Scientists Speculate on Top-Secret Mars Rover Discovery

[Forsaken]

http://www.space.com/18626-nasa-mars-rov...ation.html

At the epicenter of all the speculation is that Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument has gulped in Martian soil and regurgitated exciting news.

As expected, readers in the blogosphere have already chimed in with what they believe Curiosity has found; their guesses so far have included a fossil...

[Darkstar]

[Jackalope]

Latest word on the wire is that Curiosity has gone dark.

One last image was transmitted before it went off the air.

---

---

[Darkstar]

Latest word on the wire is that Curiosity has gone dark.

One last image was transmitted before it went off the air.

---

---

I toooooold you.

[Annik]

Honestly, Curiosity hasn't found anything. A news outlet misunderstood an interview and the rest of the media bolstered it up. They are about to test a new camera, though.

[pocaracas]

There it is!

The first full analysis of martian soil by the Curiosity rover has detected simple carbon compounds that could be the first traces of past martian life ever found, NASA scientists announced here today at a press conference at the annual fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union. The catch is that Curiosity team members can't tell yet whether the organic matter was once alive, was never alive and drifted onto Mars from space, or was simply cooked up in Curiosity's analytical instrument from lifeless bits of soil. Figuring out the ultimate source of the carbon in this organic matter—biological or not—will take time. "Curiosity's middle name is Patience," cautioned Curiosity project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

[Annik]

I suggest we hold off on the excitement until more through examination and research has taken place.

[Tiberius]

"Curiosity's middle name is Patience," cautioned Curiosity project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

...Curiosity Patience Rover.

Poor kid must have had the shit kicked out of him at school...

[DoktorZ]

My understanding is that they've found organic compounds that may have been produced by "life forms," but they have many, many things to eliminate before this can be positively asserted. Much of what they've found could be attributed to processes unrelated to life (e.g., contamination of the rover itself with Earth materials, geological processes). I'm as eager as anyone for Curiosity to find life, but let's keep in mind that Mars may have been dead for a few billion years...

Yeah, is there life on Mars? Let's contrast NASA's method with some dim-witted bint who finds Jesus in a piece of burnt toast and asserts the existence of a god. No wait, that's a complete waste of our time.

Go back to drinking wine ...

Z

[Welsh cake]

"Curiosity's middle name is Patience," cautioned Curiosity project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.

...Curiosity Patience Rover.

Poor kid must have had the shit kicked out of him at school...

Curiously patient?

Isn't that an oxymoron?