The Mars Thread

[Lupine]

^Impossible to say. Keep in mind though that any Martian microbes will be adapted for an anaerobic environment and they might not be able to live in our atmosphere.

[RJDiogenes]

Right. Just like the AIDS virus can only live in people and not be transmitted through the air. Which is actually not as comforting written down as it was in my head.

[Lupine]

And we have video of the landing!

[RJDiogenes]

I got to see some of that at lunchtime today. Absolutely amazing. A continuous video almost from orbit, or at least the top of the atmosphere, all the way to the surface. That's a video I'll watch a million times.

And I loved watching the heat shield drop away like the Coyote. I was so sorry that it drifted out of frame before it hit the ground.

[Lupine]

And Curiosity is still making discoveries, with evidence that Mars went through cycles of wet and dry periods.

[RJDiogenes]

Well, that's very interesting. So life had well over a billion years to arrive and evolve. It took a lot longer than that for multicellular life to appear on Earth, but the single-celled guys would still be able to adapt. In fact, the alternating eras of wetness and dryness would provide a lot of incentive for evolution. This is pretty encouraging.

[Lupine]

They'll find evidence of egg-laying babes any day now.

[RJDiogenes]

Then we'll see a Space Race.

[Lupine]

And we have liftoff!

[RJDiogenes]

Yeah, I was just reading about that at lunch. The best part is how they landed it on the table in the middle of Mission Control.

I'm really relieved that it actually worked and worked so well. That's some really complex engineering that went into that thing and I figured it had a better than even chance of failure.

[RJDiogenes]

Looks like there's been another glitch for the Martian Chopper. But it's had three successful test flights, so I would still consider it amazingly successful even if it doesn't get to fly again. There's still a good chance that they'll get it off the ground, though.

[Lupine]

I forgot to mention: China now has a lander on Mars.

[RJDiogenes]

Oh, yeahhh, I heard that and then I forgot to look into it. Good quality pictures there (although I wonder how many people are confused by that curved horizon). And more radar to search for ice deposits.

I also forgot to post that the Mars Chopper did finally make another flight.

[Lupine]

^Apparently it's been following the rover along as it moves.

Good quality pictures there (although I wonder how many people are confused by that curved horizon).

Probably alot. You should read the comments Space.com gets on their Facebook page. You'll feel like bashing your head against your keyboard.

[RJDiogenes]

^Apparently it's been following the rover along as it moves.

Awww.

Probably alot. You should read the comments Space.com gets on their Facebook page. You'll feel like bashing your head against your keyboard.

This is why I try to refrain from reading comments.