http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_nasa_040301.html
What I don’t get is why the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is in charge of the Rover. Shouldn’t it be the Little Electric Motor Configured To Operate in .38 Earth Gravity Propulsion Laboratory?
Hell, the launch vehicle isn’t jet powered either.
I am fairly twitching with anticipation. The article says the press briefing will happen at 2pm Eastern time. That’s 11am for me out on the left coast. Sadly, I’ll be in an all-company meeting so I’ll have to wait an hour and a half to hear the news. Stupid job.
This is fantastic news. Anything that can capture the public’s imagination in concern to space exploration is ***great ** * in my book.
Scientists announce …
MARS NEEDS WOMEN!
And so do many of the scientists
They’re probably just going to announce that they’ve saved a bunch of money by switching to GEICO.
Chewy caramel and a nugat center?
"The good news is, we’ve found water. The bad news is, immediately before we found it, the rover picked up the words “Wonder Twin Powers, activate.”
Sounds cool! My dream is that they found a fossil, but I know that’s way too much to hope for.
Realistic guess: “My God, it’s full of brine!”
Joke guess: “It’s water and salt, but that ain’t brine.”
Far out guess: There have been some fibers found hanging on rocks. The most conservative take is that they are from the landing equipment, blown around by the wind. But if they aren’t, they’re biological.
Maybe they found one of these.
Or what’s left of Mars 6.
Nasa has found something on Mars.
Damn you! I was all excited about posting that exact link! 
Probably an old MacDonald’s hamburger wrapper blowing around.
[QUOTE=Rhubarb]
Scientists announce …
MARS NEEDS WOMEN!
Perhaps little green ones? 
I see the space.com article has updated, and it looks like the announcement might be that liquid water has been found at the surface, at the Opportunity site.
That would be pretty cool, and it might lead to a re-assesment of some of the satellite photos that have been coming back from Mars for the last few years. I think the consensus has been that any water currently on Mars would be mostly frozen solid, and locked away some distance below the surface. If there are indeed regions where there’s enough liquid water to make the ground muddy, then images like these move a step closer to being evidence for extant life on Mars (IMHO, of course - we’d need to send a probe to investigate the splotches themselves to be absolutely sure).
If they found water on the surface, they took it there. Little water tank on the rover … ooh looky what we found!
Certainly after THAT there would be no way Bushie wouldn’t get his Man on Mars mission.
NASA has just announced that there seems to be a huge magnetic anomaly near the Rover which seems to be sending regular bursts of intense radio waves in the direction of Jupiter,and that would indicate that something is DELIBERATELY BURIED there and the Rover awakened it by scratching around and drilling in the area.
On the serious hand,I’m a little tingly over the possibilities.Evidence of past surface water wouldn’t thrill me much.I always assumed as much.
But rocks with proof of microbes or plant life imbedded in them;now we’re gettin’somewhere.
Of course what I really want and the thing that would give me goose bumps and raise the hair on the back of my neck would be to find a live crittur.Not because there’s any doubt in my mind that the galaxy (well,no sense being so parochial,lets say the universe) is chock-full of life: I’d just like to see the reactions of everyone,especially the ones who would no doubt shout SHAM,SCAM,HOAX,when presented with the fact that they,and here,ain’t the center of all things.
Yeah, that would be interesting.
This just in: a huge bulk, larger than a bear, appeared above the rim. Its lipless mouth quivered and slavered as the clumsy body writhed and pulsated, glistening like wet leather. And finally, a squirrel that can waterski!