Fans of Space/Science: NASA Mercury Announcement Imminent!

Cool. Literally! Similar deposits of ice water were found at the Moon's North Pole a couple of years ago. In both cases, there are polar craters that never ever see the light of day — the lack of heating radiation and the vacuum of space makes it extremely cold at the bottom of such craters. It has long been predicted for ice to exist in these places. Since the ice arrived in the form of cometary impacts billions of years ago, and comets are festooned with organic compounds, the existence of these molecules in these craters was also predicted quite some time ago. NB, 'organic' compounds are merely molecules containing carbon atoms. Whilst carbon and water are essential for life as we know it, there are undoubtedly other conditions and processes required in order to kick off life. Did this ever happen on Mercury or in the comets themselves? We don't know. Scientists must be itching to do a sample return mission to get their hands on the raw material. Could be quite tricky, though, because they'd want to dig deep: anywhere near the surface of Mercury's ice is going to be deadly for organic chemistry, because of the prevalent ionising radiation.

^^ Well said ZZ. Quite tricky indeed. All in all the search for life, on and off our planet, is not going to be easy. ;) Today was another glimpse at what mankind can do, something certainly to be proud of.

"This worm lives inside Ice but it is usually frozen salt water..." OMG!!!!!!! Its the Trilobyte lol Anyway anywhere where a rock. planet, or moon has Water in any form and CO2 then there is a good chance of basic lifeforms like this.

I called to this a pure and real sci-fiction! thank you Freeze! ;)

Thanks Freeze! 800,000 year-old bacteria is very interesting! It may still be infected by the black goo from the original sacrificial Engineer!

good topic, I can't wait until the New Horizen probe that's enroute to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt starts sending photo's. New Horizen is alittle over 1/2 way there. I also would not be surprised that this probe picks up even more planetiods after it enters the Kuiper Belt. It is to arrive to Pluto on or about July 2015

fingers crossed but also It's a shame that Carl Sagan is not alive to see this, surely he would love a discovery like this...

one other , at least there is a cold spot to stick the full beer in [img]http://brooklynbrewery.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/RemainsLighting_SnowBeer.jpg[/img]

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Brilliant Ncc!!!! : D

I believe the Hotspot for potential life in our small Solar System would be on Titan [img]http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/2012/06/titan-moon-surface-methane-lake-nasa.jpg[/img] Titan is one of Saturns Moons and researches know that there are abundant organic compounds There are Lakes of liquid methane which is a Hydrocarbon [url=http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/titan-moon-lakes-life/]Methane Lakes Raise hope of life on Titan[/url] This is one of the lakes near Titans north pole [img]http://blogs.agu.org/martianchronicles/files/2008/12/lakes.jpg[/img] A team of scientists using NASA's Cassini spacecraft have now found indirect but telltale signs of a subsurface sea, perhaps of water as well as ammonia, which would act like antifreeze. The data suggest that the ocean, perhaps more than 15 miles deep, is sandwiched between two layers of ice, each less than 60 miles (100 kilometers) thick. It rides atop one layer of ice covering the moon's rocky core and appears to be capped with another ice layer that forms Titan's surface. Cassini traveled to Titan and dropped the Huygens probe in 2005 [url=http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2010-06/new-cassini-findings-hint-methane-based-life-titan]New Cassini Findings Show Possible Signs of Methane-Based Life on Titan[/url] [img]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m5l7t8AZxv1r01w8mo4_r1_1280.jpg[/img] The next trip is the Titan Saturn System Mission costing $2.5 Billion launch set to 2020 arriving Saturn 2029 the 4 year mission includes 2 year Saturn tour, a 2 month Titan aero-sampling phase and a 20 month Titan orbit phase [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/TSSM-TandEM-Orbiter.jpg[/img]

Any updates on that organic material? I've been giddy about it ever since i read that bit of info.

The recent announcement was for water Ice on Mercury organic material is expected to be there ..but that doesnt always mean life... it usually refers to any solid liquid or gas that contains carbon beacause these are building blocks for potential life so it may mean life was there or could be if time or conditions are right or it might even suggest living processes might already be there! : ) but the announcement from the Curiosity rover on Mars isnt due to be announced until the week of December 3RD-7TH Im excited too Pren : ) Its going to be announced at the 2012 AMERICAN GEOPHYSICAL UNION conference in San Francisco [url=http://fallmeeting.agu.org/2012/]AGU[/url] Im thinking that it will be evidence of methane which is part of living processes but even better if its organic life or remnants of : )

i heard a rumour thru my source witin NASA that they found elvis .

ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha Ive done some research into that pulser and it has been confirmed!!!!! [img]http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/cartoonists/tzu/lowres/tzun106l.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.freakingnews.com/pictures/73500/Elvis-the-Alien--73712.jpg[/img] [img]http://empressempress.tripod.com/alienelvis.jpg[/img] [img]http://www.elvisblog.net/Elvis%20Photoshop%20-%202/Spock%20Elvis%20.jpg[/img]

Reading back on the posts here from the last couple of days [b]so funny![/b], I am Very excited re Mars announcement! Reminded me of one minor thing i didnt get about prometheus script was when they were in the tunnel and noted the temperature and the water and wondered jokingly if it was "Martian Piss" well dont they have by that time a well established Mars colony? lol, maybe its just old habit to say Martian when meaning alien After all we have assumed [b]and maybe correctly[/b] for a long time that there ought to be life on Mars soon we may know for sure! i'm crossing fingers for [b]non-parasitic/pathogenic[/b] nematodes or bacteria so as i can get some to look at!!!!! :D Though i think it would take some big advances in spaceship/suit design and radiation protection to get me out there doing a "Hi i'm Caenor',... Biology" (yeh am a wimp :p ) but who knows Bransons Virgin Galactic is getting there.....

Looks like they wont be announcing anything too major.. I just found this... [url=http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-377]Update Set in San Francisco About Curiosity Mars Rover[/url] BUT... this makes for interesting reading from the examiner QUOTE: Yesterday, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) took the extraordinary step of dampening speculation over comments made by one of the leaders of the Mars Curiosity Mission. Just before Thanksgiving, on November 20, John Grotzinger, principal investigator of the Surface At Mars instrument on the Curiosity Rover, was quoted on NPR radio that a discovery had been made that would be “one for the history books.” Many scientific observers took that to mean that he was about to announce that Curiosity had discovered organic compounds on Mars – the building blocks of life. In an interview with US News, JPL spokesperson Veronica McGregor says that Grotinsky had been “misinterpreted”. She said that there were definitely nothing significant about organic compounds in the results to be announced at a scientific conference next week being hosted by the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco. Rather than an earthshaking announcement, it appears that Grotzinger will be presenting much more mundane data and results about the Curiosity Mission – its working fine after a long flight from Earth! Did Grozinger simply overreach himself in commenting about the data and results from a soil analysis by the Curiosity Rover, or is he being muzzled by more senior NASA figures over what was exactly found on Mars? Here is what McGregor said about Grotzinger interview on NPR radio that has created much media interest and internet speculation over the last week: [i]He was extremely excited and continues to be extremely excited that we had the first data coming back from our first sample and the machine is operating beautifully… This was the science team's equivalent of the landing moment. It was a key moment after years of work.[/i] McGregor is saying that Grotzinger was merely excited that the Mars SAM instrument was working fine after the long trip to Mars, and that it was sending back good data. That was the history making element that Grotzinger was referring to, according to McGregor: [i]I think there was a misinterpretation of what he said. This is a scientist who was so excited his instrument was sending back data … John was extremely excited about having the first data back from SAM…. It’s very interesting data and the scientists are chewing on this—he does believe this mission will be one for the history books. But knowing these rumors [of organic compounds on Mars] were floating out there and knowing we didn’t yet have the results, we wanted to let people know that they’re definitely not in these initial samples…[/i] Yet in the NPR interview Grotzinger focused on the data itself as being history in the making, not the transmission of the data. This is what he actually said to the NPR interviewer: [i]We're getting data from SAM as we sit here and speak, and the data looks really interesting. The science team is busily chewing away on it as it comes down…. This data is gonna be one for the history books. It's looking really good.[/i] What’s clear from Grotzinger’s own comments is that the data itself is “one for the history books,” not the Curiosity mission or the scientific process by which the data is being transmitted. [url=http://www.examiner.com/article/is-nasa-muzzling-scientific-results-from-mars-curiosity-mission]examiner[/url] [img]http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02300/rover_2300144b.jpg[/img]

ahhahahahaaha! noted use of expressions like definately not of interest etc etc very "nothing to see hear people move it along" muzzledddddddddddddddd!!!!!!!

usually these guys have to play up every little bit of data they find just to justify the massive funding they require so to hear them rush to play something down!, i dont think its too conspiracy theorist to interperet that there was a little hushing up goin on there

an extraordinary step... yup

I totally agree with you caenor its so hard for NASA when their budgets are getting cut so severely and getting public interest in their projects an be challenging but ... it is an interesting playing out of events... maybe the data isnt conclusive enough yet? [b]or maybe[/b]............. [img]http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_me4c9d45Az1qediflo1_500.jpg[/img]