Big news from Mars coming soon, maybe

The Curiosity rover comes complete with a mini chemistry lab. It's designed to analyze the composition of Martian soils and Martian air. And, right now, that particular piece of equipment is at the center of a giddy storm of activity. Curiosity has turned up something important — big enough for Curiosity's principal investigator to tell NPR, "This data is gonna be one for the history books."

What is it? NASA's not telling just yet. Right now, researchers are in the process of verifying said exciting data, in order to make sure they aren't deceiving themselves into thinking they've spotted something that isn't really there. That's pretty good policy, given the recent flap around over-hyped studies about Earth-like planets and arsenic-based life.

On the other hand, if you're trying to avoid overhyping something, might I suggest that "We have groundbreaking, world-changing data that we can't tell you about yet," is maybe not the best way to do it.

Stay tuned.

Pictured: A 360-degree view of Mars, taken by Curiosity on October 5th, from the location where it first started collecting samples of rocks and dirt. NASA/JPL

Maggie Koerth-Baker is the science editor at BoingBoing.net. She writes a monthly column for The New York Times Magazine and is the author of Before the Lights Go Out, a book about electricity, infrastructure, and the future of energy. You can find Maggie on Twitter and Facebook.

Maggie goes places and talks to people. Find out where she'll be speaking next.

MORE: curiosity • hype • Mars • mysteries • Science • Space • Weird

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THEY FOUND JIMMY HOFFA!
- http://maggiekb.com/ Maggie Koerth-Baker
  
  And Elvis.
  
  Please consider this your “Speculate wildly about what NASA may or may not have found on Mars” open thread.
  - chenille
    
    Tripods. Ghosts.Yorps. Bat-webbed booger beings. Buggalo. A giant turbinium reactor. An ordinary teapot. A self-help book about how women are from Earth and men are from Jupiter. A pedestal with a single inscription among the lone and level sands.
    
    Just please, not more vaguely-bacteria-shaped-but-not-really things.
    - Andrew Singleton
      
      I’m hoping for a princess dressed only in ornate jewelry.
  - http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
    
    I’m hoping for stromatolites. Considering that Grotzinger himself has done award-winning work on deducing early atmospheric conditions on earth from fossilized stromatolite concretions… that might be what a lot of people have hoped to find.
    
    Notice the hitch in his voice when he talks about the possible significance of the data if it pans out. I don’t think the historic terms are an exaggeration.
    
    I don’t want anyone to risk crying wolf, but it’s going to be a frustrating couple of weeks.
    - Awesomer
      
      Oh man, that would be awesome if they found stromatolites. Especially if they predate the oldest ones on Earth.
      - http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
        
        Jumping many steps ahead of what’s reasonable, I’m really hoping for biological remnants with right-handed chirality… just to take single-genesis off the table and force us to assume that the universe is teeming with life.
      - Donald Petersen
        
        Why stop there? I’m hoping for anything from a bottlecap to a bent halo to a collection of coprolites.
        
        These damned baby steps are killing me.
  - StCredZero
    
    > And Elvis
    
    In the Art-Bar in Columbia, SC, there used to be this awesome painting of a space-suited Elvis being helped onboard a ship by the Beatles dressed as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart’s Club Band.
    - http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios
      
      That reminds me of some song where they mention a velvet painting of Jesus, Elvis and John Wayne walking hand in hand, being watched over by Hank, Sr. Did I dream this?
  - http://www.dieselsweeties.com R. Stevens
    
    Mars once supported intelligent life. We know this because the rover found ancient train tracks beneath the dust.
  - Antinous / Moderator
    
    The Lindbergh baby.
- BarBarSeven
  
  Mars needs women, and it’s an employees market there… So pack your bags lady, opportunity awaits!
IamInnocent

So, they have proof that Martians aren’t bald after all ?
- BillStewart2012
  
  Yeah. The headline about “Big News from Mars coming soon” was right next to the picture of the Visible Gummi. I was hoping for some Mars Attacks! goodness.
GawainLavers

Perhaps they found the missing methane. That would be suitably important without meriting the complete media blackout that I’d impose if I were having to confirm the veracity of a Thark fossil…
- acerplatanoides
  
  Maybe they found a mini-mall? They already found “sidewalk like material” :P
Raziel Abulafia

Something’s in the air!
- zieroh
  
  I can feel it.
Michael Polo

Watch it be the Statue of Liberty…..
http://twitter.com/frederikvdz Frederik

It’s probably a new kind of dirt that is common on Earth but they previously thought did not exist on Mars.
- http://maggiekb.com/ Maggie Koerth-Baker
  
  This one wins the award for most plausible.
- bzishi
  
  From what I understand, the results came from the SAM (Sample Analysis Module). It analyzes samples dumped into it by heating them up and checking for the gases released.
  
