Looks like NASA will suggest that there is LIFE ON MARS tomorrow!

[Ichingcarpenter]

"NASA will hold a science update at 2 p.m. EST, Thursday, Jan. 15, to discuss analysis of the Martian atmosphere that raises the possibility of life or geologic activity. The briefing will take place in the James E. Webb Memorial Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St., S.W., Washington, and carried live on NASA Television."

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/MM_NTV_Breaking.html

From Britain
Nasa are today expected to confirm its presence during a briefing at their Washington HQ.

And the find is seen as exciting new evidence that Martian microbes are still alive today.

Some scientists reckon methane is also produced by volcanic processes. But there are NO known active volcanoes on Mars.

Furthermore, Nasa has found the gas in the same regions as clouds of water vapour, the vital “drink” needed to support life.


Experts speculate that the methane is being emitted as a waste product by organisms called methanogens living in water beneath underground ice.

And they would have to be alive today because the methane would otherwise have been lost from the Martian atmosphere.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article2133475.ece

Tomorrow's conference will be broadcast live online by NASA TV (www.nasa.gov/ntv) at 7pm.

[El Supremo]

1. I got more "life" in my crotch than all the "life" on Mars. n/m

[Ichingcarpenter]

3. These microbes are only 6,000 years old anyway according to

The Creationist Museum


How old did you say you were?

[lazer47]

5. Then the next lodical step would be for you to change your drawers

:rofl:

[Jamastiene]

11. ...

:spray:

[Jamastiene]

9. Is your name on a registry somewhere?

I'd hate to see anyone have to go for an emergency trip to the doctor.

:P

:hide:

[Amonester]

2. BEWARE 'new' GALILEEANS...

many power-mad religious leaders will wanna see you ... (gulp)

[Snarkoleptic]

4. The fundies are going to flip-out as this doesn't fit their worldview.

[alittlelark]

6. My moms head would explode ....BUT

She has excellent Fundamentalist brainwashing.... This will be seen as a lie designed to destroy HER church.

:crazy:

[moggie]

16. One word: missionaries

Gotta take Jeebus to the Martians, you know?

[lizerdbits]

19. Just follow Starvin Marvin through the wormhole!

http://www.southparkstudios.com/guide/311/

[edhopper]

21. I like your avatar

Snark

[Ian David]

7. Is "The Sun" a legitimate paper? Really? Other sources? n/t

[Ichingcarpenter]

8. I gave the NASA link also

I remember they notified the White House this fall about a significant finding on Mars
but wouldn't release the info until December. I'm willing to bet this is it.

[Ian David]

10. Followed it. All I see is a link to a scheduled press conference, same as USA Today has...

http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2009/01/looking-ahead-8.html
• Life on Mars? NASA discusses an analysis of the Martian atmosphere that raises the possibility of life or geologic activity
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/mars/main/index.html

[anigbrowl]

14. You should have given the NASA link only...the Sun isn't even useful as toilet paper

Quoting it actively reduces credibility (even when its factually correct). It' sub-Free Republic...as is The Mirror and the star.

[Hugabear]

12. NASA hasn't found jack-shit. The Sun's headline is EXTREMELY misleading

Judging from The Sun's headline, you would think that probes had actually discovered microbes underneath the Martian surface. It suggests that the only reason methane could exist on Mars is if there living organisms to produce it. Bullshit. I'm no astrophysicist, but I'm sure there are other possible explanations. Hell, we know that methane exists on other planets. Saturn's moon Titan has a rich methane atmosphere.

At least the NASA website isn't playing it up as much as The Sun or Drudge Report. How many false alarms have we already had? Until they actually find microbes or fossilized remains on Mars, then it's really much ado about nothing.

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. Press Conference Starting Now

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. NASA release notes- Mars is not Dead

“Methane is quickly destroyed in the Martian atmosphere in a variety of ways, so our discovery of substantial plumes of methane in the northern hemisphere of Mars in 2003 indicates some ongoing process is releasing the gas,” said Michael Mumma of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “At northern mid-summer, methane is released at a rate comparable to that of the massive hydrocarbon seep at Coal Oil Point in Santa Barbara, Calif.” Mumma is lead author of a paper describing this research that will appear in Science Express on Thursday.

Methane, four atoms of hydrogen bound to a carbon atom, is the main component of natural gas on Earth. Astrobiologists are interested in these data because organisms release much of Earth’s methane as they digest nutrients. However, other purely geological processes, like oxidation of iron, also release methane.

“Right now, we do not have enough information to tell whether biology or geology — or both — is producing the methane on Mars,” Mumma said. “But it does tell us the planet is still alive, at least in a geologic sense. It is as if Mars is challenging us, saying, ‘hey, find out what this means.’ ”

If microscopic Martian life is producing the methane, it likely resides far below the surface where it is warm enough for liquid water to exist. Liquid water is necessary for all known forms of life, as are energy sources and a supply of carbon.

“On Earth, microorganisms thrive about 1.2 to 1.9 miles beneath the Witwatersrand basin of South Africa, where natural radioactivity splits water molecules into molecular hydrogen and oxygen,” Mumma said. “The organisms use the hydrogen for energy. It might be possible for similar organisms to survive for billions of years below the permafrost layer on Mars, where water is liquid, radiation supplies energy, and carbon dioxide provides carbon. Gases, like methane, accumulated in such underground zones might be released into the atmosphere if pores or fissures open during the warm seasons, connecting the deep zones to the atmosphere at crater walls or canyons.”

It is possible a geologic process produced the Martian methane, either now or eons ago. On Earth, the conversion of iron oxide into the serpentine group of minerals creates methane, and on Mars this process could proceed using water, carbon dioxide and the planet’s internal heat. Although there is no evidence of active volcanism on Mars today, ancient methane trapped in ice cages called clathrates might be released now.

“We observed and mapped multiple plumes of methane on Mars, one of which released about 19,000 metric tons of methane,” said co-author Geronimo Villanueva of the Catholic University of America in Washington. “The plumes were emitted during the warmer seasons, spring and summer, perhaps because ice blocking cracks and fissures vaporized, allowing methane to seep into the Martian air.”

According to the team, the plumes were seen over areas that show evidence of ancient ground ice or flowing water. Plumes appeared over the Martian northern hemisphere regions such as east of Arabia Terra, the Nili Fossae region, and the south-east quadrant of Syrtis Major, an ancient volcano about 745 miles across.

http://spacefellowship.com/News/?p=7963

[Sandrine for you]

17. The NASA is a plot against God, you satanist !

:freak:

[Moostache]

18. No, no, no....

It is a SATANIC plot against God...didn't you get the memo? ALL evidence of ANYTHING that does not fit the human interpretations of a human derived recitation of divine intent is clearly the work of the dark one!


Of course, for those of us who prefer the light of reason to the perpetual darkness of superstition, this is just one more confirmation of the ultimate truth - that we are nothing special in a cosmic sense, that in fact we fall pretty far short of "average" in all likelihood (and always will until our brains collectively move from childhood fear to adult introspection)...

[AsahinaKimi]

20. somewhere ...

Richard C. Hoagland is smiling. :hide:

:rofl: