NASA News Conference on Mars~~~ Live Thread

Fox | March 2 2004

[Dog]

NASA is to hold a news conference at 2 pm eastern announcing a major discovery/finding from the Rovers.

[aruanan]

Hope you're not the only one around when someone needs CPR.

Well, there's someone who is still alive though his heart had stopped and he had ceased to breathe and then there's someone whose cardiac and respiratory activity had ceased three weeks ago. In the former case, if the victim can be resucitated, it is precisely because he is still alive and is able to respond to the externally supplied air and heart massage. Applying air and pressure to the chest won't do a thing in the latter case except give the one applying them some exercise and oral intimacy with a corpse. Knowing the difference makes the difference. But thanks for another demonstration of that three-year-old's failure to make careful distinctions I drew attention to in my post above included below:

Well, it's pretty much agreed, [sic] that no water means no life. But then some people make the illogical and risible assumption that if there's water, there's pretty much got to be life. They're like the three-year-old I came across when I was in kindergarten who was holding a dead robin by the beak with one hand and pouring water down its throat with the other. I asked him what he thought he was doing. He said he was going to make it come alive. Yeah, if you can't have A without B, the presence of B doesn't guarantee the presence of A.

[Don Joe]

Ah...you still have faith. Alas, I am one of the poor unfortunates that have lost faith in the free exchange of scientific data. If the powers-that-be feel that the American public is still too juvenile to receive the facts as they exist, then I fear we will not hear of any such evidence.

I'm trying to catch up with the traffic, my health and SWMBO having conspired to ensure that I couldn't do so yesterday.

I see that NASA pretty much lived down to my previously expressed expectations. I'm not surprised. IMO they're going to nurse it along as slowly as they can, to ensure a continued flow of money at a predictable rate, rather than having to confront a feast or famine scenario, with its attendant demands for results.

Maybe I'm cynical. But, maybe I'm right, too. :)

[Don Joe]

Also...the presence of vast amounts of water on Mars implies something else...plate tectonics.

Past, or present?

[FireTrack]

Also...the presence of vast amounts of water on Mars implies something else...plate tectonics.

You may have something there. Mars doesn't have the largest volcano and the largest/deepest canyon in the Solar system for no reason!

[null and void]

Ummm, largest volcano implies no plate motion over a fixed hot spot.

Imagine how big Hawai'i would be if the Pacific plate wasn't moving.

Cram all the Hawai'ian islands together and add all the seamounts and guyots in the chain clear across to Siberia.

[FireTrack]

Ummm, largest volcano implies no plate motion over a fixed hot spot.

True, Mars seems to be a very strange place with a VERY varied past I suspect. An enigma inside a mystery... ;-)

[null and void]

Yes. Unwrapping it will be an adventure...

[FireTrack]

Here is a great site for information on Martian volcanos:

http://www.solarviews.com/eng/marsvolc.htm

[Joe Hadenuf]

True, Mars seems to be a very strange place with a VERY varied past I suspect. An enigma inside a mystery

The data, images, and evidence so far suggest that the planet has gone through some *enormous* changes in the past. I honestly believe that we will eventually find life on Mars, or evidence of life from the past. The mounting evidence of possible large amounts of sub-surface liquid water, just enforces this very real possibility that life, past or present will be found.

[FireTrack]

just enforces this very real possibility that life, past or present will be found.

I believe it will and perhaps sooner rather than later. Two things that came out of the "big news release" that I find very strange. 1. Steve mentioned that the outcrop was the perfect place to find fossilized evidence of past life. 2. They did not mention anything about the possible evidence we were seeing in the micro images of the outcrop grind. Hopefully we will find out more at a later date.

[Joe Hadenuf]

I believe it will and perhaps sooner rather than later.

Agree!

Personally, I am absolutely stunned by some of the images, and it only reinforced my belief that life, past or present will be found on that planet, based on the mounting evidence of huge amounts of liquid water, and the fact that this planet has been through some *great* changes in it's past. And you are correct, it was never mentioned.