  If I had to bet on something that is claimed to be “world changing” I would bet they found amino acids. From what I understand about the rover’s landing point, it was chosen because it resembled a sedimentary basin (correct me if I’m wrong). Finding amino acids in water deposited sediment doesn’t prove there was life in the past, but it comes incredibly close.
  - awjt
    
    yep, I’m with bzishzisizisizisbzizsi
    - chronoss
      
      thats not ground breaking or life changing….if they found dead microbes….then that would be.
      - bzishi
        
        It would be significant if they found several amino acids and they all had the same chirality. Non biological amino acids should have random orientations. Biologically produced amino acids would be the same. This would be the strongest evidence that this rover could produce of life on Mars without seeing an actual fossil (or footprints or a ray-gun).
      - awjt
        
        Can curiosity’s instrumentation detect chirality?
      - bzishi
        
        @awjt:disqus Yes, I think so. One of the columns in the gas chromatograph is for chiral compound separation.
      - http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
        
        Plus, if that happens to be right-handed chirality it would strongly suggest independence from terrestrial (or more accurately that our life sparked independently) – either way, the Drake Equation variable “fl ” gets closer to 1.
        
        http://www.seti.org/drakeequation
  - Mark Dow
    
    Yes, but the sample is from wind-blown soil, from a wide range of sources (not just the basin Curiosity is in).
- Donald Petersen
  
  Bandini Crater. Man dares to go where only Martian beasts of burden have gone before.
  - wysinwyg
    
    Robot dares. You give man too much credit.
    - Donald Petersen
      
      Well, that’s true. My post was only funny for people who remembered the Bandini Mountain commercials. Fella skis down a hill of Bandini fertilizer while the voice over intones “Bandini Mountain. Man dares to go where only cows have gone before. Bandini is the word for fertilizer,” as the skier falls face-down in the manure.
      
      I would have linked the commercial, if it existed on YouTube. As it is, few people under the age of 40 will remember that commercial, but I thought I’d give it a shot. Oh, well.
      
      http://articles.latimes.com/1998/jun/16/business/fi-60288
DavidK44

footprints
- http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
  
  2 sets except for when Jesus was too lazy to walk and made his girlfriend give him piggyback rides.
  - absimiliard
    
    Oh please, Jesus had like one female follower and a ton of guys around him. So you simply must mean “. . . made his boyfriend give him piggyback rides”.
    
    -abs doesn’t disagree with your sentiment mind you
    - http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
      
      yeah, that version, too.
- http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
  
  Related: http://veryhilarious.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/one-set-of-footprints.jpg
http://twitter.com/uptownmaker Michael Hord

The Golden Plates of Moroni?

Eddie Izzard was right, the Mormons ARE from Mars!
http://twitter.com/kentsbike Kent Peterson

“My god, it’s full of stars.”
- http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist
  
  stars Atari cartridges.”
  - Andrew Singleton
    
    So THAT’S where the E.T. carts were sent…
gManiPhone

it’s a picture of an angel. weeping.
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Thank you. I needed new nightmare fuel.
http://twitter.com/Stephen_Curry Stephen Curry

Shergar? At last!
http://www.facebook.com/matthew.urso Matthew Urso

my retainer from 3rd grade
http://twitter.com/amanicdroid Dr. Chronobiologist

If it’s oil, space program funding is going to *pun*. HURR HURR HURR
sota767

Something is making a nest on top of Curiosity. They found a bunch of red ants in the soil. The rover fell into an underground stream.
http://twitter.com/jswainhart Jeffrey Swainhart

Large black granite slab
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  Mayan calendar.
  - IamInnocent
    
    Mayan calendar marking a different time than the one on Earth due to relativistic effect.
Chesterfield

Some folks on Reddit were speculating that they have found a compound or compounds that only form in water. This would pretty much prove that liquid water once flowed on Mars.
- Sam Ley
  
  We pretty much already know that liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars. We were quite sure before, and Curiosity has already brought us to “really damn sure”. Of course, just having water is somewhat interesting, but knowing when, for how long, and whether something was wriggling in it would be interesting revelations.
- bzishi
  
  I think the evidence for that is already overwhelming. For a “world changing” discovery, it has to be something more significant or else the scientists calling it world changing need to be thrown in Hyperbole Prison for a while.
  - Brainspore
    
    …it has to be something more significant or else the scientists calling it world changing need to be thrown in Hyperbole Prison for a while.
    
    Isn’t that the place where General Zod & Co. were banished in the beginning of “Superman?”
    - http://www.summerseale.com/ Summer Seale
      
      KNEEL BEFORE *ZOD*! =D
Snig

A Starbucks that’s never busy, with lots of the comfy chairs.
- Andrew Singleton
  
  And reasonable prices?
  
