I recently read about the instrumentation package that will be used on the new Mars Curiosity rover. This package is the most advanced analytical package ever sent to another planet. It includes a mass spectrometer, a gas chromatograph, an alpha-particle x-ray spectrometer, a Chemcam which includes the first laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) system to be used for planetary science and a remote micro-imager (RMI)., an X-Ray diffraction/X-Ray fluorescence instrument, a tunable lazer spectrometer, a SAM instrument suite, which includes a Chemical Separation and Processing Laboratory, and a radiation assessment detector. These very sophisitcated instruments will give us an unprecedented look at the chemistry and any potential biochemistry that might exist on Mars. If there is life there, these instruments will give us the best chance to date of detecting it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory
'The difference between a Miracle and a Fact is exactly the difference between a mermaid and seal. It could not be expressed better.'
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
-- Samuel "Mark Twain" Clemens
"I think that in the discussion of natural problems we ought to begin not with the scriptures, but with experiments, demonstrations, and observations".
- Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)
"In short, Meyer has shown that his first disastrous book was not a fluke: he is capable of going into any field in which he has no training or research experience and botching it just as badly as he did molecular biology. As I've written before, if you are a complete amateur and don't understand a subject, don't demonstrate the Dunning-Kruger effect by writing a book about it and proving your ignorance to everyone else! "
- Dr. Donald Prothero
