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Big News From Mars Rover (1 Viewer)

Cliff Clavin

Cliff Clavin

Footballguy
http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513016/big-news-from-mars-rover-scientists-mum-for-now

Scientists working on NASA's six-wheeled rover on Mars have a problem. But it's a good problem.

They have some exciting new results from one of the rover's instruments. On the one hand, they'd like to tell everybody what they found, but on the other, they have to wait because they want to make sure their results are not just some fluke or error in their instrument.

It's a bind scientists frequently find themselves in, because by their nature, scientists like to share their results. At the same time, they're cautious because no one likes to make a big announcement and then have to say "never mind."

The exciting results are coming from an instrument in the rover called SAM. "We're getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting," John Grotzinger, the principal investigator for the rover mission, says during my visit last week to his office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. That's where data from SAM first arrive on Earth. "The science team is busily chewing away on it as it comes down," says Grotzinger.

SAM is a kind of miniature chemistry lab. Put a sample of Martian soil or rock or even air inside SAM, and it will tell you what the sample is made of.

Grotzinger says they recently put a soil sample in SAM, and the analysis shows something earthshaking. "This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good," he says.

Grotzinger can see the pained look on my face as I wait, hoping he'll tell me what the heck he's found, but he's not providing any more information.

So why doesn't Grotzinger want to share his exciting news? The main reason is caution. Grotzinger and his team were almost stung once before. When SAM analyzed an air sample, it looked like there was methane in it, and at least here on Earth, some methane comes from living organisms.

But Grotzinger says they held up announcing the finding because they wanted to be sure they were measuring Martian air, and not air brought along from the rover's launchpad at Cape Canaveral.

"We knew from the very beginning that we had this risk of having brought air from Florida. And we needed to diminish it and then make the measurement again," he says. And when they made the measurement again, the signs of methane disappeared.

Grotzinger says it will take several weeks before he and his team are ready to talk about their latest finding. In the meantime he'll fend off requests from pesky reporters, and probably from NASA brass as well. Like any big institution, NASA would love to trumpet a major finding, especially at a time when budget decisions are being made. Nothing succeeds like success, as the saying goes.

Richard Zare, a chemist at Stanford University, appreciates the uncomfortable position John Grotzinger is in. He's been there. In 1996, he was part of a team that reported finding organic compounds in a meteorite from Mars that landed in Antarctica. When the news came out, it caused a huge sensation because finding organic compounds in a Martian rock suggested the possibility at least that there was once life on Mars.

"You're bursting with a feeling that you want to share this information, and it's frustrating when you feel you can't talk about it, "says Zare.

It wasn't scientific caution that kept Zare from announcing his results. It was a rule many scientific journals enforce that says scientists are not allowed to talk about their research until the day it's officially published. Zare had to follow the rules if he wanted his paper to come out.

He did break down and tell his family. "I remember at the dinner table with great excitement explaining to my wife, Susan, and my daughter, Bethany, what it was we were doing," says Zare. And then he experienced something many parents can relate to when talking to their kids.

"Bethany looked at me and said, 'pass the ketchup.' So, not everybody was as excited as I was," he says.

Zare says in a way, scientists are like artists. Sharing what they do is a big part of why they get out of bed in the morning.

"How many composers would actually compose music if they were told no one else could listen to their compositions? How many painters would make a painting if they were told no one else could see them?" says Zare. It's the same for scientists. "The great joy of science is to be able to share it. And so you want to say, 'Isn't this interesting? Isn't that cool?' "

For now, though, we'll have to wait to see what's got Mars rover scientists itching to say what they found.
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Are they going to have Geraldo do an hour long show revealing the information live? I'm loving how they got stoked about methane because they didn't purge the sample chamber first. Hard to take these guys seriously.

My guess is they found this.

 
Last edited by a moderator:
Amino acids. Trust me, I've seen 2010: The Year We Make Contact.

ALL THESE WORLDS ARE YOURS EXCEPT EUROPA MARS

ATTEMPT NO LANDING THERE

 
I wish they would announce the results on Dec 21st. Just to send the conspiracy sites into an uproar for the next month.

 
'NCCommish said:
'JNox3 said:
'NCCommish said:
'badmojo1006 said:
DNA or even Fossils?
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Either would be huge.
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But then the question will be who put them there.
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Well if we find real alien DNA then I guess it will be whatever alien critter was there. Same for the fossil. I am sure some would claim some grand conspiracy of planted evidence but hopefully most people would just point and laugh at them.
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Why would it need to be planted? Isn't the rover in the desert in New Mexico?
 
'Sinn Fein said:
'NCCommish said:
'JNox3 said:
'NCCommish said:
'badmojo1006 said:
DNA or even Fossils?
Click to expand...
Either would be huge.
Click to expand...
But then the question will be who put them there.
Click to expand...
Well if we find real alien DNA then I guess it will be whatever alien critter was there. Same for the fossil. I am sure some would claim some grand conspiracy of planted evidence but hopefully most people would just point and laugh at them.
Click to expand...
Why would it need to be planted? Isn't the rover in the desert in New Mexico?
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Obviously!!!
 
I'm hope they discover that Mars girls are easy, because if that's true, I'm totally there.

 
'Cliff Clavin said:
Grotzinger says they recently put a soil sample in SAM, and the analysis shows something earthshaking. "This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good," he says....He did break down and tell his family. "I remember at the dinner table with great excitement explaining to my wife, Susan, and my daughter, Bethany, what it was we were doing," says Zare. And then he experienced something many parents can relate to when talking to their kids."Bethany looked at me and said, 'pass the ketchup.' So, not everybody was as excited as I was," he says.
Click to expand...
So basically its something scientists get worked up over but young girls don't. That narrows things down considerably
 
'bostonfred said:
'Cliff Clavin said:
Grotzinger says they recently put a soil sample in SAM, and the analysis shows something earthshaking. "This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good," he says....He did break down and tell his family. "I remember at the dinner table with great excitement explaining to my wife, Susan, and my daughter, Bethany, what it was we were doing," says Zare. And then he experienced something many parents can relate to when talking to their kids."Bethany looked at me and said, 'pass the ketchup.' So, not everybody was as excited as I was," he says.
Click to expand...
So basically its something scientists get worked up over but young girls don't. That narrows things down considerably
Click to expand...
Isn't any news really narrowed down? It is either proof life existed or liquid water.What other big news could there be? As for a young girl not getting excited about her dad rambling on about finding some element in the soil that means life existed there X amount of years ago, it isn't that shocking.
 
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