Slashdot Mirror
Curiosity Spies Unidentified, Metallic Object On Mars
MrSeb writes "A few hundred million miles away on the surface of the Red Planet, Mars rover Curiosity has photographed an unidentified, shiny, metallic object. Now, before you get too excited, the most likely explanation is that bright object is part of the rover that has fallen off — or perhaps some debris from MSL Curiosity's landing on Mars, nine weeks ago. There is the distinct possibility, however, that this object is actually native to Mars, which would be far more exciting. It could be the tip of a larger object, or perhaps some kind of exotic, metallic Martian pebble (a piece of metal ore, perhaps). Close-up imagery will now be captured and analyzed, and within the next few days we should know if it's simply a piece of Curiosity — or something a whole lot more exciting."
Call me a cynic, but even if the entire planet was made of solid gold, it still wouldn't make it economically feasible to go there.
A puddle of water there would be way more valuable.
RETURN FOR REFUND
Feed the need: Digitaladdiction.net
TMA-1
"Flyin' in just a sweet place,
Never been known to fail..."
Dear NASA: Would you please return it to me? I dropped it there when Iwas playing fetch with my astro-dog but since that vacation in 1982, what with the economy inthe shitter and my extreme insanity and all, Italian conspiracies, etc., etc., I had pretty much given upon retrieving it.
Please mail my battery-actuated vibrating metal thing object to:
Bob S.
445 Gimlet Road
Cornhole, OH
Thanks for bringing this find to my attention, Slashdort!
UNITE with the Campaign for a Free Internet because today, our future begins with tomorrow!
Proof that many of today's scientists are from the MTV generation:
"Ooooh! Shiny thing!" :)
They finally found the Prothean ruin!
that's where I left them
Pretty sure it's just Occam's Razor - Curiosity probaby knocked it off the sink after shaving this morning...
A marriage is always made up of two people who are prepared to swear that only the other one snores.
It's probably just the top of a boring monolith made of some blackish metal. Nothing to see here; move along.
0x or or snor perron?!
Yes, becasue NASA wouldn't want the huge amount of money that would poor into the project to get there before anyone else, and the military sure wouldn't be interested.
It's in the governments, the military, and NASAs best interests to find an alien artifact, you moron.
I look forward to hearing about the as a conspiracy for the next 20 years~
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
If some tells you to bite it, don't.
I'm expecting an earth-shattering kaboom!
The greater good.
It might be part of a uranium q-38 explosive space modulator!!!!
I found this ChemCam image in the raw image archive. It does look like a jagged shaving of... something.
While this could just be because the ChemCam telescope/imager has the highest resolution of anything on the mast (and they don't want to move the arm now), it might also mean that they plan to zap the object with the laser and measure its composition.
The enemies of Democracy are
Today the Council of Elders reports the exposure of a fifth column of traitors that has apparently existed within the intelligence directorate of world's security services. The Council neither confirms nor denies the contents of the following diplomatic transmission leaked to the blue world by rebellious spies.
12GLENELG0062: If it's actually the trigger for a trap door beneath the rover, for example, or the last remaining relic of the Martian race, then NASA obviously needs to handle it with care.
When a senior military official, apparently intoxicated after having submersed himself in the poisonous liquid that covers two thirds of the enemy world's surface, exclaimed "IT'S A TRAP", K'Breel had the Admiral's gelsacs bronzed and disposed of in the general vicinity of the invader. The Council reminds all citizens that the planetary metals recycling programme operates on a strict basis of "No deposit, no return."
Which is just bloody great. Now we have to work out how to change an engine mounting from 150 million miles away.
"Curiosity's main activity in the 62nd sol of the mission (Oct. 8, 2012) was to image a small, bright object on the ground using the Remote Micro-Imager of the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument.
The rover team's assessment is that the bright object is something from the rover, not Martian material. It appears to be a shred of plastic material, likely benign, but it has not been definitively identified.
To proceed cautiously, the team is continuing the investigation for another day before deciding whether to resume processing of the sample in the scoop. Plans include imaging of surroundings with the Mastcam."
Yes, it's a (piece of a) spaceship named Curiosity. Seriously, the robot finds a metallic piece of something close to where it landed... what are the odds that part is not from Curiosity itself? (answer ~0%)
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
It's the Shadows! Stop Clark before it's too late!
Of course they would be interested, and of course they would want a huge pile of money. None of these things have to do with you knowing about it. The military and NASA have been interested in a plethora of things that while they were interested in, they also made sure you were not. Not saying thats what they will do in this case, but they have a very good track record of keeping things hidden from the public.
Statistically, mentally ill people aren't more or less likely to attack you than a normal person unless said mentally ill person is a schizophrenic female. In which case the chance is doubled.
The reason why we don't send mentally ill people is because we'd also have to send a supply of whatever medication they'll need to keep balanced and productive plus a psychiatrist for therapy.
But I think a sparse Mars colony would be perfect for my socialphobia. I'd only have to get used to at most twenty people.
Yes, it's a (piece of a) spaceship named Curiosity. Seriously, the robot finds a metallic piece of something close to where it landed... what are the odds that part is not from Curiosity itself? (answer ~0%)
Well, its not actually very close to where it landed, at this point. And they've taken quite a few photos of the rover. What'll be interesting is if it IS a part from the rover, how did they not notice it was missing? And how did it come off? Seems more likely it'd be part of the lander, but IIRC, it didn't fly off in that direction.
I think your zero estimate is far off, if you're talking about Curiosity itself. If you're talking the whole Rube Goldberg contraption that landed it there... well, that may be a fairly low odds its not.