Mars Rover Scientists Say They're Sitting On A Discovery For The 'History Books'

[jagman]

The scientists in charge of NASA's Curiosity rover are sitting on some exciting, but not-yet-confirmed news, NPR's Joe Palca reports.

The major discovery involves the biggest instrument on the Mars rover called the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-rover-curiosity-major-discovery-2012-11#ixzz2CoNYwOBK

[RMorgan]

Hey mate,

Well, either they will announce that there are signs of fossilized microbes on Mars or they´ll say that it´s full of gold or other precious minerals.

Anyway, I´m 90% sure that they´ll start a mining project on Mars in the next couple of decades.

Raf.

[Billy]

Today's headline

19382

:eyebrows:

[Flash]

So funny, where do you take those pictures, or how do you create them??

[Cidersomerset]

This is a vid from a couple of days ago shows where the rover is and what it is
doing ...( I put my sencible head back on !!!!)


0t0LWFHB8Qo

Published on 16 Nov 2012 by NASAtelevision


A NASA's Mars Curiosity rover team member gives an update on developments and status of the planetary exploration mission. The Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft delivered Curiosity to its target area on Mars at 1:31:45 a.m. EDT on Aug. 6, which includes the 13.8 minutes needed for confirmation of the touchdown to be radioed to Earth at the speed of light. The rover will conduct a nearly two-year prime mission to investigate whether the Gale Crater region of Mars ever offered conditions favorable for microbial life.



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NASA admits hiding 'really good' news from Martian soil


Rechecking Curiosity data before historic announcement

By Iain Thomson in San Francisco • Get more from this author

Posted in Science, 21st November 2012 00:15 GMT

Free whitepaper – Why the Correct Information Infrastructure Is a Crucial Consideration for SQL Server 2012 Implementations


It appears the Curiosity rover on Mars has had some exciting news, but NASA controllers have said that they're keeping quiet about it until the facts have been checked.

"This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good," John Grotzinger, principal investigator for Curiosity told NPR

According to Grotzinger, the data comes from the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument, which consists of a six-column gas chromatograph, a quadrupole mass spectrometer, and a tunable laser spectrometer. This gives SAM the ability to find organic life, if it exists.So far Curiosity has done a sample scoop of soil for SAM earlier this month, and NASA announced more samples were going to be taken last week from an area the team have dubbed Rocknest. It appears they have found something very special, but Grotzinger says his lips are sealed.

We're getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting," he teased. "The science team is busily chewing away on it as it comes down,"

Part of the caution comes from nearly getting burned in the past, Grotzinger explained. Earlier in the mission, SAM took a sample of the Martian atmosphere and found methane present, which is a good indicator that there was life on Mars, at least at one point.

Rather than splashing the news, the team flushed out the SAM chamber and took more air samples. This time there was no methane, so the team concluded that the methane detected earlier had come from air the instrument had picked up from Earth before leaving.Space scientists are on tenterhooks for the moment, but the news will not be announced until next month at the earliest. Grotzinger plans to attend the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting on December 3 and will present some results then. ®



http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/11/21/nasa_hiding_martian_news/






===================================================

Curiosity Rover’s Secret Historic Breakthrough? Speculation Centers on Organic Molecules

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/11/curiosity.jpg

Much of the internet is buzzing over "big news" from NASA's Curiosity rover but, as yet, scientists are keeping quiet about the exact details of such an announcement.

by Adam Mann at 2012-11-20, 11:28 下午

====================================================
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This is on the BBC website.............5pm today.......Something is up !!!



20 November 2012 Last updated at 16:59

.Russia and Europe joint Mars bid agreement approved
By Jonathan Amos

Science correspondent, BBC News, Naples



http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/64266000/jpg/_64266851_c0066620-exomars_rover,_artwork-spl.jpg


Europe and Russia are cementing their plans to explore Mars together.

European Space Agency member states have approved the agreement that would see Russia take significant roles in Red Planet missions in 2016 and 2018.

The former is a satellite that will look for methane and other trace gases in the atmosphere; the latter will be a surface rover.

Russian participation fills a void left by the Americans who pulled back from the projects earlier this year.

For a while, it looked as though the ventures, known as ExoMars, might have to be cancelled. But Russian desire to pick up many of the elements dropped by the US means ExoMars is now on a much surer footing.

Esa member states indicated their happiness with the cooperation text on Monday. All that remains is for the documentation to be signed by both parties.

This is likely to happen before the end of the year.

'Other opportunities'

Officials say they want the ExoMars partnership to be the catalyst for further planetary exploration ventures.

"We have other opportunities to consider cooperation - for Jupiter missions, for example," said Frederic Nordlund, the head of international relations at Esa.

"Esa has selected Juice, a large mission for Jupiter, and in Russia there is a plan for a Ganymede lander which is of interest to Europe.

The ExoMars plan includes an orbiter as well as a surface rover
"We are initiating discussions to see how we could co-operate on those missions. But this could extend to lunar robotics where we would like to see if we could join forces as well.

