Mars Rover Scientists Say They're Sitting On A Discovery For The 'History Books'Dina Spector|Nov. 20, 2012, 2:03 PM|14,903|43 The scientists in charge of NASA's Curiosity rover are sitting on some exciting, but not-yet-confirmed news, NPR's Joe Palca reports. The major discovery involves the biggest instrument on the Mars rover called the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM. The purpose of SAM is to determine what minerals and chemicals are in the sand, rocks and atmosphere of Mars by collecting and processing samples. SAM ingested its first soil sample from a wind-blown patch of sand known as "Rocknest" on Nov. 9. Apparently, the results are very cool, and we guess, might provide some indication as to whether Mars was ever able to support life (SAM previously examined samples of the Martian air, and to much dismay, found no methane, which would be essential to finding life on the Red Planet). John Grotzinger, the lead project scientist for the Mars mission, tells Palca, "this data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good." NASA is waiting to announce the "big news" because they want to be sure that their analysis is correct before feeding it to the mainstream media. Palca captures the type of clandestine operation going on here: Grotzinger says it will take several weeks before he and his team are ready to talk about their latest finding. In the meantime he'll fend off requests from pesky reporters, and probably from NASA brass as well. Yep, we too were rebuffed in our attempt to pry some answers out of the rover team. The "science team is analyzing data from SAM's soil inspection, but is not ready to discuss it yet," Guy Webster, a spokesman for the Curiosity crew, wrote us in an email. "Scientists want to gain confidence in the findings before taking them outside of the science team," Webster added. Meanwhile, the instrument that detects radiation on Mars recently presented data suggesting it would be possible for an astronaut to live on Mars, for a limited period of time, without being burnt to a crisp or getting severely ill from radiation poisoning. Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/mars-rover-curiosity-major-discovery-2012-11#ixzz2CoEUARBnMaybe they found Obama's records and birth certificate on Mars?
Maybe they found the missing part of your brain or your self respect or maybe even your sense of shame
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