Comments on: NASA Mars rover fully analyzes first soil samples

By: Ryan

Ryan — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 08:10:03 +0000

I’m more hopeful that the White-Juday Inferometer can prove warp bubbles to be possible and that that opens up a whole new avenue to space travel. And if we can’t figure it out, should warp bubbles prove feasible, maybe a much smarter AGI can do it for us.

By: Damon Montano

Damon Montano — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 03:36:27 +0000

Zen:
No hope, no disappointment.

By: Bruce Wright

Bruce Wright — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 21:00:54 +0000

(Not even to mention the high radiation levels on the surface – which would be enough to destroy most Earthly life all by itself. Likely the radiation flux was quite a bit lower when it had more of an atmosphere, and possibly even a magnetic field before the core cooled).

By: Bruce Wright

Bruce Wright — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:55:29 +0000

Well, I’m sure that they’re finding other things that haven’t been announced yet. But why does everyone expect to find (living) life there? Mars is a very arid place (even if it does have trace amounts of water), has a minimal atmosphere, and is also a very cold place (at the poles, CO2 freezes) – not exactly hospitable to life as we know it. The likelihood is that if life ever did develop there, it died out when the planet cooled and much of the atmosphere was stripped away. That doesn’t mean it’s uninteresting.

By: Bruce Wright

Bruce Wright — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:44:15 +0000

NASA has been trying to tamp down the speculation surrounding the expression “one for the history books,” saying that the researcher had meant that the entire mission was historic rather than any one particular discovery so far. And even if he was talking about this particular discovery, finding any kind of complex chemistry is certainly historic – even if it doesn’t involve life.

It’s almost certain that most planets won’t have life – they’re too hot, or too cold, or whatever. That doesn’t mean that exploring them will be uninteresting – far from it. I think you’re setting the bar for “one for the history books” far too high.

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 20:00:01 +0000

Well Foye, we certainly can afford to send robots, even in spite of the poor economy. And don’t forget that there are a lot of people who yearn to explore Mars, and some of them are billionaires who will pony up the money.

I’m not keen to go myself, but I want to see what they discover. If even single-celled organisms can live beneath the soil there, then we can believe that larger planets in closer orbits to other stars could have life too.

One day we will be able to grow perfect cables of carbon nanotubes long enough to lower down from geosynchronous orbit. There are lots of carbonaceous asteroids that could be ferried into position to do this. When there are space elevators, starships will be built in the Lagrange Points and out in the Main Asteroid Belt. The ships will need to be dozens of miles across and hundreds of miles long to house the charged particle accelerators needed to thrust them up to relativistic speeds. This can be done and after the Singularity there will be people with the will to do it.

By: infinitos

infinitos — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 18:54:06 +0000

Damn, will keep trying curiosity: ( !

By: Foye Lowe

Foye Lowe — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 17:10:37 +0000

Shall we visit the sun, “because it’s there”? Sorry. I’m in a contrarian mood today, and appreciating melajara’s spelling . . .

By: Gorden Russell

Gorden Russell — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:59:31 +0000

Well, don’t be too upset, melajara. That news about the perchlorate is good news. Perchlorate can be used to make rocket fuel, so a robot base could print out boosters and fuel them up for the return trip before humans ever arrive.

By: IONE

IONE — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:51:29 +0000

Don’t believe that’s the whole story. Really!

By: melajara

melajara — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 13:31:33 +0000

Is it that the fantastic news qualifying as “one for the history books”?

PSCHIIT!!!