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Curiosity Detects Mysterious Methane Spikes On Mars
astroengine writes: A gas strongly associated with life on Earth has been detected again in the Martian atmosphere, opening a new chapter in a decade-old mystery about the on-again, off-again appearance of methane on Mars. The latest discovery comes from NASA's Curiosity rover, which in addition to analyzing rocks and soil samples, is sniffing the air at its Gale Crater landing site. A year ago, scientists reported that Curiosity had come up empty-handed after an eight-month search for methane in the atmosphere, leaving earlier detections by ground-based telescopes and Mars-orbiting spacecraft an unexplained anomaly. "We thought we had closed the book on methane. It was disappointing to a lot of people that there wasn't significant methane on Mars, but that's where we were," Curiosity scientist Christopher Webster with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told Discovery News.
I'm really sorry. Excuse me.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
Related links:
JPL update:
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4413
Research papers:
http://go.nasa.gov/1cbk35X
http://www.sciencemag.org/content/early/2014/12/15/science.1261713.full.pdf?ijkey=wh80Qt3dcQZKw&keytype=ref&siteid=sci
Who gives a fart about Mars these days?
I expected that around Uranus, but not Mars.
Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
there once was life on Mars, and it left methane hydrates in somewhat permafrost type situation that gets slightly warmed at times
Finally, indisuptable evidence of man-made climate change!
Oops... wrong planet.... never mind.
I've thought about writing stories or a book before, scifi, with total drivel for the science part but in a way that could provoke thought anyway. It turns out that space and time are one in a much more intimate way than Einstein could have guessed. That is, every planet in our solar system IS Earth, just at different times in its lifespan before it finally "dies" by becoming a rogue planet wandering the cosmos.
The characters in the story would only just have learned this. The discovery brings about a rush of research and a panic to figure out what happens to the planet to turn it into the lifeless rock we know as Mars. Others outright deny that it could even be possible, always without considering the evidence. For fear of what changes the discovery might bring, industries pay researchers to produce the results they want. Humanity roils in controversy and argument, and meanwhile the red planet is out there as a testament to the inevitable.
I must be very egotistical on humanity's behalf to this of this imaginary scenario with drivel for hypothesis before I just remind myself that microorganisms aren't as rare and special as complicated life. I hope my scifi musings aren't unwelcome on your science thread. Science inspired scifi, and scifi inspires science. It's hard to avoid, but hopefully not to terrible so long as we can tell one from the other.
Oh my Gawd! It's the first signs of global warming on Mars!!!! All them dang human's fault. Especially the white, male, middle aged, Republican ones. /sarcasm
He who smelt it dealt it.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
So that old book "Men Are From Mars..." might have actually been correct?
no no no the USA doesn't invade a country. Russia invaded Crimera and is still there.
the USA storms in messes up the place, kicks holes in the walls, maybe set some drapes on fire, and then brings in new drapes, and if you are lucky puts the furniture back into the correct orientation. We then empower the locals through bribes to continue working with us. While our soldiers head back home. Which then creates warlords that we have to mess up the place again in the future.
You see invasions mean our troops stay. in reality the USA marches in and marches back out again and again.
i thought once I was found, but it was only a dream.
I bet it was someone here
My ism, it's full of beliefs.
Here is a non-paywalled version of the actual scientific article, including a graph showing the measurements as a function of time on page 7. It's a significant but still faint detection, with the highest value being about 4 standard deviations away from zero.
Yes, there were no troops left in Texas, California, Panama, Philipines, Japan, China, Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Japan (again) Guam, Germany, United Kingdom, Australia, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan.......Unless of course the people there really really begged for those troops to stay.
It's all point of view. There's plenty of Russians that think that annexing the Crimea was a just and caring move to guarantee the longer term safety of the people. Peace on Earth and goodwill to all Russian speaking minorities that love freedom etc..
Everybody means well in these things...don't they?
Mars has gas!
Jupiter laughs.
Right after Thanksgiving? I suspect they did it Gilligan's Island-style and the probe really landed on Earth, in middle America.
Table-ized A.I.
Rover
There ya go, blaming the dog again.
Have gnu, will travel.
A true fan refers to him as "The Doctor", not "Doctor Who". It serves to irritate non-fans.
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
The bovine abduction mystery.
Have gnu, will travel.
Go back and look at the license plate on the car that Jon Pertwee's car had, and at the heavy-handed use of the question mark in both the Peter Davison and Sylvester McCoy eras, and tell yourself that "Doctor Who" for the character was not ever normal.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
A joke from the former USSR. When was the first real democratic Soviet election? It was when god brought Adam to Eve and told: "i want you to choose a wife".
It sounds better in my native language, because we have the same word for both the election and choice
P.S Pardon my English, it's not my first language.
I'm not really here, it's just more probable that i'm here, than anywhere else.
Titan too.
I'm not really here, it's just more probable that i'm here, than anywhere else.
They voted only -after- Russia took military control over Crimea. All the while Russia was claiming that the soldiers were not Russian, and they had removed flags and ensignas from uniforms and vehicles - a ridiculous move, as everyone in the world knew they were Russian soldiers.
You know someone is doing something wrong when they are
trying to hide it.
Later, when everything was under control, Putin admitted yes, they were Russian soldiers. As if this was clear from the beginning and the Kremling had never claimed anything different. Reminded me of 1984... warp the past to suite your present.
So this is your Democracy... Russian style.
Same thing happening now in eastern Ukraine, with "maybe" there being "inofficially" Russian solders there. "On vacation".
There is no redundancy in Universe. You''ll NOT find another Earth.
Casteism
So you're saying the US likes to hit it and quit it?
Coward. We love your kind. We'd eat you for breakfast.