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NASA Images Suggest Water Still Flows on Mars
Guest_AlexBlackwell_*
post Dec 6 2006, 04:21 PM
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QUOTE (JonClarke @ Dec 5 2006, 08:47 PM) *
Why should they not both be right in different places?

That's certainly plausible, Jon, and I wouldn't be surprised if that is indeed the case.
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MizarKey
post Dec 6 2006, 04:30 PM
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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.


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Guest_AlexBlackwell_*
post Dec 6 2006, 04:54 PM
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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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ugordan
post Dec 6 2006, 05:08 PM
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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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Stu
post Dec 6 2006, 05:10 PM
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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?!? ohmy.gif

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... wink.gif


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tuvas
post Dec 6 2006, 05:16 PM
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QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Dec 6 2006, 09:54 AM) *
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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Stu
post Dec 6 2006, 05:16 PM
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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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imipak
post Dec 6 2006, 05:17 PM
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QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 6 2006, 05:10 PM) *
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... wink.gif


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 wink.gif

BTW - yes please, if anyone has access to NASA TV and feels like posting notes... please do! smile.gif


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Stu
post Dec 6 2006, 05:17 PM
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QUOTE (tuvas @ Dec 6 2006, 05:16 PM) *
Is Stephen Hawking British?


ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif

Does a bear [rest of post deleted]

wink.gif


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Stu
post Dec 6 2006, 05:20 PM
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Sorry, I didn't insert a "sarcastic g*t" icon when I said about them keeping quiet MOC imaging Spirit... biggrin.gif


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tuvas
post Dec 6 2006, 05:22 PM
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QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 6 2006, 10:17 AM) *
ohmy.gif ohmy.gif ohmy.gif

Does a bear [rest of post deleted]

wink.gif


I appologize, I guess he really is... Guess I should have looked that up myself before posting... Duh!
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imipak
post Dec 6 2006, 05:40 PM
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QUOTE (Stu @ Dec 6 2006, 05:20 PM) *
Sorry, I didn't insert a "sarcastic g*t" icon when I said about them keeping quiet MOC imaging Spirit... biggrin.gif


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...


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elakdawalla
post Dec 6 2006, 05:42 PM
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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


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Guest_AlexBlackwell_*
post Dec 6 2006, 05:45 PM
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QUOTE (elakdawalla @ Dec 6 2006, 07:42 AM) *
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." biggrin.gif
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elakdawalla
post Dec 6 2006, 05:55 PM
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It's typically more efficient for me to wait until you post a link here, Alex biggrin.gif

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