A scoop from Mars! Lander digs in

[Gunny]

By Alicia Chang
Associated Press
updated 7:24 p.m. CT, Mon., June. 2, 2008

LOS ANGELES - NASA’s newest spacecraft got down and dirty on Mars, taking its first practice scoop of Martian soil ahead of the actual dig expected later this week, scientists said Monday.

The test dig made Sunday by Phoenix Mars Lander’s 8-foot-long robotic arm uncovered bits of bright specks in the soil believed to be ice or salt.

“We see this nice streak of white material,” said Pat Woida, senior engineer at the University of Arizona at Tucson, which is directing the mission. “We don’t know what this material is yet.”

more ... A scoop from Mars! Lander digs in - Mars - MSNBC.com

 

[dilloduck]

more ... A scoop from Mars! Lander digs in - Mars - MSNBC.com

Holy shit--Mars is made of cocaine

 

[Gunny]

Holy shit--Mars is made of cocaine

I was hoping for oil, myself. That way Exxon Mobil can hog it all up and cahrge even for money due to transportation costs.

 

[dilloduck]

I was hoping for oil, myself. That way Exxon Mobil can hog it all up and cahrge even for money due to transportation costs.

hell--at least we could understand that-----"well hell Ma---it came from fricken Mars. What do you expect ?? "

 

[onedomino]

more ... A scoop from Mars! Lander digs in - Mars - MSNBC.com

Examining a piece of another world is very cool (it is, after all, about -120 F at night at the Phoenix site). Soon a scoop of Mars stuff will be put in one of the lander's mini ovens and heated to 1800 F. Then a gas spectrometer will identify the vaporous results. We want to identify water and organic compounds. Maybe some tiny Martians will wiggle in our microscope images, but probably not. We want to know if Mars ever had the right stuff for life. Maybe long ago, when it was warmer on Mars, but probably not now. But who knows? Maybe life did begin on early Mars. We know from Earth that once life is established, it is almost impossible to completely extinguish. The next 90 days of science from Phoenix will be very interesting.

 

[dilloduck]

Examining a piece of another world is very cool (it is, after all, about -120 F at night at the Phoenix site). Soon a scoop of Mars stuff will be put in one of the lander's mini ovens and heated to 1800 F. Then a gas spectrometer will identify the vaporous results. We want to identify water and organic compounds. Maybe some tiny Martians will wiggle in our microscope images, but probably not. We want to know if Mars ever had the right stuff for life. Maybe long ago, when it was warmer on Mars, but probably not now. But who knows? Maybe life did begin on early Mars. We know from Earth that once life is established, it is almost impossible to completely extinguish. The next 90 days of science from Phoenix will be very interesting.

We sure pay a lot for scientists to find something new to speculate about.

 

[onedomino]

We sure pay a lot for scientists to find something new to speculate about.

The entire NASA budget represents one-half of one penny for ever dollar spent in the Federal Budget. I have read your posts on this topic for years, and it is well known you have no use for space exploration. I guess you will just have to read about something else in the news.

 

[Gunny]

Examining a piece of another world is very cool (it is, after all, about -120 F at night at the Phoenix site). Soon a scoop of Mars stuff will be put in one of the lander's mini ovens and heated to 1800 F. Then a gas spectrometer will identify the vaporous results. We want to identify water and organic compounds. Maybe some tiny Martians will wiggle in our microscope images, but probably not. We want to know if Mars ever had the right stuff for life. Maybe long ago, when it was warmer on Mars, but probably not now. But who knows? Maybe life did begin on early Mars. We know from Earth that once life is established, it is almost impossible to completely extinguish. The next 90 days of science from Phoenix will be very interesting.

I understand your thirst for knowledge ... at the same time, ever consider the ethics to what we arrogantly do? What if life on Mars, as a hypothetical, IS those tiny little microorganisms we're about to cook?

Do you think they would be glad to see us?

I have a notion that one day Man's arrogance in stumbling around in the dark is going to exact a heavy toll on us.

 

[onedomino]

I understand your thirst for knowledge ... at the same time, ever consider the ethics to what we arrogantly do? What if life on Mars, as a hypothetical, IS those tiny little microorganisms we're about to cook?

Do you think they would be glad to see us?

I have a notion that one day Man's arrogance in stumbling around in the dark is going to exact a heavy toll on us.

If the little bits were sentient, then toasting them at 1800 degrees would not be very friendly. Problematic is the potential for contaminating an alien ecosystem with tiny travelers from Earth. That seems likely to happen in the future. We will make mistakes "stumbling around in the dark." Humans are very young. We leave whirlpools in our wake. I do not guess that we should fear the judgment of the Universe, nor expect its forgiveness.

 

[Gungnir]

Bla bla bla. Smash a few Ice Comets and Asteroids into Mars and Venus, that will take care of the problem. If we impact a big enough mass we might even be able to mine some really useful heavy metals in yonder distant future. We could get a great start with ORION.

Unless something revolutionary happens, we will be stuck on Earth for the next half millenium at least (that is a good scenario). If Humans can get a manned mission to another star system; those Humans will be from a more intelligent, rational, self-motivated, and educated society than ours presently. We'ld be wise not to test gee-whiz gadgetry inside of the Solar System either.

Whatever happened with the Huygens Probe? Were Hydrocarbons found on Titan?