"Russia already has its Luna-Glob and Luna-Resurs missions, which are already being implemented, but we're considering other opportunities for this in other areas."

The planned agreement calls for Russia to provide the Proton rockets to send the two ExoMars missions on their way.

Russia would also get instrument space on the 2016 satellite and the 2018 rover. In addition, its researchers would join the science teams that exploit the missions' data.

One key contribution would be the landing system that places the rover on the surface of the Red Planet. With the exception of some key components, this would be built by Russian industry.

ExoMars was formally initiated in Europe by ministers in 2005, and Esa has so far spent in excess of 400m euros on technology development.

The final budget on the European side is projected to be about 1.2bn euros for the two missions.

So far, 850m of that total has been committed. But officials remain confident of closing the gap.

The 2016 orbiter will try to track down the sources of methane that have been observed at Mars. Its presence in the atmosphere is intriguing and could conceivably indicate biological activity on the planet. A key role for the satellite also will be to provide the communications relay for the 2018 rover.

The six-wheeled vehicle would look for signs of past or present life. It would have the ability to drill 2m into the ground.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20407902

[Snoweagle]

Today's headline

19382

:eyebrows:

ROFLMAO
Appropriately suitable, superb, only a shame we are unable to rub it in NASA engineers faces.
Whilst a spoof, it sums up the quality of discovery I would expect from NASA for the global sheep. Who knows, could even be peanuts found as well.
love the post billyji

Recall also after CERN announced the discovery of the Higgs Boson, prior to public disclosure, a secret meeting of "shareholders" restricted the information actually released. We will never know the truths of the real process of the cosmos under this paradigm of manipulation.

Allied to the slow drip drip of archaeological eradication, mankind will grow dumber through our descendents to humanities detriment.

I wont be holding my breath for this news.

[Mozart]

Little Green Men

[Shade]

I would guess that they have found PAHs or Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polycyclic_aromatic_hydrocarbon

in a particular complex which they are going to say is a good indicator for life. Some combinations of PAH's can be said to be supportive of indicating that organic life was once present at a site, as a production of diagenetic processes - the breakdown of organic material - but all PAH's can be created by inorganic means. It is just the combinations of them that people use as evidence for life. My guess is that what they have found will be supportive of life once being present but not conclusive. I doubt they would have found microbes this close to the surface, even fossilised ones.

http://www.google.com/mars/#lon=-139.067576&q=gale%20crater <-- where the rover is

if they have found the PAHs in combination with something like evidence of carbon fractionation which is shown in ratios of C13 and C14, which evidences a carbon cycle (because biological life prefers C13?)... If they have found that as well then, that's more important. If it's just the PAHs - that's interesting but not proof that things once lived there.

[Shade]

That big white volcano [in the above link to Google Mars] to the right is Olympus Mons, the highest mountain in the Solar System, and the line of three volcanoes behind it are the Tharsis Volcanic Complex. The line where Gale Crater is situated is the line between the two halves of Mars. One side is thought to have had an ancient sea in it at one point and so gale crater is right on the edge of the ancient sea bed. The other side is covered with a much older surface, still filled with cratering from the great bombardment which ended about 3.8 billion years ago. The rest has been recovered by lava, water transportation of sediments or dust transportation and appears as the green blue side in Google Mars.

[Cidersomerset]

I just read this article ......Its says they have found something , but then says they
are going to announce it at a seminar 3-7 Dec.........Sounds like they are drumming
up publicity for their conference ..Lol...!!!




NASA WATCH........

MSL Results: "Earthshaking ... one for the history books" Or Not?

By Keith Cowing on November 21, 2012 10:07 AM. 24 Comments

http://www.nasawatch.com/

Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now, NPR

"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."

Curiosity Rover's Secret Historic Breakthrough? Speculation Centers on Organic Molecules, Wired

"The mystery will be revealed shortly, though. Grotzinger told Wired through e-mail that NASA would hold a press conference about the results during the 2012 American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco from Dec. 3 to 7. Because it's so potentially earth-shaking, Grotzinger said the team remains cautious and is checking and double-checking their results. But while NASA is refusing to discuss the findings with anyone outside the team, especially reporters, other scientists are free to speculate."

Keith's 20 Nov note: NASA SMD PAO has confirmed that Grotzinger will make an announcement at the AGU meeting next Wednesday. Given that he repeatedly uses phrases such as "Earthshaking" and "one for the history books" when talking to the media (clearly with zero NASA PAO guidance) one had better hope that his news will indeed be of that importance. Of course, while everyone seems to be thinking that SAM may have found something important in terms of organic compounds, it could well be that it has found absolutely no sign of organics. I suppose both extremes could be considered "Earthshaking" and "one for the history books". Given NASA SMD's recent botched PR efforts with regard to life in the universe i.e. "Arsenic-based life" and "Earthlike planets", yet another false alarm or flurry of unsubstantiated arm waving and hype would really undermine SMD's credibility.

