So, proof of life I imagine? But what kind of proof? I’m so intrigued!
I wouldn’t get my hopes up too much. Big astronomical discoveries/firsts are as common as “unique” baseball stats. And most of em end up being about as exciting.
Yeah I know… these guys get excited over a new release of Linux, but they’re making it seem like a Big Deal. Even describing the discovery as “Earthshaking.”
I’ll just listen to this on repeat while we wait.
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh man! Wonder if he’ll ever know
He’s in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
Well I’m excited. But I’m a space geek, so I would be.
It’s gotta be something like microbes on Mars or something. SO COOOOOL!!!
I’m betting at best its another thing that hints at life. Maybe a strong hint but still not direct proof. Don’t get me wrong. I lurv NASA, astronomy, Mars, and highly expect life to be found there eventually and perhaps even another place or two for that matter. Though I am glad we finally got rid of that trampy little Pluto though.
It’s probably something as mundane to a layman as reaching Martian bedrock with a drill. That’s a huge break though for geologists who have only been able to look at dirt and rocks so far.
Everything Curiosity does is basically for the history books. Ooh, our little baby moved a whole meter today! A new record!
That self portrait that looks like it was taken by something other than the rover is kinda cute.
If Mars had lost an Earth-like atmosphere 1 billion years ago, how would we be able to determine this just by observation? Would it look remarkably different than what it does now?
I’m very intrigued as well.
Oh, so that’s where I lost my cell-phone.
I’m guessing some evidence for organic compounds. Perhaps an amino acid. Let’s hope so.
NASA has a very bad track record for the way they report these things. Remember the martian meteorite fiasco? All kinds of hype in advance, then a big press conference, with multiple project scientists, and one scientist who was not part of the team. NASA claimed that they had found strong evidence of life. In my opinion, the guy who was there to provide counterpoint won the debate by calling every bit of evidence into question. Of course, none of the media reports emphasized that.
More recently, the same sort of thing happened. Again there was tantalizing advance notice hinting at the discovery of alien life, followed by the quickly discredited report of extremophiles that could survive without Phosphorous, using Arsenic instead.
I’m hoping for the best, but wary of getting my hopes up too high, given NASA’s track record.
I was going to mention that they found some undisputable evidence that Mars once had flowing water (something already reported before), but the article makes it sound like they found some organic compound, maybe one that indicates that there was life. Or maybe even a living organism!
They found the dude who carved the face on Mars.
Also going with some amino acids, possibly a simple protein made from 2-3 amino acids.
Could be good news. Could be BAD news.
The ‘one for the history books’ is that the rover did a touch sample test and then moved to a different location, all in the same day. It’s never been done before.
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It found an Illudium P-36 Explosive Space Modulator.
Yeah, call me cynical, but given their track record it’s probably that they found a couple of ice crystals or something. If they really had direct evidence of life, I’m have a really hard time imagining that word wouldn’t be leaking out of every pore at NASA.
As I understand it, Curiosity isn’t designed to find direct evidence of life, so unless a Martian caterpillar crawls across the camera lens, we probably won’t be hearing any discoveries of life.
Curiosity is mainly looking for evidence that Mars could have supported life in the past.