Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.'"

4 of 289 comments (clear)

  1. Re:percolate by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Haha. I see what you did there! /Perc(hlor|ol)ate/

  2. are you kidding? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Redundant

    So who had the job of explaining this to Pres. Bush, and how long did it take before he understood?

    Dick: Mr. President, we've found perchlorates on Mars!

    Prez: Pergo-weights, what are those?

    Dick: Well Mr. President, perchlorates can be used in weapons of mass destruction.

    Prez: WMD, sounds we should invade right away!

    Dick: No problem, Mr. President, we've already got a plan in motion...

    Some explosive chemicals hidden in the remote desert? That's got to be the easiest thing ever for Pres. Bush to understand.

  3. Re:Mars + highly oxidizing substance + Governator by Timoleon · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Get your ass to Mars?

  4. Re:Why this is important to non-chemists by Opportunist · · Score: 0, Redundant

    (Scientist holds up a diagram showing a molecule of it)

    "Mr. President, this is perchlorate"

    (GW does what he does best. Look dumb)

    "O...kaaaaay..?"

    "We can use it to make Oxygene on Mars."

    "O...kaaaay..?"

    "And it's also a powerful oxidizer."

    "O...kaaaaay..?"

    "That means it is an important component of rocket fuel, too!"

    "The Mars has WMDs? I gotta hold a speech, we have to ralley our people to invade Mars and make sure they don't attack us! Our country is in peril from outer space! Like in the documentaries I saw yesterday on the SciFi channel!"

    "Erh... Mr. President, I don't think..."

    "We have to up your budget, at least double it. I won't rest until we can make sure Earth is safe from the Martian Threat. We have to declare a War on Mars!"

    "Erh... Mr. Pres... double budget? Erh... Yes, Mr. President, I think you understood well what's at stake here."

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.