Nasa's 'Historic Announcement'

[EDDIE51]

Looks like the anticipated 3rd Dec 'One for the history books' announcement is a bit of a a let down
http://www.ctvnews.ca/sci-tech/nasa-curiosity-rover-analyzes-martian-soil-for-first-time-1.1063505
No sign of life, no organic compounds !

[boxtops]

Is that it ?!

[sandyRoe]

"...Rover tools had detected organic compounds, it had not yet determined if the compounds were of Martin origin..."
What do they mean by 'organic compounds'?

[MarkRae]

More to the point, who's Martin...?

[EDDIE51]

Looks like it.
Some organic material detected but no evidence that it was Martian , (pobably contamination)

[shooty]

Linda McCartney's Leek and Onion pie ?

[sandyRoe]

Was that intended for the : 'So...what's for dinner tonite, then?' thread? ^

[aelmpvw]

unless shooty knows something we don't

[sandyRoe]

Her vegetarian burgers are out of this world :-)

[shooty]

Well, she lived on the moon, maybe she made her pies on mars.

[ludwig]

So they're now able to confirm that there are rocks and alot of dust on Mars.
It's one for the history books alright.

[shooty]

Jane Fonda's outfit from 'barbarella'
Sorry, thats orgasmic, not organic. : /

[youngmafbog]

Analyze one small portion of a planet and that's it for the rest of it? Doesn't sound too scientific to me!

[Graham-W]

One would have at least expected Mars Bars. They're organic.

[jake-the-peg]

Hmm

Interesting - definately

Historic - no, not even to most scientists I'd have thought - definately oversold that one I think

[boxtops]

what a waste of time, advertising that on 3 Dec they were going to tell us something!

[douglas9401]

It's marginally more interesting than two posh folk getting pregnant though.

[naomi24]

//definately oversold that one I think//

I’m not sure about that. I was listening to a scientist on the radio yesterday who said that frozen water and organic matter had also been found on Mercury, and that these discoveries indicate a greater possibility of the existence of life elsewhere in the universe – so actually I think it’s rather exciting.

[jake-the-peg]

Yes, but water and organic molecules have been seen all over the place even in deep space.

Here for example

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/03/100304102320.htm

Really hoping for complex organics - at least amino acids

[naomi24]

Jake, he was making the point that this is somewhat closer to home.

[EDDIE51]

There is organic matter all over the universe , most of Jupiter / Saturn / Uranus and their moons are made of Methane , which is the simplest organic substance and the building block of all other organic compounds.