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quote:
Originally posted by Tripledoc
If there is life, probably bacteria, (vira is not technically life, but need a host), then the people who eventually go there can't come back. Quarantine restrictions must apply.
So finding life on Mars is not good news in my opinion.
Even sending back detailed analysis of the life found, might infect the recievers on earth with a computer virus. |
Come on, I hope you are joking with the last sentence, or do we need to explain why this is less probable than over 5 meteors hitting me in the next 5 minutes...
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dainbramage20
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Chicago
Feb 2004
time: 05:33
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Someone who is close as hell to JPL said they found life. And drudge had a report of Life, but its gone. So I guess its pointing to some kind of life on mars
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Barinthus
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A Magical Moment...
Jan 2004
time: 21:33
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I thought this was amusing...
from The Star, a Toronto newspaper.
quote:
Mars — the new frontier for resolving old battles
SLINGER
If it hadn't been for the second shock, the first shock would have been the most stunning development in the history of space exploration.
As it was, the first shock paralyzed the engineers in the vast control room at NASA's flight centre in Houston. The image on the gigantic screen mocked them even as it astonished them. There was no denying what it was.
"Lockdown." The mouth of the director-in-chief, Mars Rover Operations, was so dry he had to say it twice to be heard. "Lockdown. Nobody leaves this room. Nobody communicates with anybody outside this room."
Everyone knew why. The world must not find out what the cameras aboard the rover Opportunity revealed with such brilliant clarity.
Only one other person must. "Get me the President," said the director-in-chief.
"Sir," he said, when the President came on the line. "It is my duty to tell you what the rover Opportunity has just discovered on Mars."
"I know Mars," said the President. "Great planet."
"Sir — I don't know how else to put it. Opportunity has found water there."
"Water!" cried the President. "In the canals? Wonderful! Water, the wellspring of life. That's what we hoped to find. That's why we're spending trillions exploring Mars. Whoo-ee!"
"Actually, sir." The director-in-chief searched for the right words. "It's just a few drops. A few drops in — "
"A few drops!" The President was ecstatic. "That's all we need! Mission accomplished!"
" — a discarded plastic Evian bottle."
It took several hours before everyone was sure the President fully appreciated the significance of the discovery. That it wasn't exactly the triumph he had in mind. It took several more hours before the significance of the second shock was as fully understood.
Suddenly Opportunity had stopped transmitting. No more pictures were arriving. Then, a blip at a time, letter by letter, the following appeared on the giant NASA screen. "Dzzzx dzzx."
"Dzzzx dzzx?" said the director-in-chief to his assistant.
"It's code, sir."
"Code for what?"
The President sounded as if he had been hit over the head with a tire iron. "You're telling me that Opportunity has sent a coded message saying it's under attack?"
"Afraid so, sir."
"What's up there to attack it?"
More letters flickered spasmodically on to the giant NASA screen. "Cr-r-r-unch."
"What's that mean?" said the director-in-chief.
"I think it means `Crunch,' sir," said his assistant.
Another picture shimmered feebly into view. From the angle it appeared as if Opportunity had been knocked over on its side.
Another Mars rover could be seen racing away carrying what looked like the caterpillar tracks Opportunity had travelled around on and the little pincer arms it had used to pick up soil samples. Plumes of red dust floated behind it as it disappeared over the edge of a gully.
"That wasn't — ?" The director-in-chief couldn't bring himself to finish the question.
"I'm afraid it was," said his assistant.
"Opportunity was attacked by Spirit?" The President was shouting. "But Spirit's our other Mars rover! We sent it up ahead of Opportunity. I thought you said it was broken, and that's why we haven't heard from it!"
"I think maybe it wasn't broken after all, sir," said the director-in-chief. "I think maybe it was lying in the weeds."
"There are weeds on Mars?"
"I mean, sir." The director-in-chief steeled himself. "I mean, it was flying this strange flag."
"Strange flag?"
It took several hours before the President fully understood the significance of the red flag with the star-studded diagonal blue cross: the Confederate Battle Flag.
"The South seems to have risen again, sir," said the Secretary of Defence.
"Are you telling me," said the President, "that the first time war breaks out in space it's a replay of the American Civil War?"
"Not a replay, sir." The secretary smiled. "I think of it more as Civil War II."
"So what's with the Evian bottle?"
"Evian. It's a French brand, sir. The Confederacy always believed that if they could have gotten the French on their side they would've won the first time. It looks like this time they have."
"Those Frenchies," growled the President. "I always knew they were garlic-stinking, frog-eating — wait! I'm from Texas. Whose side was Texas on?"
"The South's."
"Really? In that case, Vive la France! Now get the Strategic Air Command on the line. Tell them to get to work."
"Right away, sir. What do you want them to do?"
"Bomb New York."
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Capt Dizle
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Gee, they really made the announcement. Water on Mars. This will lead to a strong movement to get up there and poke around.
My taxes are going up.
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Proteus_MST
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Ah, they would like to bring back Mars Rocks Home,
to look for Fossils they could possibly contain.
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The Emperor Fabulous
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Apolyton's Resident Actor-in-Training
Aug 1999
time: 00:33
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quote:
CNN) -- Mission accomplished.
