Comments on: A Look at Mars Soil Before It Bakes in TEGA

By: Al Hall

Al Hall — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 17:52:09 +0000

Think –
Good to hear. Obviously I did mis-interpret what you were saying. I'm a staunch believer of skepticism. Fair enough but even with media hype and the oven problem, this is so far, turning out to be a successful mission. Will anything profound come of this mission? Maybe not.. Maybe… We shall have to wait and see before we come to our conclusions.

By: Jon

Jon — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 03:49:20 +0000

There has to be life… there was life… and as life began to die on most of the planet, evolution still took place…meaning that some sort of organism had to have survived… something that can convert sunlight to energy.

Some bacteria can survive the trip through space, do you really think nothing could survive on mars?

By: Think

Think — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:11:39 +0000

Hall wrote, "…they can't call it real science because of the scrutiny of people these days, like Think who think we shouldn't be "wasting" our money on progress. I could be wrong, but that seems to be what I read."
You did read wrong. I'm not against progress – I'm not sure how you read that into the post – I'm against the mainstream B.S. which is becoming more and more obviously confused and "entertaining" in its reporting. Slam all you want – I still say something stinks here. Believe it all, ignore your intuition, and die ignorant – I guess there's honour in that somewhere.

By: DLGenesis

DLGenesis — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 22:11:01 +0000

if there was life on mars then it probably died out long long ago. I suspect that the evidence that scientists are looking for will not be found because of this..

unless life is sumhow preserved they will find nothing.

By: neoguru

neoguru — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 13:01:33 +0000

Look at the scoop in the 1st picture. Notice the very fine dust and how it sticks to the scoop. Very fine. And it appears to be adhering with the help of a static electrical charge. Since it's easily lofted about in the Martian wind, this dust should have a relatively constant composition over the entire planet. It would be interesting to test it by itself. Great science.

By: Hans

Hans — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 09:55:49 +0000

Computerworld had an article on the software being sent to Phoenix:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9094138&pageNumber=1

Maybe it gives a better idea how it works.
It does not seem to be a very clever robot. More like a remotely controlled machine.

And remember it takes more than half an hour before you can see the result of a command.

By: Al Hall

Al Hall — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 07:47:09 +0000

Mighty Morphin'-

Maybe you can enlighten us? .. Please feel free to do so. I'm always curious about such things, and others may be as well. Especially those (us) on the fence..

By: Mighty Morphin'

Mighty Morphin' — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 06:57:57 +0000

Ultraman TEGA?

I'm surprised there's been no mention of NASA's own watchdog group finding they hid key evidence about global warming from scientist and the public.

By: Colin

Colin — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 05:12:54 +0000

Is TEGA an easy bake oven? Oh boy, Martian Brownies! They can use any ice they find as frosting. A very nice good-will gesture towards the first Martian that runs across the lander ; )

By: Al Hall

Al Hall — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 04:48:48 +0000

Well, I was going to slam Think but I guess that was mostly covered already.
This is a $420+ million mission so I don't blame them for saying they are doing "tests" before doing the 'real' science. Of course they are analyzing the tests (to an extent) but they can't call it real science because of the scrutiny of people these days, like Think who think we shouldn't be "wasting" our money on progress. I could be wrong, but that seems to be what I read.
If anyone responds to my comment, please do me a favor and don't speak of politics or war. This isn't the forum for it. We are talking about space exploration and the future of our species – politics aside.

By: Earthbound

Earthbound — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:46:34 +0000

"Think", the reason they're taking baby steps is to ensure that they won't have to backtrack to verify prior steps at a later date. After a literally flawless delivery and landing, it doesn't surprise me that they might run into a few problems on the ground. I'm just glad we're seeing small glitches that are workable, as opposed to a catastrophic glitch during a critical point such as the entry phase. That was the fate of the prior Mars Polar Lander mission about 8 years ago, so no big surprise they're being careful. Really only one chance to get it right this time around. Of course it's dramatic, of course it's intriguing. You're witnessing history.

By: Earthbound

Earthbound — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:40:33 +0000

Essel, the Phoenix team did some microscopic imaging of dust particles prior to this thermal analyzing stage. Check http://www.nasa.gov/phoenix/ for more information.

Can't wait to read about the results. What an awesome time, we've got 3 stations active on the surface of another planet, feeding us results we can pick up nearly in coordination with the actual science teams, in the comfort of our own homes. Now we're just a few hours away from possibly getting some solid results from this type of soil analysis. Sweet.

By: Think

Think — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 03:37:52 +0000

This whole mission stinks to high heaven. From communication glitches, to the partially unwrapped arm and the possible short circuit and the general heel dragging of this mission (I mean, do you have to practise digging a hole? Just use the "practise" material and study it for pete's sakes) It smacks of Hollywood drama and general fakery. This whole mission just stinks – like what, I don't know, but my Spidey Senses are in overdrive on this one – something is not right and I believe some lies are happening.

By: billymac

billymac — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 01:29:24 +0000

Hey Ralph, just because they're scooping soil and putting it into an oven, doesn't mean the same tests are being done.

By: Essel

Essel — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:36:10 +0000

I think they should do microscopic analysis first, before baking the sample

By: Ralph Rewes

Ralph Rewes — Sat, 07 Jun 2008 00:18:14 +0000

This reminded me of the first experiment they concocted on Martian soil on the first trial for life. It was said to be ill fated because it did neither proved nor disproved that life existed.

How come they are doing the same experiments, if they know it failed before?

They want to come up with the same results.