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NASA: Curiosity Has Found Plastic On Mars

Posted by samzenpus on from the mars-needs-organic-polymers dept.

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

6 of 293 comments (clear)

  1. Hoax! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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?

  2. Hoax by zienth · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  3. Slashdot has been trolled by johnny+cashed · · Score: 5, Informative

    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

  4. FAKE! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    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.

  5. Re:Editors... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    The domain was registered on Nov 23. Very suspicious.

  6. Re:Editors... by Trep · · Score: 5, Informative

    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