Slashdot Mirror
NASA: Curiosity Has Found Plastic On Mars
dsinc writes "Last week Curiosity was able to use its SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) device to confirm the discovery. A robotic arm with a complex system of Spectral Analysis devices was able to vaporize and identify gasses from the sample, concluding that it is in fact plastic. How plastic formed or ended up on the Martian surface is quite an exciting mystery that sparks many questions. The type of plastic sampled as we know so far can only be formed using petrochemicals, meaning not only that there could possibly be a source of oil on the Red Planet, but that somehow it got turned into plastic. Even more interesting is that oil or petrochemicals used to create this type of plastic are only known to come from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil pointing to the earthshaking evidence that there was once life on mars. 'Right now we have multiple working hypotheses, and each hypothesis makes certain predictions about things like what the spherules are made of and how they are distributed,' said Curiosity's principal investigator, Steve Squyres, of Cornell University. 'Our job as we explore Matijevic Hill in the months ahead will be to make the observations that will let us test all the hypotheses carefully, and find the one that best fits the observations.'" Update: Yes, it's a hoax
If you had read the article, you would have seen the photo, which is several strings of Mardi Gras beads on the Martian surface.
I hate grammar Nazi's.
TROLLD HARD
Slashdot is a joke..
This article posted is almost copied verbatim from http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20120928a.html, with only a few words changed around. Plus, the css pages link offsite and are broken on that page. Who fell for this?
Hoax. The press release at http://nasaupdatecenter.us/press.html says that Curiosity is at Matijevic Hill, overlooking Endeavour Crater. Curiosity is inside of Gale Crater. Opportunity is at Matijevic Hill. Nasa posts its press releases at nasa.gov sites.
That isn't a genuine press release. Here is the real release: http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/news/whatsnew/index.cfm?FuseAction=ShowNews&NewsID=1398
Domain Name NASAUPDATECENTER.US
Domain ID D38204419-US
Sponsoring Registrar ENOM, INC.
Registrar URL (registration services) whois.enom.com
Domain Status clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID A82B3BEE4769052E
Registrant Name Xavier Jenks
Registrant Organization NASA
Registrant Address1 PO Box 791633
Registrant City Cape Carnival
Registrant State/Province FL
Registrant Postal Code 666666
Registrant Country United States
Registrant Country Code US
Registrant Phone Number +1.5043193013
Registrant Email admin@nasaupdatecenter.us
http://www.facebook.com/xavier.jenks -- Head researcher at New Orleans Bigfoot Society.
From NASA:
The domain was registered on Nov 23. Very suspicious.
I thought the real announcement was NASA found water and organic matter on venus:
http://gizmodo.com/5964357/nasa-finds-water-and-organic-matter-in-mercury?tag=astronomy
I might also point out that "Xavier Jenks" also runs a website about bigfoot.
But sure, he's totally the kind of reliable source we've come to expect on Slashdot.
There's no -1 for "I don't get it."
If you think that's bad, the slashdot article last week that claimed that NASA was about to announce some big discovery on mars was also fake, or at least really REALLY exaggerated.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/11/27/nasa_mars_discovery_misunderstanding_mission_leader_excited_about_entire.html
You know whats sad, is the submitter commented that this article was fake before samzenpus moved it to the front page. Apparently some editors don't read the comments either. I'd say it more resembles digg.
Careful with names containing L slashdot.org/~AiphaWolf_HK slashdot.org/~AlphaWoif_HK slashdot.org/~AiphaWoif_HK
The ice was found on Mercury.
That that is is that that that that is not is not.
I thought the real announcement was NASA found water and organic matter on venus
Dude, you realize that if you took a pizza out of your freezer and held it up in the air on the surface of Venus, it would cook in about 8 seconds, right? Which is 7.98 seconds longer than it would take for the atmosphere to turn you (and the pizza) into a pancake and then spray your liquified remains about a half-kilometer downwind. I'd be very interested to hear about the technology NASA invented that would be capable of landing anything in such an inhospitable environment... or for that matter, simply making it to the surface still intact and somehow managing to communicate this fact to us.
#fuckbeta #iamslashdot #dicemustdie
If this is some kind of joke that I'm missing, then I apologize. But if you are serious...then try googling first. The Russians did this a long time ago. AFAIK, NASA never attempted a lander though. Venera 13, in 1982, lasted about 2 hours before giving up the ghost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera
Yeah its a hoax
http://michaelsmith.id.au
It seems you never saw the cool (or should I say hot) pictures taken by the Soviet landers on Venus, so here you go.
But yeah, it's extremely hostile. Curiosity most probably wouldn't make it to the surface.