Martian soil may reveal findings that are "Earth shattering" - Polidicks

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;38530823]It's not that simple. They have to keep interest up otherwise the finding will be awash with the day's news when it finally comes out. Announcing it now and being wrong would further damage their credibility, and not saying anything makes people question whether they're actually accomplishing anything. They're sort of between a rock and a hard place.[/QUOTE] I don't think people are going to lose interest/faith in Mars science and exploration in the space of a few weeks. The landing occurred months ago! How will this "big news" be drowned out by other news any more than this announcement of an announcement will be today?

NEWS FLASH: Florida Population are the most active farters

and beneath the martian sand, uncovered......... [sp]a copy of Half life 3[/sp]

What sort of a dick would say they have earth shattering results and then not share them immediately?

-snip- duplicate post

[QUOTE=ChristopherB;38530876]I don't think people are going to lose interest/faith in Mars science and exploration in the space of a few weeks. The landing occurred months ago! How will this "big news" be drowned out by other news any more than this announcement of an announcement will be today?[/QUOTE] The American media doesn't value scientific progress with the same blind fervor that they do political drama.

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;38530823]It's not that simple. They have to keep interest up otherwise the finding will be awash with the day's news when it finally comes out. Announcing it now and being wrong would further damage their credibility, and not saying anything makes people question whether they're actually accomplishing anything. They're sort of between a rock and a hard place.[/QUOTE] It's really sad that NASA has to pander to the lowest common denominator like that. The majority of people are so shallow and self-absorbed and don't give a damn about fucking [I]ushering in[/I] the age of space exploration, and cutting-edge institutions like NASA need to grovel and scrape the bottom of the barrel just to get the most meager funding for expeditionary missions that are quite literally going to determine the future of mankind, if not the entire future of sustainable life in the universe. If it's not a fashionable facebook-based social initiative most people just don't give a shit [editline]20th November 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=ChristopherB;38530876]I don't think people are going to lose interest/faith in Mars science and exploration in the space of a few weeks. The landing occurred months ago! [/QUOTE] *Most people* probably don't even know that the MSL project even exists

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;38530998]The American media doesn't value scientific progress with the same blind fervor that they do political drama.[/QUOTE] No need to word it nicely. They prefer watching stupid shit like Jersey Shore over actually learning something useful or making groundbreaking discoveries that could change the future of human kind for the better.

[QUOTE=fritzel;38528761]Oil[/QUOTE] i hope so. oil on mars means more funding which means shit will get done [editline]20th November 2012[/editline] bringing back the space race

[QUOTE=FreakyMe;38530998]The American media doesn't value scientific progress with the same blind fervor that they do political drama.[/QUOTE] That doesn't answer my question though: why does NASA need to say [I]anything[/I] at this point? Unless I've missed something, the American public, scientifically literate or not, isn't expecting weekly breakthroughs. It seems to me that they've hurt the potential publicity of their success by hinting at a grand discovery. If their findings turn out to be anything less than amazing, people will be disappointed.

If we find even the smallest trace of an organism having lived on Mars, it'd be an amazing find. This means that in just our solar system alone there are TWO planets that have a form of life. This substantially increases the chance we'll find it all over the universe, since it proves the Earth is not just a fluke.

[quote]Zare says in a way, scientists are like artists. Sharing what they do is a big part of why they get out of bed in the morning. "How many composers would actually compose music if they were told no one else could listen to their compositions? How many painters would make a painting if they were told no one else could see them?" says Zare. It's the same for scientists. "The great joy of science is to be able to share it. And so you want to say, 'Isn't this interesting? Isn't that cool?' "[/quote] That's inspiring.

[QUOTE=God of Ashes;38531729]i hope so. oil on mars means more funding which means shit will get done [editline]20th November 2012[/editline] bringing back the space race[/QUOTE] The oil thing was a funny joke, but on a serious note you really you need millions of years of constant, planetary-scale organic saturation in order to create petroleum. Crude oil is largely a direct product of generation upon generation of living organic material (producing hydrocarbons) and even if mars did sport life at some point, it almost assuredly wasn't enough to create oil, otherwise the evidence would have likely been obvious. Earth is probably one of the few places in the galaxy where you can find any quantity of Petroleum Oil.

[QUOTE=Joazzz;38528680]and then suddenly galactic alien precursor race science artifacts all over the damn place[/QUOTE] Fuck, it's going to ruin all the deco

[QUOTE=God of Ashes;38531729]i hope so. oil on mars means more funding which means shit will get done [editline]20th November 2012[/editline] bringing back the space race[/QUOTE] mining oil on mars and bringing it back would be possibly the most inefficient methods to get oil evererererere. Just burn it if you want to build up heat and atmosphere on Mars

I came into this thread with the intent of making a pun. There's gotta be a pun here.

[QUOTE=hypno-toad;38531950]The oil thing was a funny joke, but on a serious note you really you need millions of years of constant, planetary-scale organic saturation in order to create petroleum. Crude oil is largely a direct product of generation upon generation of living organic material (producing hydrocarbons) and even if mars did sport life at some point, it almost assuredly wasn't enough to create oil, otherwise the evidence would have likely been obvious. Earth is probably one of the few places in the galaxy where you can find any quantity of Petroleum Oil.[/QUOTE] Not for long, at this rate.

You guys are all wrong, they obviously found the cure to cancer [sp]Dracula hid it there[/sp]

Space pirates and a deadly zombie infection

Maybe it is a Prothean Beacon

Could be either evidence that there is or was life on Mars, or something else entirely, so far the "Life on Mars" conclusion is the only one I can come to.

[QUOTE=Rayss;38532384]I came into this thread with the intent of making a pun. There's gotta be a pun here.[/QUOTE] The consequences will be out of this world?

Maybe they found my car keys.

[QUOTE=V12US;38536695]Maybe they found my car keys.[/QUOTE] Check your other pants

[QUOTE=Van-man;38536802]Check your other pants[/QUOTE] Left them on mars.

[QUOTE=Novangel;38531971]Fuck, it's going to ruin all the deco[/QUOTE] Those damned artifacts are going to mess up Mars' feng shui!

[IMG]http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/7504/44301190.png[/IMG]

I hope all guys realize that even if there was oil there, as fascinating find it would be, it would be entirely useless as fuel. What makes oil on earth a feasible source of energy is our oxidizing atmosphere. Mars has none of that stuff. [editline]21st November 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=DesolateGrun;38532074]mining oil on mars and bringing it back would be possibly the most inefficient methods to get oil evererererere. Just burn it if you want to build up heat and atmosphere on Mars[/QUOTE] Burn it in what? There's basically no free oxygen in its anyways uselessly thin atmosphere.

So where is the info ?

What when they release the info in four weeks, and it actually shatters the earth? The mayans were right all along.