Keith's 21 Nov update: Now NASA PAO and others are finally being dragged into the viral discussion. Perhaps if Grotzinger coordinated his message and choice of words (in advance), things would calm down a little. Given that everyone at NASA is either on vacation or about to go away for a long Thanksgiving weekend, I suspect this flurry won't really diminish. All too soon the UK tabloids will be proclaiming that Curiosity has (once again) "found life" on Mars.

http://www.nasawatch.com/

[jagman]

"Earth Shaking" and one for the "History Books"???? Sounds really Interesting.
There was another article recently that the RAD instrument on Curiosity has now given data that astronaut's can stay on Mars for a good period of time without being radiated and without being burnt to a crisp. I remember just a few months back that Richard Hoagland was a guest on C2C, He said Nasa was going to make a major announcement concerning Curiosity.
I know Richard has his detractors but He really hit this nail on the head.

[modwiz]

I just read this article ......Its says they have found something , but then says they
are going to announce it at a seminar 3-7 Dec.........Sounds like they are drumming
up publicity for their conference ..Lol...!!!




NASA WATCH........

MSL Results: "Earthshaking ... one for the history books" Or Not?

By Keith Cowing on November 21, 2012 10:07 AM. 24 Comments

http://www.nasawatch.com/

Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now, NPR

"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."

Curiosity Rover's Secret Historic Breakthrough? Speculation Centers on Organic Molecules, Wired

"The mystery will be revealed shortly, though. Grotzinger told Wired through e-mail that NASA would hold a press conference about the results during the 2012 American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco from Dec. 3 to 7. Because it's so potentially earth-shaking, Grotzinger said the team remains cautious and is checking and double-checking their results. But while NASA is refusing to discuss the findings with anyone outside the team, especially reporters, other scientists are free to speculate."

Keith's 20 Nov note: NASA SMD PAO has confirmed that Grotzinger will make an announcement at the AGU meeting next Wednesday. Given that he repeatedly uses phrases such as "Earthshaking" and "one for the history books" when talking to the media (clearly with zero NASA PAO guidance) one had better hope that his news will indeed be of that importance. Of course, while everyone seems to be thinking that SAM may have found something important in terms of organic compounds, it could well be that it has found absolutely no sign of organics. I suppose both extremes could be considered "Earthshaking" and "one for the history books". Given NASA SMD's recent botched PR efforts with regard to life in the universe i.e. "Arsenic-based life" and "Earthlike planets", yet another false alarm or flurry of unsubstantiated arm waving and hype would really undermine SMD's credibility.

Keith's 21 Nov update: Now NASA PAO and others are finally being dragged into the viral discussion. Perhaps if Grotzinger coordinated his message and choice of words (in advance), things would calm down a little. Given that everyone at NASA is either on vacation or about to go away for a long Thanksgiving weekend, I suspect this flurry won't really diminish. All too soon the UK tabloids will be proclaiming that Curiosity has (once again) "found life" on Mars.

http://www.nasawatch.com/

I think they found Al Capone's tomb and Geraldo Rivera will go to Mars to open it. Well, maybe not quite that. The Hobbit on December 14 is what's on my calendar. (Some Hobbity goodness for Cidey.)

[norman]

That one photo ( self portrait ) of the rover looks oddly earthy. It looks just like it's been poottling around on a beach. It's even got damp sand sticking to the tyres !

If it was as dry there as they say it is, there's no way that sand would be sticky like that.


There must be people on the inside or at NASA who think it's pointless keeping up the pretense any longer. The free-for-all race to the planets has begun and the secret is going to be shared by so many more people that they can't keep it much longer.

[sunnyrap]

Surprised no one else brought this up: R. C. Hoagland popped onto C2C Friday, Nov 16 and said that he'd studied the photos coming back from Curiosity and saw 'ancient abandoned apartment buildings'. He said 'anyone can look at them if they know where to find them'. If that's true, and I can't imagine why the man would announce it to several million listeners if he didn't have something to back it up...I'd say that was a bit more newsworthy than soil microbes. But the C2C website just reports in their archives that he 'gave an update on Mars' without mentioning this most startling feature of his report and I can't find mention of it anywhere else, including on Hoaglands site or Facebook page. Hoagland rivals Fulford in wild assertions and hyperbole in general, so I guess it's not surprising he didn't include a link to where the pictures live on the NASA site...but I wondered if it set a bunch of people onto the site to look.

[bennycog]

just to update this thread.. the mainstream media disclosure :p

http://blogs.discovery.com/inscider/2012/12/top-space-discoveries-of-2012.html

Okay, drum roll here. In early December, when NASA finally did announce the important finding made by its Curiosity Rover, it revealed that the probe had not found signs of life in Martian soil, as many had hoped to see. (The NASA scientist who'd talked about "one for the history books" meant the quality of the data rather than that the discovery's significance, he later revealed.) But what Curiosity did find in an ancient Martian riverbed — water, sulfur and chlorine-containing compounds such as chlorinate methane gas — was indeed significant.