http://www.universetoday.com/2008/0...r-life-on-mars/

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It would appear that the US President has been briefed by Phoenix scientists about the discovery of something more "provocative" than the discovery of water existing on the Martian surface. This news comes just as the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) confirmed experimental evidence for the existence of water in the Mars regolith on Thursday. Whilst NASA scientists are not claiming that life once existed on the Red Planet's surface, new data appears to indicate the "potential for life" more conclusively than the TEGA water results. Apparently these new results are being kept under wraps until further, more detailed analysis can be carried out, but we are assured that this announcement will be huge…

So why is there all this secrecy? According to scientists in communication with Aviation Week & Space Technology, the next big discovery will need to be mulled over for a while before it is announced to the world. In fact, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory science team for the MECA wet-chemistry instrument that made these undisclosed findings were kept out of the July 31st news conference (confirming water) so additional analysis could be carried out, avoiding any questions that may have revealed their preliminary results. They have also made the decision to discuss the results with the Bush Administration's Presidential Science Advisor's office before a press conference between mid-August and early September.

Although good news, Thursday's announcement of the discovery of water on Mars comes as no surprise to mission scientists and some are amused by the media's reaction to the TEGA results. "They have discovered water on Mars for the third or fourth time," one senior Mars scientist joked. These new MECA results are, according to the Phoenix team, a little more complex than the water "discovery." Scientists are keen to point out however, that this secretive news will in no way indicate the existence of life (past or present) on Mars; Phoenix simply is not equipped make this discovery. What it can do is test the Mars soil for compounds suitable to support life. The MECA instrument does have microscopes capable of resolving bacterial-scale life forms however, but this is not the focus of the forthcoming announcement, sources say.

This new MECA discovery, combined with TEGA data will probably expose something more compelling, completing another piece of the puzzle in the search for the correct conditions for life as we know it to survive on Mars. Critical to this search is to understand how the recently confirmed water and Mars regolith behave together under the Phoenix lander in the cold Martian arctic.

The MECA instrument had already made the landmark discovery that Mars "soil" was much like the soil more familiar on Earth. This finding prompted scientists to indicate that the minerals and pH levels in the regolith could support some terrestrial plants, indicating this would be useful for future Mars settlers.

What with the discovery of water, and the discovery that Mars soil is very much like the stuff we find on Earth, it is hard to guess as to what the MECA's second soil test has discovered. What ever it is, it sounds pretty significant, especially as NASA and the University of Arizona are taking extraordinary steps to avoid any more details being leaked to the outside world. I just hope were not getting excited over something benign.

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lets just hope that bush doesn't take this as an excuse to invade Mars

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Just remember that you're standing on a planet that's evolving
And revolving at 900 miles an hour
That's orbiting at 19 miles a second, so it's reckoned
A sun that is the source of all our power
The sun and you and me, and all the stars that we can see
Are moving at a million miles a day
In an outer spiral arm, at 40,000 miles an hour
Of the galaxy we call the Milky Way

Our galaxy itself contains 100 billion stars
It's 100,000 light-years side-to-side
It bulges in the middle, 16,000 light-years thick
But out by us it's just 3000 light-years wide
We're 30,000 light-years from galactic central point
We go round every 200 million years
And our galaxy is only one of millions of billions
In this amazing and expanding universe

The universe itself keeps on expanding and expanding
In all of the directions it can whiz
As fast as it can go, at the speed of light you know
Twelve million miles a minute and that's the fastest speed there is
So remember, when you're feeling very small and insecure
How amazingly unlikely is your birth
And pray that there's intelligent life somewhere up in space
Because there's bugger all down here on Earth

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Anything less than a full confirmation of the existence of life on Mars will be unimpressive. A bit of water, 'preconditions for life' and possible fossilized microbes are about as interesting as a Koodo thread.

On the whole, i'm disappointed with the progress of space exploration, all the most exciting stuff happened before I was born. I've seen enough Martian landscapes to last a lifetime.

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I was reading somewhere the other day about that 'theory' that we are being 'buttered up' about the existence of life out there.
and got thinking...

lets say there was media confirmation of life out there, not necessarily on mars.

sure there would be nothing else on some telly channels for months
even if a feckin spaceship parked itself in orbit.

i don't think there would be that much of a frenzy.
Most people would still get up in the morning and goto work,
go on holidays, go shopping etc etc.

sure there would be the nuts running round neked with their ass painted blue.
but I'm sure them people would do that if west ham won the cup anyway.

bottom line, i think we already are prepared for this in a basic way.
it would be fucking exciting, but not the big deal for the average person on the street
as it would be say 50 years ago.

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It would crush Catholicism and Christianity and if the new lifeforms had never heard of Allah there would be some real trouble.

All in all, I agree with Arthur, normal people wouldn't be affected too much it would just change the lives of people that are already fucked up/have religion.

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Originally posted by cupidstunt
It would crush Catholicism and Christianity and if the new lifeforms had never heard of Allah there would be some real trouble.

All in all, I agree with Arthur, normal people wouldn't be affected too much it would just change the lives of people that are already fucked up/have religion.

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Yeah, but think of all of those crazy cults that would finally be vindicated

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Originally posted by cupidstunt
It would crush Catholicism and Christianity

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Originally posted by cupidstunt
It would crush Catholicism and Christianity

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Not half as much as if Jesus turned up

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Originally posted by ntscuser
Not half as much as if Jesus turned up

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lol good one

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Originally posted by Neversoft
Yeah, but think of all of those crazy cults that would finally be vindicated

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Originally posted by Bluegrasser
Like the Scientologists ???

ET's have been here for centuries ....
Don’t believe me ....
*Show me the missing link ..... we can find fossils of prehistoric insects but we cant find the missing link ??? can anyone say "2001" ???

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Originally posted by Neversoft
We've found several "missing links" but no evidence as compelling as most of the people who post on here.

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