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NASA's LCROSS Spacecraft Discovers Life On Earth

Posted by timothy on from the that-was-the-control-group dept.

Matt_dk writes "On Saturday, Aug. 1, 2009, the LCROSS spacecraft successfully completed its first Earth-look calibration of its science payload. 'The Earth-look was very successful' said Tony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist. 'The instruments are all healthy and the science teams was able to collect additional data that will help refine our calibrations of the instruments.' During the Earth observations, the spacecraft's spectrometers were able to detect the signatures of the Earth's water, ozone, methane, oxygen, carbon dioxide and possibly vegetation."

19 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. What gets me.... by mark-t · · Score: 4, Funny
    "possibly vegetation"

    I almost fell out of my chair when I read this

    --
    File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    1. Re:What gets me.... by tenco · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Well, I don't know what they actually do, but i would look for a dip in the spectrum of the planet's albedo were the spectrum of the nearest star has a maximum.

    2. Re:What gets me.... by ae1294 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      They just got a license to use this technology...

      Last summer the West Virginia State Police allowed ORINCON to test the ability of hyperspectral optical technology to locate crops of marijuana. Given the success of that test, ORINCON has been invited to participate in this summer's interdiction effort to further validate the technology and demonstrate a more advanced detection unit.

      http://cannabisnews.com/news/5/thread5978.shtml

    3. Re:What gets me.... by andy_t_roo · · Score: 4, Informative

      i believe it detected spectral anomalies which are a necessary but not sufficient condition for chlorophyll based vegetation.
      ie, it is a definite detection of something matches what vegetation is expected to be like, but without more detailed info other sources of this anomaly cannot be conclusively ruled out. (unlike the spectral signature of methane, which is a much more binary choice once the SRN on your spectrometer is good enough - if you detect the absorption lines, methane is there in significant amounts, if you don't it isn't.)

  2. Colonization by Usually+Unlucky+ · · Score: 5, Funny

    We should mount a robotic mission to this place right away.

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    1. Re:Colonization by forkazoo · · Score: 4, Funny

      Forget robots, it's high time we put a MAN on the Earth!

      During the 1960's and 1970's, we sent several men from the Moon to the Earth. Tragically, all were stranded, and none ever returned to the Moon.

  3. NASA' LCROSS Spacecraft Discovers Life On Earth by MrKaos · · Score: 4, Funny

    The search for intelligent life continues...

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    My ism, it's full of beliefs.
  4. Sadly, by Hawthorne01 · · Score: 4, Funny

    ... none of it was intelligent.

    --
    "Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former."
  5. Pre-empting the obvious by rufty_tufty · · Score: 4, Insightful

    2 predictions:
    * Lots of slashdot users trying to post something witty about why this is a new story
    * trolls saying how this is everything we should expect and therefore should ignore.

    to all those who disengaged their brain I ask, what would you do in their position? Hope your instruments work as designed without testing them? Either way, please devise a better test for life as we know it than life as we know it.

    --
    "The weirdest thing about a mind, is that every answer that you find, is the basis of a brand new cliche" -
  6. Calibrating with Earth by Tangamandapiano · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Doesn't it suffer from a serious risk of overfitting?

    1. Re:Calibrating with Earth by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Yes. Know of any other data samples we can use?

  7. NASA is trying to say.. by anonymousNR · · Score: 5, Insightful

    .. that if our machine can identify life on Earth all by itself, then we can possibly send it somewhere and it might be able to detect another planet or moon which has Earth-like life.

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    -- It is the mark of an educated mind to be able to entertain a thought without accepting it. -- Aristotle
  8. Incorrect Title by solarium_rider · · Score: 4, Insightful

    It should be: NASA' LCROSS Spacecraft Discovers Earth-Like Life On Earth

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    -- How many sigs are as useless as this one?
  9. Re:Beam me up Scotty!! by Shakrai · · Score: 4, Funny

    Theres no intelligent live down here!!

    Oh, the irony..... ;)

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    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  10. In other news by euxneks · · Score: 4, Insightful

    NASA discovers light from the sun, and no atmosphere on the moon.

    Could the summary be any more vacuous? It could have been a bit more explanatory about the nature of the satellite. (i.e. to find water on the moon - source: http://lcross.arc.nasa.gov/mission.htm)

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    in girum imus nocte et consumimur igni
  11. Re:But is it intelligent? by MaskedSlacker · · Score: 4, Funny

    They're outside of the faraday cage basement you're living in.

  12. Re:Beam me up Scotty!! by treeves · · Score: 4, Funny

    I think it's a quote from Star Wars.

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    ...the future crusty old bastards are already drinking the Kool-Aid.
  13. Oil? by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Funny

    detect the signatures of the Earth's water, ozone, methane, oxygen, carbon dioxide and possibly vegetation

    What? No oil detector? This thing is useless!

  14. Re:Beam me up Scotty!! by Mithyx · · Score: 5, Funny

    No. Women visiting slashdot is still a theory.