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NASA's Mars News Is Not Life, But Perchlorate

Posted by kdawson on from the somewhat-less-than-alive dept.

leighklotz writes "In an update to the little green men story of not-life-on-Mars, NASA has twittered: 'The buzz this weekend was due to an interesting soil chemistry finding, still preliminary, but now avail here:' where 'here' is NASA Spacecraft Analyzing Martian Soil Data. The exciting bit: 'Within the last month, two samples have been analyzed by the Wet Chemistry Lab of the spacecraft's Microscopy, Electrochemistry, and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA, suggesting one of the soil constituents may be perchlorate, a highly oxidizing substance.' Also, 'NASA will hold a media teleconference on Tuesday, Aug. 5, at 2 p.m. EDT, to discuss these recent science activities.'"

8 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Holy cow, do you know what what this MEANS? by greenguy · · Score: 5, Funny

    Yeah, me neither.

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    What if I do the same thing, and I do get different results?
    1. Re:Holy cow, do you know what what this MEANS? by sheehaje · · Score: 5, Funny

      Chilean fertilizer is a euphemism for bird shit.

      Holy Cow, there are birds on Mars...

      Slashdot.... deductive reasoning at it's best.

  2. Perchlorate by clang_jangle · · Score: 5, Funny

    I used to perchlorate my coffee every morning, but then I read that the drip method actually gives you more caffeine. So the mars people are stuck with 1960s technology then?

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    Caveat Utilitor
  3. Re:Contamination? by jon_cooper · · Score: 5, Funny

    Don't be silly. This is obvious evidence that extra-terrestrials have been on Mars and left behind perchlorate traces from their rockets. Either that, or Martians have just blasted off somewhere in their rockets. Wonder where they've gone?

  4. Mars + highly oxidizing substance + Governator by buddahrock · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe the President just needed a few days to rent and watch Total Recall, then convince Governor Schwarzenegger to go to Mars and start the ancient Martian machine that creates a breathable atmosphere.

  5. Re:Contamination? by amliebsch · · Score: 5, Funny

    So, you're saying that all we'd have to do is...start...the reactor?

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    If you don't know where you are going, you will wind up somewhere else.
  6. Re:Contamination? by vrmlguy · · Score: 5, Funny

    These are intermediate results, and should be treated as such. From TFA,

    The team also is working to totally exonerate any possibility of the perchlorate readings being influenced by terrestrial sources which may have migrated from the spacecraft, either into samples or into the instrumentation.

    Wouldn't it be amusing if some joker, before launch, had sprinkled a handful of dirt into the analysis chambers? (And by "amusing", I mean in the "How close do you think I can steer this ocean liner to that iceberg?" sort of way.)

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    Nothing for 6-digit uids?
  7. Re:Contamination? by roguetrick · · Score: 5, Funny

    Quit giving the martians ideas.

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    -The world would be a better place if everyone had a hoverboard