Comments on: NASA downplays still-unannounced findings from Mars

By: allium

allium — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 16:55:00 +0000

I think you mean 1:4:9:16:25:36. The Forerunners didn’t do things halfway.

By: feetleet

feetleet — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 03:58:00 +0000

A paucity of moms?

By: Clevername

Clevername — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 03:07:00 +0000

It is a funny looking rock!

By: mmmmaaaaa

mmmmaaaaa — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 01:39:00 +0000

I found the a video of their discovery:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRj-ipG-B9o&feature=player_detailpage#t=135s

By: jansob

jansob — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:20:00 +0000

It’ll be something like simple organics or more evidence of flowing water a million years ago…no one will be surprised, and the average person will think “NASA is wasting money and hyping nothingburger results”…just what NASA needs.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Tue, 27 Nov 2012 00:18:00 +0000

I’m hoping for Paul Mantee.

By: Lee Brown

Lee Brown — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:43:00 +0000

Angry red women?

By: John Verne

John Verne — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:32:00 +0000

Shouldn’t that be “marshaking”?

By: leonard1a

leonard1a — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:24:00 +0000

They found a stone tag which states ‘Made In China’

By: lecti

lecti — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 23:22:00 +0000

NASA needs to learn the art of underselling and over-delivering.

By: benher

benher — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:38:00 +0000

Underwater city that cures cancer??

By: fergus1948

fergus1948 — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 22:32:00 +0000

Starbucks?

By: leidentech

leidentech — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:31:00 +0000

It’s mud.

By: Will Bueche

Will Bueche — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 21:16:00 +0000

A shoeprint. Originally thought to be exciting, but, it’s a common size.

By: Lupus_Yonderboy

Lupus_Yonderboy — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:24:00 +0000

Obviously. Otherwise, how would you explain Velcro? Huh? Huh?!? Yeah, I thought so.

By: Ed Mar

Ed Mar — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:21:00 +0000

Perhaps it was put out that way, just to insure that people remember that NASA is still doing serious work that deserves funding, being that discussions about the US federal budget are starting to swing around. As a scientifically-minded person, I don’t mind the delay as they verify the results. But as a government employee, I get the feeling that they want to make sure they’re in the running for federal dollars when people are yammering and jawing about cutting agency budgets.

By: Jim Saul

Jim Saul — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:17:00 +0000

Me too. Absent intercepting gossip from the countless who already know what’s up, perhaps the venue for the announcement is a clue where it lies on the scale of amazement… and whether there’s a simultaneous publication.

Nobel-worthy scientific announcements could certainly be first disclosed at the AGU, but something with the impact of a fundamental existential revelation we might be hoping for, it would probably be made at a NASA site, if not in D.C.

It could still be something pretty astounding given the precise language of what we’re interpreting as downplaying… many of the references used would be interpreted differently by those who know details of prior missions than by a general audience.

When they say “nothing that Viking didn’t discover”, remember that the results from the Viking experiments are still quite controversial:

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/04/120413-nasa-viking-program-mars-life-space-science/

It could still be “earthshaking”… people seem to be bringing up Gilbert Levin’s name in interviews. Levin has always maintained that his Labeled Release experiment on Viking 1 was successful in detecting living microbes.

Chris McKay, one of those close to the project who are being quoted as saying “nothing Viking didn’t already discover” has published his own analysis of the Viking results:
“Reanalysis of the Viking results suggests perchlorate and organics at midlatitudes on Mars”

http://www.agu.org/pubs/crossref/2010/2010JE003599.shtml

By: Finnagain

Finnagain — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:16:00 +0000

We’ve been on Mars since the 50′s.

By: Andrew Singleton

Andrew Singleton — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:15:00 +0000

Did they find where Dr. Manhatten went?

By: Lupus_Yonderboy

Lupus_Yonderboy — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:14:00 +0000

So the cover up begins…

By: Christopher

Christopher — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:07:00 +0000

And yet still needs women.

By: Andrew Singleton

Andrew Singleton — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:06:00 +0000

That would honestly be mind blowing/earth shattering. Water, not at the martian poles.

By: Andrew Singleton

Andrew Singleton — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:05:00 +0000

Can’t really blame them now can we?

By: hypnosifl

hypnosifl — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 20:02:00 +0000

To be fair, the article suggests that the “Earthshaking” comment was a spontaneous one Grotzninger made when he was getting his first look at the data and happened to be with a reporter at the time:

“Nevertheless, the most current cause of excitement began when Curiosity mission lead scientist John Grotzninger began receiving data on his computer from the rover’s on-board chemistry lab, called SAM, while he was with a reporter from National Public Radio.”

By: Jim Saul

Jim Saul — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:56:00 +0000

Perhaps it’s a Horcrux.

Where was Cheney when Viking 1 was launched?

By: mccrum

mccrum — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:53:00 +0000

They found Don Cheadle!

By: David Kennedy

David Kennedy — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:50:00 +0000

It is water. Mars has more water than Earth.

By: bill_mcgonigle

bill_mcgonigle — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:37:00 +0000

They’re playing the “hype game” because it’s so darn easy (that is, so many people play along) and it gets them attention. The responsible response to the pre-announcement was “wake me up when you have something to say.”

By: Ramone

Ramone — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:37:00 +0000

No wonder they’re keeping her to themselves!

By: Finnagain

Finnagain — Mon, 26 Nov 2012 19:37:00 +0000

Is this news about Mars, or Real Mars?