The MECA story, A place for speculation Options

[Stu]

Seriously, hasn't anyone else got any thoughts (dismissive or otherwise) on the "Have you briefed the President's Science Advisor?" (re MECA) question by C Covault? I am NOT going all woo-woo here, don't worry, I just thought it was an odd thing to ask... To my ears it sounded like C C was suggesting, subtly, to the panel that he had heard "something" about the MECA analysis and wanted them to comment. The question was brushed aside - rather uncomfortably I thought - and the discussion quickly moved on, but it seemed like a bit of a Moment to me. He actually began, if I remember correctly, by asking where the "MECA guys" were, asking if they had "been hidden under the table"... cue uncomfortable laughs from the panel...

Again, I have to stress, in case anyone thinks I'm 'suggesting' anything, I'm not getting all Muldur here, I was just struck by how out of the blue the question was, and wondered if anyone has any thoughts on it...

[bcory]

maybe they found an amino acid..

Or just an amine for you ammonia/nitrogen fans

just saying

[Paul Fjeld]

One other point re: the press conference. Personally, I don't like being manipulated, and if the MECA guys had the real >potential< news, they should have been there and said we >think< there is Holy X! BUT we need to confirm it. Now that flies in the face of the saving your stuff for the big reveal and being risk averse, but at that press conference, that would have been honest (assuming of course that there is some big thing they know about and would warn the White House about). Save great news for later so it doesn't step on the toes of good news? That may very well be smart current practice, but it is PR.

EDIT: removed last gratuitous bit about NASA PR.

[djellison]

if the MECA guys had the real >potential< news, they should have been there and said we >think< there is Holy X! BUT we need to confirm it.

No. No no no no no no no no no.

If it's in any way 'big' news - you have to sit your scientists down and make sure they've got it DAMN right before you tell anyone. Make sure the story is totaly solid, the data is checked, and rechecked, and that there's no chance of this being wrong.

You can't go 'We think we've found something amazing' and then 10 days later ' oops - sorry - calibration problem'. That's a massive embarassment for the team, and for NASA.

[fredk]

If it's in any way 'big' news - you have to sit your scientists down and make sure they've got it DAMN right before you tell anyone.

Agreed. But I have to say I don't think we can blame Covault here for publishing his story. It's the responsibility of the science team to keep the results quiet in these situations, and somebody leaked this (Covault should've heard corroboration from more than one actually).

I agree completely with others that this could become a nightmare if it gets out widely. Loved your "sit it down on a hard chair" analogy, Stu! It's not us I'm worried about, though - we can take care of ourselves. It's the public out there, and the potential black eye on the team if expectations are raised way up and then dashed because the calibration was wrong, or because the result is just "underwhelming", in nprev's words.

I also must stress a point Paul just touched on. Can some blame also be put on the people at the top of the Phoenix program for briefing the presidential advisor well before they were certain enough to go public (which Covault claims could even be September)? Shouldn't it have seemed likely that, with a team of this size, that fact might be leaked and cause a great headache?