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Did Chandrayaan Find Organic Matter On the Moon?
Matt_dk writes "Surendra Pal, associate director of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) Satellite Centre says that Chandrayaan-1 picked up signatures of organic matter on parts of the Moon's surface. 'The findings are being analyzed and scrutinized for validation by ISRO scientists and peer reviewers,' Pal said. At a press conference Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union fall conference, scientists from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter also hinted at possible organics locked away in the lunar regolith. When asked directly about the Chandrayaan-1 claim of finding life on the Moon, NASA's chief lunar scientist, Mike Wargo, certainly did not dismiss the idea."
Cool, just in time for 2010
The summary seems to make a jump from talking about "organics" and "organic matter" to "the Chandrayaan-1 claim of finding life on the Moon". Is the ISRO actually claiming to have found life on the moon? And aren't there lots of sources of organic molecules that don't involve life?
Atheism is a religion to the same extent that not collecting stamps is a hobby.
Though organic matter is the basis of life, it does not guarantee that life would exist. It is just a type of matter composed of carbon-based molecules. Is there carbon out there? You bet. That means that organic matter will also exist out there in space.
Colin Powell was crucified for claiming the existence of WMDs in Iraq. It took a couple years, but we never found the smoking gun. Don't be too quick to jump on the first piece of evidence you find.
Assuming the theory of "panspermia" is a reasonably close to accurate description of how life arrived on earth (Amino acids and water carried inside asteroids brought life to Earth) and knowing that the Moon has acted as an Asteroid barrier for BILLIONS of years, is it all that surprising that we would ALSO find "organic signatures" on the moon?
Indeed, one would almost EXPECT to find them there.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
they just meant it's pesticide free
I bet what they found was some of our astronaut's pee pee on the moon.
Or maybe a discarded moon pie wrapper.
Or maybe a bottle of scotch.
I was under the impression that the Earth was still in the early stages of cooling when struck by that other planet, and was still a highly "magmatic" planet at that point, and thus incapable of sustaining life yet.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
Green cheese....
How could they know anything at all about the planet before it was struck?
Free Martian Whores!
Science theory. Based on observable evidence of other bodies, physical properties and elapsed time they can theorize with a fair bit of confidence, what the conditions were given the age of the earth at the time.
That said, theories are only theories. I just saw an TV show that suggested the earth didn't become completely molten 'until' the impact by the other planet. This is what gave us the iron dense core we have as it settled out into the center while the earth was molten.
People in cars cause accidents....accidents in cars cause people
Well, IANAS, but my understanding is that the Earth was simply too young at that point to be anything other than a mostly molten ball of semi-liquid rock with a thin crust, as was the other planet. This is why Earth was able to re-form into a nice sphere again rather than a lopsided, cracked mess like Mimas did.
But, in the strict sense you are correct in that they can't KNOW in that we weren't around then and we haven't yet invented Time Travel. But as a theory it certainly makes sense.
Official Heretic from the "Church of Global Warming". Proven right thanks to whistle blowers. AGW = Flat Earth Theory
It *is* cheese!
It means hydrocarbons. So before any one asks to a chemist gasoline is organic.
Did you know 80 to 90% of the moderators on slashdot wouldn't recognize a troll even if one dragged them under a bridge.
Not on the far side, or at the poles. And frankly, even if they crashed right into an old probe or LM lower stage, the quanties would be miniscule.
Um, golf balls, that is: http://www.pasturegolf.com/archive/shepard.htm
Being the joker that he was, I wouldn't be surprised if he took the time to take a dump and have a wank, as well.
"Hello Moon! Welcome to what humanity is going to do to you!"
Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
Wow... peer review, remember that?
-- I was raised on the command line, bitch
But it might just be a particle of preanimate matter caught in the matrix...
It depends on what do they mean with "organic"!
At the bare minimum it's "anything that contains carbon". Which is not that hard to find when you stroll close to a star.
Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
In other news, moons only indigenous life destroyed by rocket. Film at 11!
Please do not read this sig. Thank you.
A recent anonymous hacker hacked the hackings of hackery into the datas of the database datastores of the NASA research on the topic that is subject at hand.
Several NASA e-mails indicate that there was an argument at the coffee machine that did not go well and that one of the arguers, Bob Shandley, said something to the tune of 'booshit there ain't not organic matter on the moon!'.
While most would consider a discussion at the coffee machine unofficial and casual, many are fueled in their skepticism of NASA as a whole; they reason that if Bob could be so bold and deny the recent data, that there must be a serious level of corruption within NASA that may even bring into question the validity of the moon landing.
Mary Jenkins, a Washington Elementary fourth Grader is quoted saying "Well. If the guy says something isn't true but it is true. Well then he's lying. And my mom says liars hang out with liars, and so.. well... NASA is full of liars. We never landed on the moon."
Attempts to contact the Obama administration for comment on the topic have yielded no results. We assume the silence is likely due to cooperation between the administration and NASA to coverup the extreme level of non-science going on at NASA, regarding Bob Shandley's coverup.
Thousands rallied against corruption and conspiracy outside the Austin, TX NASA launchpad on Friday; a day of high expectations set for the launch of NASA's new the Eagle II rocket. People from all walks of life stood through the cold and dry afternoon in protest with signs like "IF BOB WON'T, I WON'T" and "WHAT IS BOB HIDING".
One protester standing a mere 400 feet from the Eagle II, who wishes to remain anonymous is quoted with the observation "That rocket doesn't even have a red tip. Chances are it's not even a real rocket, this is probably some 3d projection or something. Those damn NASA scientists are so full of lies and tricks we cannot trust them!"
After the recent uncovering of Bob's coffee-machine side argument, the world is clearly up in arms and now standing in disbelief of everything NASA.
Next at 5: Are America's youth getting dumber? New research indicates widespread failure in critical thinking, mathematics, and basic sciences among public school students. Check back for more in a half hour for more details.
Actually, it's really interesting news, if confirmed and if the organics are in quantity. Many people know that the moon has historically been viewed as having a shortage of hydrogen (the amount of water found recently was still pretty sparse). Most people don't know that there are also shortages of other elements critical to life, including carbon and nitrogen. Finding places on the moon where they could be found in greater concentration would be critical to long-term, sustainable human habitation.
Nobody pushes buttons like our bunny. Big red buttons with labels that say "IGNITION", apparently.