NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows on Mars |
NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows on Mars |
Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Dec 6 2006, 04:21 PM
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#16
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Dec 6 2006, 04:30 PM
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#17
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Member Group: Members Posts: 295 Joined: 2-March 04 From: Central California Member No.: 45 |
I know that this group is usually great about posting highlights during the briefing, I was hoping this trend would continue as I'm blocked from watching anything by the network at my job. So please, keep a running thread about what's being said. Thanks in advance.
-------------------- Eric P / MizarKey
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Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Dec 6 2006, 04:54 PM
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#18
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It looks like the story is leaking out, no pun intended, courtesy of The Daily Mail.
This post has been edited by AlexBlackwell: Dec 6 2006, 04:55 PM |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:08 PM
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#19
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3652 Joined: 1-October 05 From: Croatia Member No.: 523 |
The Daily Mail:
QUOTE Earlier this week the MOC took pictures of the NASA exploration vehicle rover Spirit on the planet's surface. Hmmm.... -------------------- |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:10 PM
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#20
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Good old Daily Mail... can't be Michael Hanlon's piece, he knows his stuff. Some sausage-fingered staff writer has provided us with these nuggets...
NASA researchers have documented the formation of new craters on the plant's surface and found bright, light-coloured deposits in gullies that were not present in previous photos. The "plant's " surface?!?!?!? They've spotted plants on Mars big enough to have craters on them! How the **** did the Vikings miss those?!? Earlier this week the MOC took pictures of the NASA exploration vehicle rover Spirit on the planet's surface. MOC imaged Spirit? Wow, they kept that quiet.... Oops! Someone didn't do their research... -------------------- |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:16 PM
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#21
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Member Group: Members Posts: 428 Joined: 21-August 06 From: Northern Virginia Member No.: 1062 |
It looks like the story is leaking out, no pun intended, courtesy of The Daily Mail. Are you sure you can trust this source? QUOTE Earlier this week the MOC took pictures of the NASA exploration vehicle rover Spirit on the planet's surface. Only last month British cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking advocated missions to other planets. Is Stephen Hawking British? And MOC isn't working, let along taking a picture of Spirit... Unless.... ADDED: I guess I was wrong about Stephen Hawking. For some reason I never had thought of him as British... But he is... |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:16 PM
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#22
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
More details...
Martian find raises chances of life ALICIA CHANG ASSOCIATED PRESS December 6, 2006 LOS ANGELES - A provocative new study of photographs taken from orbit suggests that liquid water flowed on the surface of Mars as recently as several years ago, raising the possibility that the Red Planet could harbour an environment favourable to life. The crisp images taken by the Mars Global Surveyor do not directly show water. Rather, they show apparently recent changes in surface features that provide the strongest evidence yet that water even now sometimes flows on the dusty, frigid world. Water and a stable heat source are considered keys for life to emerge. Until now, the question of liquid water has focused on ancient Mars, and on the Martian north pole, where water ice has been detected. Scientists have long noted Martian features that appear to have been scoured by water or look like shorelines, and have tried to prove that the Red Planet had liquid water eons ago. "This underscores the importance of searching for life on Mars, either present or past," said Bruce Jakosky, an astrobiologist at the University of Colorado at Boulder, who had no role in the study. "It's one more reason to think that life could be there.'' The new findings were published Wednesday in the journal Science and NASA scheduled a news conference for Wednesday afternoon to announce the results. Oded Aharonson, an assistant professor of planetary science at the California Institute of Technology, said that while the interpretation of recent water activity on Mars was "compelling," it's just one possible explanation. Aharonson said further study is needed to determine whether the deposit could have been left there by the flow of dust rather than water. The latest research emerged when the Global Surveyor spotted gullies and trenches that scientists believed were geologically young and carved by fast-moving water coursing down cliffs and steep crater walls. Scientists at the San Diego-based Malin Space Science Systems, who operate a camera aboard the spacecraft, decided to retake photos of thousands of gullies in search of evidence of recent water activity. Two gullies that were originally photographed in 1999 and 2001 and re-imaged in 2004 and 2005 showed changes consistent with water flowing down the crater walls, according to the study. In both cases, scientists found bright, light-colored deposits in the gullies that weren't present in the original photos. They concluded the deposits - possibly mud, salt or frost - were left there when water recently cascaded through the channels. The Global Surveyor, managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, abruptly lost radio contact with Earth last month. Attempts to locate the spacecraft, which has mapped Mars since 1996, have failed and scientists fear it is unusable. NASA's durable Mars rovers have sent scientists strong evidence that the planet once had liquid water at or near the surface, based on observations of alterations in ancient rocks. "We're now realizing Mars is more active than we previously thought and that the mid-latitude section seems to be where all the action is," said Arizona State University scientist Phil Christensen, who was not part of the current research. Mars formed more than 4.5 billion years ago and scientists generally believe it went through an early wet and warm era that ended after 1.5 billion to 2.5 billion years, leaving the planet extremely dry and cold. Water can't remain a liquid for long because of subzero surface temperatures and low atmospheric pressure that would turn water into ice or gas. But some studies have pointed to the possibility of liquid water flowing briefly on the surface through a possible underground water source that periodically shoots up like an aquifer. -------------------- |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:17 PM
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#23
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Member Group: Members Posts: 646 Joined: 23-December 05 From: Forest of Dean Member No.: 617 |
Earlier this week the MOC took pictures of the NASA exploration vehicle rover Spirit on the planet's surface. MOC imaged Spirit? Wow, they kept that quiet.... Oops! Someone didn't do their research... Oh, I'm not so sure of that... (though the Daily Mail, the original "fascist rag", is hardly a journal of record.) Steve Squyres did say that Spirit and environs was pretty high up the priority target lists. Unlike the VC image, I imagine there'd be no need to rush-release the image. I'm rather hoping it's both... perhaps a gully has appeared on the side of Husband Hill BTW - yes please, if anyone has access to NASA TV and feels like posting notes... please do! -------------------- --
Viva software libre! |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:17 PM
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#24
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:20 PM
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#25
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
Sorry, I didn't insert a "sarcastic g*t" icon when I said about them keeping quiet MOC imaging Spirit...
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Dec 6 2006, 05:22 PM
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#26
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Member Group: Members Posts: 428 Joined: 21-August 06 From: Northern Virginia Member No.: 1062 |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:40 PM
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#27
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Member Group: Members Posts: 646 Joined: 23-December 05 From: Forest of Dean Member No.: 617 |
Sorry, I didn't insert a "sarcastic g*t" icon when I said about them keeping quiet MOC imaging Spirit... Oh, right, I see ... serves me right for posting without catching up with a weeks' backlog of unread posts! If only I didn't have to work, or sleep, or spend 2h a day driving... -------------------- --
Viva software libre! |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:42 PM
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#28
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
You probably thought he was American because his voice-generating computer was built by an American company -- so he has an American accent! He's also one of the few Brits who appears regularly on The Simpsons...
I don't see the Mars gullies story appearing on Science Express yet... --Emily -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Guest_AlexBlackwell_* |
Dec 6 2006, 05:45 PM
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#29
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I don't see the Mars gullies story appearing on Science Express yet... Science (and Science Express) has an automated web management system that posts items when the embargo times out. Just keep hitting "Reload" or "Refresh." |
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Dec 6 2006, 05:55 PM
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#30
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
It's typically more efficient for me to wait until you post a link here, Alex
--Emily -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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