NASA News Conference on Mars ~~~~ Live Thread

[KarlInOhio]

NASA News Conference on Mars

I'm impressed. Are they holding it near one of the rovers or where Neil Armstrong landed? < /Sheila Jackson Lee mode>

[MineralMan]

"What kind of garbage are they going to throw at the sheeple this time?"

And your expertise on the subject of Mars is what, exactly?

[Paradox]

Salty Sea Covered Part of Mars: 'Excellent' Site to Search for Past Life from SPACE.COM

OCEANS!

[Lokibob]

More Clues Emerge to Mars' Watery Past	03.23.04
Earth might not be the only planet in our solar system to have hosted salty seas. NASA's Opportunity has uncovered evidence that the rocks near its landing site on Mars not only were once wet, but likely formed at the bottom of a body of gently flowing saltwater. Image above: This image shows a panoramic view of the crater where the Opportunity rover had been exploring since its dramatic arrival in late January 2004. The rover's lander is visible in the center of the image. Track marks reveal the rover's progress. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell. "We think Opportunity is now parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science payload on Opportunity and its twin Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit. Dr. Ed Weiler, NASA associate administrator for space science, said, "This dramatic confirmation of surface water in Mars' history builds on a progression of discoveries about that most Earthlike of alien planets. This result gives us impetus to expand our ambitious program of exploring Mars to learn whether microbes have ever lived there and ultimately whether we can." Image right: This magnified view (the top with illustrative lines and the bottom without) from Opportunity shows a portion of a martian rock with fine layers (laminae) that are truncated, discordant and at angles to each other. Interpretive black lines trace cross-lamination that indicates the sediments that formed the rock were laid down in flowing water. This rock preserves evidence for trough cross-lamination, likely produced when flowing water shaped sinuous ripples in underwater sediment and pushed the ripples to migrate in one direction. The interpretive blue lines point to boundaries between possible sets of cross-laminae. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS. Rippled patterns in the rocks at Meridiani Planum suggest that the land there was once a salt flat or playa, sometimes covered by shallow water and sometimes dry, said Dr. John Grotzinger, rover science-team member from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge. Such environments on Earth, either at the edge of oceans or in desert basins, can have currents of water that produce the type of ripples seen in the Mars rocks. According to Grotzinger, the sand-sized grains of sediment making up the rocks were shaped into ripples by water at least 5 centimeters (2 inches) deep -- possibly much deeper -- and flowing at a speed in the range of 10 to 50 centimeters (4 to 20 inches) per second. Telltale patterns called crossbedding and festooning, in which some layers within a rock lie at angles to the main layers, led scientists to the conclusion that the rippled shapes formed under a current of water -- and not wind. Festooned layers have smile-shaped curves that are produced when loose sediments are shifted by water. "Ripples that formed in wind look different than ripples formed in water," Grotzinger said. Some patterns seen in the outcrop that Opportunity has been examining might have resulted from wind, but others are reliable evidence of water flow, he said. So far, the findings do not specify how long liquid water covered the area, or how long ago, but controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., plan to send Opportunity out across the a plain toward a thicker exposure of rocks in the wall of a crater that should add to the story. A second line of evidence, observations of chlorine and bromine in the rocks, also suggests that water covered the surface when these rocks were forming. Rover scientists presented some of that news three weeks ago as evidence that the rocks had at least soaked in mineral-rich water, possibly underground water, after they formed. Increased assurance of the bromine findings strengthens the case that rock-forming particles precipitated from evaporating water as salt concentrations climbed past saturation. Dr. James Garvin, lead scientist for Mars and lunar exploration at NASA Headquarters, Washington, said, "Many features on the surface of Mars that orbiting spacecraft have revealed to us in the past three decades look like signs of liquid water, but we have never before had this definitive class of evidence from the Mars rocks themselves. We planned the Mars Exploration Rover Project to look for evidence like this, and it is succeeding better than we had any right to hope. Someday we must collect these rocks and bring them back to terrestrial laboratories to read their records for clues to the biological potential of Mars." Squyres said, "The particular type of rock Opportunity is finding, with evaporite sediments from standing water, offers excellent capability for preserving evidence of any biochemical or biological material that may have been in the water." NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, due to launch in 2005, will survey the whole planet for sites with water-related minerals and help identify sites for future landings. JPL engineers now expect Opportunity and Spirit to operate several months longer than the rovers' initial three-month prime missions on Mars. To analyze hints of crossbedding, mission controllers programmed Opportunity to move its robotic arm more than 200 times in one day, taking 152 microscope pictures of layering in a rock called "Last Chance."

[dogbyte12]

I did. Last time they said they found the signs of water, and suggested the possibility that Mars was covered with oceans. They didn't state it absolutely, but they suggested the possibility.

If they have now "confirmed" that possibility, I am sorry, it's not worthy of the Washington Press Conference. It is nice to know, but it isn't life, it isn't water on the surface now, other than frozen at the poles.

Sorry, I am cynical on this one.

[LibWhacker]

Did you get it fixed? I've got sound?

[LibWhacker]

"A lot of water has gone under the bridge . .. "

[LibWhacker]

I've got sound?.

[NormsRevenge]

FRom Yahoo and AP's Andrew Bridges

NASA: Mars' Surface Had Pool of Water

PASADENA, Calif. - Mars once had a briny pool of standing water on its surface that could have supported life in the now-frozen planet's distant past, NASA (news - web sites) scientists said Tuesday.