NASA scientists say the Mars rovers have found what they were looking for: Hard evidence that the red planet was once "soaking wet."
"We have concluded the rocks here were once soaked in liquid water," said Steve Squyres of Cornell University. He's the principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin rover, Spirit.
"The second question we've tried to answer: Were these rocks altered by liquid water? We believe definitively, yes," said Squyres.
Squyres and other NASA officials made the announcement at NASA headquarters in Washington, after several days of giving tantalizing hints that something significant had been discovered.
"Three and a half years ago, in July 2000, we were on stage here to talk about sending two rovers to get evidence of past water. NASA and its international partners have turned those dreams to reality," said Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for space science.
Scientists used instruments on board the golf cart-sized rovers to study the composition of the rocks and soil on the planet. The rocks' physical appearance, plus the detection of sulfates, make the case for a watery history, and more important, an environment that could have been hospitable to life.
Spirit and Opportunity were sent to opposite sides of the planet with the possibility of investigating different types of terrain. Spirit, the first rover to arrive on January 3, landed near the Gusev Crater, which may once have held a lake.
But geologists and other researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, were thrilled when they saw the possibilities surrounding Opportunity, which landed three weeks later. It landed inside a small crater in the Meridiani Planum, one of the flattest places on the planet. And its landing site was within driving distance for the spacecraft to reach an exposed slice of bedrock.
Since its landing January 25, Opportunity has used the same tools as a human field geologist would to determine the chemical contents of the rocks. Using an alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, a device that can identify chemical elements, scientists have identified a high concentration of sulfur in the bedrock.
Another instrument on board, a Moessbauer spectrometer, has detected an iron sulfate mineral known as jarosite. From their knowledge of rocks on earth, scientists say rocks with as much salt as this Mars rock either formed in water, or had a long exposure to water after they were formed. The scientists say these rocks could have formed in an acidic lake or even a hot springs.
Scientists say the case for a watery past is further strengthened by the pictures taken by the rovers' panoramic cameras and its microscopic imager. One target rock, named "El Capitan," is filled with random pockmarks. Geologists say a texture like that comes from sites where salt crystals have formed in rocks that have sat in salt water.
Scientists say they have gained other clues from the physical appearance of the rocks. They see a pattern called "crossbedding," which is often the result of wind or water moving across the rock's surface.
The cost of the two rover missions is about $820 million dollars. With solar panels and lithium-ion battery systems aboard, each rover is expected to function and communicate with earth for about 90 Mars days, known as "sols." That's equivalent to 92 earth days.
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Tripledoc
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Interstellar vira - real and virtual.
quote:
Could a signal from the stars broadcast by an alien intelligence also carry harmful information, in the spirit of a computer virus? Could star folk launch a "disinformation" campaign -- one that covers up aspects of their culture? Perhaps they might even mask the "real" intent of dispatching a message to other civilizations scattered throughout the Cosmos. |
quote:
Ultimately, what may be needed is a protocol similar to the one for biological contamination of a probe returning from space -- like that discussed in handling surface materials brought back from Mars. The prospect of a virulent microbe from Mars doing damage to Earth's ecosystem cannot be dismissed. |
Read more
It would be especially dangerous if it was proven that mars once contained more advanced forms of life, since the microbes may have been designed to destroy. And the microbes might carry computer vira within them, capable of transmitting themselves deep into any analytical computer which is exposed to the data.
Also think what would happen if a microbe that is capable of surving on mars would arrive on earth where the environment is more conducive to life. The microbe might grow exponentially
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Rogan Josh
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quote:
Originally posted by Tripledoc
It would be especially dangerous if it was proven that mars once contained more advanced forms of life, since the microbes may have been designed to destroy. And the microbes might carry computer vira within them, capable of transmitting themselves deep into any analytical computer which is exposed to the data.
Also think what would happen if a microbe that is capable of surving on mars would arrive on earth where the environment is more conducive to life. The microbe might grow exponentially |
Don't you think that's a little paranoid?
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Rogan Josh
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It is all just such a huge waste of money. What is the point of trying to explore Mars? They will not find existing life there and I very much doubt that they will find extinct life either.
Wouldn't we be better spending the money on all the problems we have down here on Earth?
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Rogan Josh
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I find that last remark offensive and insist that Japher be banned.
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dainbramage20
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Chicago
Feb 2004
time: 05:33
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I dont understand some things about this tho. Mars may have only been wet for a few hundred thousand years. What conditions were different during those years that are different now? Surely something catalysmic must have happened. Or the planets core is cold and was fubared. Or wasnt it foobared since its creation??? It was only internally active for the first 100 million years. Seems red-faced scientists have alot of updating of there history books, as usual  . Clearly the pieces of the puzzle wont fit with the current mars timeline.
The good news about life.......
This lends new credibility to the ancient/present life on mars theory. If fossils are found, Simple or complex, the the atmosphere may have been thriving with life. Then it may turn out that the structures at the mysterouis 'Cydonia' site are infact evidence of an ancient civilization. Which excites me greatly. I thought the smooth like Pyramid stuctures were strange since Viking first took them.
Last edited by dainbramage20 on 03-03-2004 at 05:36
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02-03-2004 18:51
) that I have felt with this news.
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