United_Nations]

Huge news, organic  material found on Mars, which may give clues if life did exist or could still be living.

[switchopens]

I don't retract my previous statement, but the new is interesting.

[Myles]

 

 

Eigenbrode explained that the organic molecules found on Mars are not specific evidence of life. "They could have come from things that are non-biological," she said.

[toast]

On 6/6/2018 at 4:59 AM, NicoletteS said:

 But why?

Because its possible. And it is fun as well.

[pallidin]

I watched the broadcast.

Interesting for sure.

[Waspie_Dwarf]

15 hours ago, qxcontinuum said:

You are wrong . Curiosity is part of the Mars Exploration Program which primary mission continues to be the exploration of life on Mars. 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Exploration_Program

Goals/strategyEdit

According to NASA, there are four broad goals of the MEP, all having to do with understanding the potential for life on Mars.^[8]

Goal 1: Determine if life ever arose on Mars

You are confusing the ultimate aim of the programme with the current capabilities of an individual spacecraft, namely Curiosity. Whilst NASA's aim is to eventually look for life, Curiosity IS NOT designed to do so.

Here is what NASA has to say on the goals of Curiosity:

Quote

Curiosity set out to answer the question: Did Mars ever have the right environmental conditions to support small life forms called microbes? Early in its mission, Curiosity's scientific tools found chemical and mineral evidence of past habitable environments on Mars. It continues to explore the rock record from a time when Mars could have been home to microbial life.

Source: NASA

So NASA themselves are saying that Curiosity is designed to determine whether Mars had the conditions to support life, it does not say that Curiosity is designed to look for life... because it isn't.

Here is what NASA says about their next Mars rover, currently known as Mars 2020:

Quote

Goal 1: Determine whether life ever existed on Mars

The mission of the Mars 2020 rover focuses on surface-based studies of the Martian environment, seeking preserved signs of biosignatures in rock samples that formed in ancient Martian environments with conditions that might have been favorable to microbial life.

It is the first rover mission designed to seek signs of past microbial life. Earlier rovers first focused on and confirmed that Mars once had habitable conditions.

(my emphasis). Source: NASA

Mars 2020 WILL be equipped to look for life. As NASA point out it will be the first rover to do so, rather proving the point that Curiosity is not equipped to do so.

Incidentally ESA's ExoMars rover will also be looking for signs of life.

Curiosity is an important step in the search for life. Send a spacecraft to Mars only to later discover that the planet was never capable of supporting it would have been a monumental waste of money, rather like spending a fortune on a boat and fishing gear only to later discover that you are in the Sahara desert.

Now that Curiosity has shown that it was highly likely that Mars COULD support life NASA will, with Mars 2020, be taking the next logical step and looking to see if life ever DID exist. This is how science works, small, logical steps, each new step adding to the overall body of knowledge.

[Daughter of the Nine Moons]

Thread cleaned.

@NicoletteS someone disagreeing with you is neither trolling not is it heckling. Please refrain from such accusations in the future.

[+Not A Rockstar]

I found this article and enjoyed it about Mars and what signs they know about if anyone would enjoy reading it?

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/building-blocks-of-life-found-on-mars/

I wondered after reading it if anyone who knows a lot more than I about Mars thinks maybe there is a cave or underground cavern where we might find more dampness and maybe something interesting someday? Might there yet be water underground, in a cave or something, still? Or has it deteriorated so far we are down to moisture in the polar caps only really?