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It would appear that the US President has been briefed by Phoenix scientists about the discovery of something more "provocative" than the discovery of water existing on the Martian surface. This news comes just as the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) confirmed experimental evidence for the existence of water in the Mars regolith on [...]
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Established Member
So , if this will progress positively .
Do they have a plan of migrating to Mars in the future?
Banned
We already know what they found.
Blackout's footprint.
Order of Kilopi
No! Bigfoot's footprint!
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/a...ars/article.do
Order of Kilopi
Oh, I hope so!So , if this will progress positively .
Do they have a plan of migrating to Mars in the future?
Order of Kilopi
I can't view UT at the moment, but the story is probably based on the Aviation Week article by Craig Covault: Aviation Week: White House Briefed On Potential For Mars Life.
Calm down, please.
It's about "potential". It's about habitability.
And it's not about evidence for past or current life.
And, it comes from unnamed sources and they're often of limited usefulness evidence-wise. Keep being skeptical.Sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars. Rather the data relate to habitability--the "potential" for Mars to support life--at the Phoenix arctic landing site, sources say.
Banned
And, it comes from unnamed sources and they're often of limited usefulness evidence-wise. Keep being skeptical.
<Sells the "Alien Shielding Technologies" stock he bought yesterday...>
Member
Great link. I love how the "being" is out for casual stroll.Originally Posted by parallaxicality
Anyways do we know when I actual announcement will be made?
Banned
As soon as all the disinformation agents are in place.
Order of Kilopi
When the science is done. When it's checked and rechecked, and confirmed. Knowledge can't be scheduled.
Guess: From Mid-August into September.
===
By the way, this UT story is on Slashdot's front page. Expect a busy BAUT Forum server for a while.
Slashsot: White House Briefed On "Potential For Life"
139 comments so far.
Newbie
What sort of discovery would require notifying the White House? What is the criteria for this, if any? It has already been announced that they've found water, that Mars soil is compatible with life. What else could they have found that would lead to this sort of notification way in advance of the public?
I'm damn curious. I don't want to get too excited, because it will probably be a letdown when the info is released.
So, is this story accurate?, and if it is, what common sense speculation is there as to what was discovered?
Order of Kilopi
Welcome to BAUT Forum.
Anything of a nature that would make a reporter think to ask for a White House comment. It's a good idea to let the White House prepare some answers.
There is no set criteria, I expect. It is a judgment call by a government worker or contractor over what sort of discovery might cause reporters to ask for White House comment.
Indeed, what could be more interesting than the result the first sample gave?
"Provocative" results about habitabilty, says the article, quoting unnamed sources. Most everyone else is pretty much wondering what that could be, how the second sample could be different from the first (which already had much to say about the potential for habitability), and how that difference could be interpreted as being provocative results about habitability. I have yet to hear conjecture that makes me think it was a good fit for what the story reported.
I'd expect nobody but the author and his sources, some White House science advisors, and some others of the Phoenix team know the accuracy of the story. I would remain skeptical. There is little solid evidence offered of anything about the MECA WCL second sample being provocative. Speculate away if you can think of an answer that matches the puzzle pieces. Or, wait and see.I'm damn curious. I don't want to get too excited, because it will probably be a letdown when the info is released.
So, is this story accurate?, and if it is, what common sense speculation is there as to what was discovered?
Yes, don't get excited. No reason. Doesn't accomplish much. Way most often, these rumored sorts of things are blown way out of proportion to their actual impact. But, speculation is fun, too. Final results are most often less fun.
Last edited by 01101001; 2008-Aug-03 at 08:04 AM.
Honored Member
Ha! I know! The heck with life...
THEY FOUND OIL!
Order of Kilopi
Or a hatch...
Established Member
PLUTONIUM ???
Established Member
I told this my Avatar´s best friend
Last edited by dhd40; 2009-Mar-18 at 10:39 AM.
Member
Leading to where...or what? Can't wait for the answer.
Order of Kilopi
To the vestibule.
Order of Kilopi
You'll have to ask Mama Cass!
Established Member
That would be better than finding life. Lots better. If there's life, then we're going to see people screaming to shutdown missions to Mars because the "sane" ones will be worried about us doing something to wipe the Martians out, while the "insane" ones will be worried that the Martians will do something to wipe us out.
Established Member
Hows this for a guess? "Phoenix landed on a polar ice cap that we now believe is floating on a large sea of liquid water. This finding will lead to a whole different approach in our future search for life on Mars"
Honored Member
Or "Phoenix has found large collections of plastic bottles filled with a frozen yellow liquid, suggesting ice road truckers may have driven through the area in the recent past."
Established Member
The only comment released so far: "Acck ack ack!"
Order of Kilopi
NASA claims that it isn't true:
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,397326,00.html
Established Member
NASA will hold a media teleconference on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss these recent science activities.
You can listen to it here:
http://www.nasa.gov/news/media/newsaudio/index.html
Jim
Member
This story is a rumour gone wild, shame on aviation week and fraser I would have waited before posting a story like this it lowers the tone a tad.
http://planetary.org/blog/article/00001586/
I see Emily has seen the light, There might be an intresting contradiction in the results but that is about it sadly, a good editorial on the matter is required or this just may end up on Phil's blog.
Order of Kilopi
Thanks for the link. Anyone else listen to this? I didn't realize it was Real Audio and that RA wasn't installed on my work machine, so by the time I got it set up I had missed the actual press release, and came in exactly at the start of the Q&A.
So I'm kind of getting the basics of what was said, but I don't know for sure.
It sounds to me like the "Exciting discovery" should have been "an exciting discovery to us science nerds (and I don't mean that as a derogatory term), but a discovery that doesn't rule out the possiblity of life, but also doesn't make it any better".
Is that about right?
Order of Kilopi
See article in topic Phoenix on Mars, and forward, for my very loose transcription.
Established Member
Yep. The bottom line was that the perchlorate really doesn't change the odds of finding life on mars, but certainly will make things much more interesting.
You can hear a recorded replay of the briefing by phone (it's one hour) by calling 800-229-6331 (in US)
And it should be available here later today or tomorrow (Aug. 5th):
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/phoenix/audio.php
The first portion was basically damage control. I thought the best part was the Q & A.
There is a portion of the transcript here:
http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2...og-nasa-p.html
Jim
ETA - Ooops; 01101001 beat me to it...
Last edited by orionjim; 2008-Aug-05 at 07:43 PM. Reason: ETA:
Order of Kilopi
I did enjoy the Q&A quite a bit...which is suprising considering I don't know anything about what was being discussed. I mean, I had to wikipedia (that's a verb now like google) what a "perchlorate" was (and then follow the link to the definition of "oxidizing agent" then to "oxidizer" etc etc).
Still, very informative even from just the Q&A...and best of all, I know more now than I did before...though that wasn't a tough feat to accomplish.
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