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I was reading this this morning. However, The basic building blocks for life either past or present is enough to "Get the champagne corks popping" at NASA. The discovery of more advanced life is likely not the case here, Even though it's exiting to think about it.
I'm guessing they either found evidence of water or possibly some organic carbon compounds.
We already found water on Mars.
Seriously, the Viking landers detected low levels of chemically bound water in the Martian soil. The Mars Odessy also found water-ice on Mars. This was confirmed by the Phoenix probe on July 31, 2008.
Seriously, the Viking landers detected low levels of chemically bound water in the Martian soil. The Mars Odessy also found water-ice on Mars. This was confirmed by the Phoenix probe on July 31, 2008.
lol I was thinking evidence of water in more of this sense...
I knew about the water on the polar caps but that was it.
Could this be related to the big announcement for the history books? NASA is expected to make their announcement sometime in early December. We'll have to wait until then to see what the big news is about.
A brief explanation of the involvement of studying the chemistry of Mars with MSL Curiosity rover. This was just posted on YT, so it may be part of the so-called big announcement that's "one for the hstory books".
Curiosity was launched with a known problem in its drill system. The drill is expected to fail (break) at some point. Precautions are being taken (or have been) to ensure that when it happens it won't completely shut down or damage the rover during its 2-year mission. It's possible the life of the rover could last a decade or longer.
Curiosity finds evience in rock samples indicating that such rocks formed in a fresh water environment in the distant past. what it means is that this kind of environment could be suitable for the formation of life. That doesn't mean life ever formed on Mars, but if it had, these fresh water pockets could be suitable for life. In contrast, water environments on the surface where Opportunity rover explored would have been extremely acidic and probably not suitable for life to form.
... rocks formed in fresh water ... In contrast, water ... would have been extremely acidic ...
Two questions:
(1) how do rocks of non-biological origin form in water?
(2) how do scientists determine if the water were fresh or acidic?
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