  No wait that’s rather impossible. Comfy chairs would be nice. And a couple wingback chairs in a corner with some smooth jazz playing.
  - Snig
    
    Reasonable prices didn’t even occur to me, way too fantastic.
  - wysinwyg
    
    People say this and yet Starbucks is the only place I can go to get a 12-oz coffee for less than $2.
sqyntz

the entire cast of Gilligan’s Island, listening to the NASA press conference on an AM radio
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Made out of cocoanuts and rocks.
MarcVader

So they found a Starbucks.

Edit: Sigh. I thought I won the thread.
- sqyntz
  
  they found 2 Starbucks, 100 meters apart
http://www.flickr.com/photos/stefan_e_jones/ Stefan Jones

A thoat skeleton.

Martian tripod assembly facility. ULLA! ULLA! ULLA!

Dessicated corpse of Ambrose Bierce.

Something that will make 99% of the population roll their eyes and vow never to let a NASA news leak get them excited ever again.
- madopal
  
  Gotta watch those tripod stations. First you find the green flare, then, Canberra? Can you hear me? Madrid? Anybody?
  
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=yua0KtmyFBQ#t=165s
Brainspore

Calm your jets, everybody. It’s just a stupid viral ad campaign for that upcoming “Justice League” movie.
- Andrew Singleton
  
  DAMNIT I WAS HOPING FOR SOMETHING WORTH READING!
helloworld49

I bet they just found that time loop again.
- eviladrian
  
  Curiosity falls into a crater and lands on a pile of identical rovers. As its batteries die, its camera picks up the flare of another rover landing…
Sarah Thomas

Brawndo.
tomrigid

My cheese, and who moved it.
jimkirk

Not a cat, Curiosity killed all of them.
- acerplatanoides
  
  We won’t know until they open the box
Christopher Friend

Did they find my keys?
http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33

They found Pyramids? “Kneel before the might of Sutekh!”
- Andrew Singleton
  
  KNEEL BEFORE ZOD!
  - http://www.nothinginside.net mindysan33
    
    Different Universe? But still possible…
flickerKuu

If they say, “We found evidence of water.” I’m gonna smack them. Hopefully its fossils or amino acids.
http://newnumber6.livejournal.com Peter

I just hope we’re not left wondering, again:

Where’s the kaboom? There was supposed to be an earth-shattering kaboom!(in terms of newsworthiness)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Jim-Kelly/692448753 Jim Kelly

Sandworm coprolites.
- Snig
  
  Headline reads just:
  
  CRAP!!
- http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul
  
  Maker spore!
Guest

*ahum*. Did they get a life yet? No, I’m just kidding, I love what they do.
http://www.jjsaul.com Jim Saul

(o) (o) (o)

(someone had to reference it)
- petertrepan
  
  Mars Curiosity: “You make me wish I had thuh-ree manipulators!”
stillcantfightthedite

A shadow ship???
- Andrew Singleton
  
  Ah Hell…
http://twitter.com/Aethylred Aaron Hicks

Curiosity’s pregnancy test strip has turned blue, but they can’t get a blood test to confirm it.
petertrepan

“We have groundbreaking, world-changing data that we can’t tell you about yet,”

We have broken ground with Curiosity’s groundbreaking attachment, thus technically changing the world of Mars. We couldn’t tell you about it at the time because we have to abide by the announcement schedule.
- Brainspore
  
  So that’s why they equipped the rover with a gold-plated ceremonial shovel.
Guido

NASA, STAHP.

After all the exagerations during the last 15 years or so (Arsenic life, martian microbes twice, etc), I am extremely skeptical. And I wish they would release proper papers before starting the grandiose claims. Is it only me?
https://strawberrypie.myopenid.com/ StrawberryPie

Socks. They found all the socks that disappeared in people’s dryers.
- class_enemy
  
  Already disproved. Stray socks are the larval form of twisted wire coat hangers. For every sock that disappears, a hanger shows up in the back of your closet.
  - http://www.facebook.com/klotz Leigh L. Klotz Jr.
    
    And the pupal form: ball point pens.
pao_e_vinho

They found a Yeti. That was it
miasm

The least exciting theory for which no physical proof had previously been directly observed.
class_enemy

Illudium Phosdex.
webstu

John Carter?
Drabula

a baby’s arm holding an apple.
Robert

They found The Truth, which really was Out There.
Steve Miller

J’onn J’onzz
Luther Blissett

There we go: radiation levels allow long-term missions on mars. Gamechanger?

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn22520-mars-is-safe-from-radiation–but-the-trip-there-isnt.html

Just BTW, the NASA-Websites are a multimediaoverloadjavascriptblinking nuisance. What on earth (and in space) is driving these web designers?
- http://noctilucent-studios.blogspot.com/ Noctilucent Studios
  
  This better damn well not be it. I wants me some stromarsalites!!