Scientists announced earlier this month that the Opportunity rover found evidence of water long ago on Mars, but it was unclear whether the water was underground or on the surface. The new findings suggest there was a pool of saltwater at least two inches deep.

A rocky outcropping examined by the rover had ripple patterns and concentrations of salt — considered telltale signs that the rock formed in standing water.

The findings add to the growing body of evidence that the Red Planet was once was a warmer and wetter place that may have been conducive to life.

"We think Opportunity is now parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars," said Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, the mission's main scientist.

Although Squyres referred to the water as a sea, scientists said it was not clear how big the body of water might have been or whether it was a permanent fixture. Instead, the site could have been a desert basin or salt flat that periodically flooded with water.

The evidence also does not indicate when water covered the broad and flat region where Opportunity landed, called Meridiani Planum, or for how long. Nor does it indicate if any organisms actually lived on Mars.

[MineralMan]

"If they have now "confirmed" that possibility, I am sorry, it's not worthy of the Washington Press Conference. It is nice to know, but it isn't life, it isn't water on the surface now, other than frozen at the poles. "

It's worthy of a press conference for those of us who are interested in additional information coming from this mission. Press conferences don't cost all that much, and those who are uninterested can simply ignore them.

Confirmation of oceans once covering parts of Mars is big news, as far as I am concerned. Your level of interest may be different.

[LibWhacker]

Rocks formed in water, perhaps a shallow salty sea.

[Diogenesis]

Shallow salty sea.

Good place to look for fossils.

[r9etb]

And your expertise on the subject of Mars is what, exactly?

He has no experience on Mars. He's just intimately familiar with giving things to sheep.

[MineralMan]

"He has no experience on Mars. He's just intimately familiar with giving things to sheep."

I guess his "sheeple" are any folks who are interested in anything he's not, then. Oh, well....

[Frank_Discussion]

ow.

[Monty22]

I'm convinced a lot of those images they've gotten are of fossils already.

[Diogenesis]

Large amounts of bromine, heterogeneously distributed.

====> evaporative process to deposit sedimentary rocks.

[John H K]

I don't have any sound...arrgh.

And, of course, the cable networks are all showing Cohen droning on in the 9/11 hearings.

[theFIRMbss]

> Sheeple, LOL. Haven't heard that stupid moronic overused unoriginal term on a thread in about a week.

Like, OH MY GOD!
Like - TOTALLY
Encino is like SO BITCHEN
There's like the Galleria
And like all these like really great shoe stores
I love going into like clothing stores and stuff
I like buy the neatest mini-skirts and stuff
It s like so BITCHEN cuz like everybody's like
Super-super nice
It's like so BITCHEN

Anyway, he goes are you into S and M?
I go, oh RIGHT .
Could you like just picture me in like a
LEATHER TEDDY
Yeah right, HURT ME, HURT ME...
I'm sure! NO WAY!
He was like freaklng me out...
He called me a BEASTIE...
That's cuz like he was totally BLITZED
He goes like BAG YOUR FACE!
I'm sure!

It's really sad
Like my English teacher
He's like
He's like Mr. BU-FU
We're talking Lord God King BU-FU
I am SO SURE
He's like so GROSS

He like sits there and like plays with all his rings
And he like flirts with all the guys in the class
It's like totally disgusting
I'm like so sure It's like BARF ME OUT...
Gag me with a spoon!

So like I go into this like salon place, y'know
And I wanted like to get my toenails done
And the lady like goes, oh my God, your toenails
Are like so GRODY
It was like really embarassing
She's like OH MY GOD, like BAG THOSE TOENAILS
I'm like sure...
She goes, uh, I don't know if I can handle this,
y'know...
I was like really embarassed.. .

Like my mother is like a total space cadet
She like makes me do the dishes and
CLEAN the cat box
I am sure
That's like GROSS
BARF OUT!
OH MY GOD

Hi!
Uh-huh
My name?
My name is Ondrya Wolfson
Uh -huh
That's right, Ondrya
Uh -huh...
I know
It's like...
I do not talk funny...
I'm sure
Whatsa matter with the way I talk?
I am a VAL, I know
But I live in like in a really good part of Encino so it's okay
So like, I don't know
I'm like freaking out totally
Oh my God!

Hi - I have to go to the orthodontist
I'm getting my braces off, y'know
But I have to wear a retainer
That's going to be really like a total bummer
I'm freaking out
I'm SURE
Like those things that like stick in your mouth
They're so gross...
You like get saliva all over them
But like, I don't know, it's going to be cool, y'know
So you can see my smile
It'll be like really cool
Except my like my teeth are like too small
But NO BIGGIE...
It's so AWESOME
It's like TUBULAR, y'know
Well, I'm not like really ugly or anything
It's just like
I don't know
You know me, I'm like into like the clean stuff
Like PAC-MAN and like, I don't know
Like my mother like makes me do the dishes
It's like so GROSS. . .
Like all the stuff like sticks to the plates
And its like, it's like somebody elses food, y'know
It's like GRODY...
GRODY TO THE MAX
I'm sure
It's like really nauseating
Like BARF OUT
GAG ME WITH A SPOON
GROSS
I am SURE
TOTALLY...

[Frank & Moon, "Valley Girl" (just the monologue)]

[r9etb]

"Ripples that formed in wind look different than ripples formed in water," Grotzinger said.

This may be a stretch. Can he be sure that there's a direct correlation between what he's seen on Earth, with features formed on a planet with much lower gravity, and likely a much thinner atmosphere? He may be correct, but I think a bit of caution would be in order here.