Mars Rover finds soil that could support life

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Telegraph

Mars Rover finds soil that could support life
A new site being explored by the Mars rover Opportunity has yielded soil samples unlike any examined before on the red planet and that appear more favourable for life.
7:00AM BST 02 Sep 2011

Opportunity, the indefatigable robot that has been exploring Mars for seven and a half years, arrived three weeks ago at the edge of a 13.6 mile wide crater named Endeavour and has been sending back images of the surrounding environment.

The first rock it examined was a flat-topped object about the size of a foot stool that apparently was cast up by an impact that left an impression the size of a tennis court on the rim of the crater.

Called Tisdale 2, the rock "is different from any rock we've ever seen on Mars," said Steve Squyres, a Cornell University scientist who is the principal investigator for Opportunity.

"It has a composition similar to some volcanic rocks, but there's much more zinc and bromine than we've typically seen," he said at a news conference.



Read more: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/science/space/8736669/Mars-Rover-finds-soil-that-could-support-life.html

[DCKit]

1. Great. Now that they know that we know that they're there...

they have no choice but to invade the Earth.

[tawadi]

18. lol

:D

[trud]

21. I don' tthink they would want earth

not if they're intelligent life. Maybe if they obliterated the human race first, then it would be a nice planet.

[tclambert]

2. Pretty sure almost any soil will support life, if you pour enough Miracle-Gro on it.

[leveymg]

3. No soil can support life unless it contains bacteria. We'd have to germinate it first.

That, in itself, present quite an ethical dilemma.

[postulater]

12. Damn Prime Directive!

[muriel_volestrangler]

25. Surely the point is that this rock could support bacteria

Bacteria are alive; once there are bacteria in it, it is supporting life, not just 'can'.

It's possible we've sent some bacteria there already - since NASA's clean rooms contain bacteria that feed on paint and cleaning solvent.

[dmosh42]

27. We can send a few bags of compost to start it off!

[Botany]

4. Old News

[Volaris]

5. GOD I love me some NASA...

That rover was supposed to last what, like 6 weeks before it became non-functional, given the harsh climate it was going to be working in? 7 YEARS and the damn thing thing just won't die=)
NASA (like most other Federal programs) is worth 10 times what we pay for it; I guess that's why they want it all Privatized, they know what its worth on the open market.

Fuck 'em, they can't have it.

Peace,

[JoshieR]

6. Not to mention...

the kinds of technological development that come out of Nasa. Patents and inventions that change the face of the consumer market place would be a HUGE income generator for the private sector.

[Botany]

9. my SIL works for NASA ...... W didn't do any favors to the

..... agency. His build a fort on the moon @ which we will build a spaceship and the fly to and back
from mars idea chewed up time and money that could have been spent on real science.

BTW her business card does say, Rocket Scientist on it. :rofl:

[Odin2005]

15. Yup, so much for "the gummit can't do anything right".

This rover is proof that the government make build quality things that last.

[chrisa]

16. We aint need no NASA

We got gawd and Jeesus and that's all that matters. All of this sci-ence stuff is just an Atheist plot. You know who Atheists worship? The devil!

That is exactly why NASA should be privatized. We need to take NASA away from the Atheists and give it to only the most holy, god-fearing people in the US: corporations.

[formercia]

26. BSD (UNIX) Operating System

If it had been an MS product, it would have been DOA.

[proud patriot]

7. getting my geek on

:headbang:

[Bladian]

8. Mass Effect...it's real!!!!

I don't know why I said that. I'm sure only a very few people will get that joke. :/ Lol.

[valerief]

10. Whew! Now the rich people have a place to go after they shit up Earth. nt

[cliffordu]

11. Seven years??? That robot has worked at this job longer

than I have at just about anything....

[RaleighNCDUer]

13. Not too bad for what was originated as a 3 month temp job. nt

[laconicsax]

17. Reminds me of this.

[Uncle Joe]

20. That's a cute toon.

:) :thumbsup:

[Judi Lynn]

23. Thank you for posting that. n/t

[Posteritatis]

28. And it was expected to last just three months. (nt)

[Odin2005]

14. I can't believe that rover just keeps on going and going and going!

The little rover that could!

[harun]

19. Utterly amazing. They should send 20 more.

[The Croquist]

22. No they shouldn't send 20 more

Send better ones but only one or two at a time. We learn from each one. What's the hurry? Mars has been waiting 4 billion years. A few more won't piss it off.

[harun]

24. Mass producing them would reduct costs. Also they could get Engineering departments

in colleges across the country to go through the data. Then they could also have a corp of amateurs also going through the data on a volunteer basis. Raises awareness and excitement and distributes the load.

[The Croquist]

29. I understand that

but exploring Mars isn't like doing water quality samples in Lake Erie. The largest part of the initial cost was getting the probe there (I'm winging that). The rover also has a full time staff. If you have 20 rovers you can multiply the staff by 20 as well. I remember NASA having to go hat in hand to Congress to get funding to extend the mission. That was to pay the staff. If we had unlimited funds, sending multiple probes and newer ones could both be done but we don't have unlimited funds.