5 ms·

Any idea when they will start experimentation? I want to find microbial life!

Nzen 6y ago
I don't know in general, but JPL published a video [0] yesterday of three interviews. One of the systems engineers for the MOXIE (atmospheric oxygen separation) unit will wait several weeks after landing before their first experiment. Actually, scientific american has published a timeline that seems to corroborate that [1]. [0] https://youtu.be/TUd604rBR6I?t=643 https://youtu.be/TUd604rBR6I?t=643 [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-100-days-on-mars-how-nasas-perseverance-rover-will-begin-its-mission/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-100-day...
frabbit 6y ago
What is it about that that excites you so much? Is it the idea that life could originate elsewhere and that there might really be aliens? Or is it the idea that Mars could support some sort of colony? Or the hope of completely novel microbiology?
- yellowapple 6y ago
  Yes. Any one of these things would be a massive boon to our understanding of life throughout the solar system and broader universe, right down even to here on Earth. All three of them would arguably mark a new era in Earth's history.
  - cdelsolar 6y ago
    we are very screwed if they find life on Mars. It means life is incredibly common and thus the Great Filter theory is true and we only have a few years left as a species most likely.
    - JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
      I find it extremely hard to believe you could kill every human being on earth at this point. We’ve reached critical mass, we aren’t going anywhere. When we had that few thousand individuals population bottleneck in the past was when it was dicey. What sort of event could kill every human and end our species? I can only think of planet-wide extinction events like massive asteroid impacts that sterilized the whole earth. And we haven’t ever had one of those in billions of years. Call me too optimistic but I think humans are too resourceful. Some of us would survive anything smaller.
      - yellowapple 6y ago
        > When we had that few thousand individuals population bottleneck in the past was when it was dicey. Yeah, but those individuals were presumably all in pretty close proximity to one another. If we were left with a few thousand individuals across the entire range of the human-inhabited Earth, we'd have one heck of a time continuing as a species. In any case, the risk of an extinction event on Earth is exactly why I believe space colonization needs to be Priority Zero for humanity, from two different angles: 1. Living beyond Earth means that we as a species are that much more resilient against a literal-Earth-shattering catastrophe (and if we can get the bulk of Earth's current/future population off of Earth, then we might very well be able to avoid a couple different plausible extinction events). 2. If we can colonize entirely inhospitable worlds like Mars or the Moon (or my votes, Ceres, Venus, and Enceladus), then "colonizing" Earth is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy even if it does become Venus 2: Greenhouse Boogaloo.
      - mongol 6y ago
        I wonder what a huge Carrington solar storm would do to humanity. If electricity went out everywhere, transformers burned up all over, electronics fried. If this caused transport failures, mass starvation could follow. I really hope a severe solar storm would not be as bad as that and hopefully someone could enlighten me on this.
        saagarjha 6y ago
        Killing literally every single human being is not easy. Sure, killing off half of humanity is pretty easy to conceive, but to kill all of humanity it takes a lot more work.
    - yellowapple 6y ago
      > and thus the Great Filter theory is true Or we're just ahead of the curve.
    - DowsingSpoon 6y ago
      Disagree. If there is a filter at all then it could easily be that we’ve already passed it. Maybe the filter is the formation of multicellular life, for example. Also, Earth and Mars have exchanged a lot of material. If we find Mars life, it would not at all be surprising to learn it is related to Earth life.
      - koheripbal 6y ago
        It's hard to imagine that the change from unicellular life to multicellular life is a great filter. Even single cell life has evolved to crazy complexity that blurs the lines between single and multicellular life. > If we find Mars life, it would not at all be surprising to learn it is related to Earth life. If it's DNA/RNA based, we might actually be able to determine the relationship and whether that's true or not.
    - ericbarrett 6y ago
      Earth is pretty special. We’ve got a big ol’ moon (seriously, the Moon is huge for a planet our size), Jupiter running interference for us with its massive gravity and incomprehensible magnetic field, our host star is very polite, we’ve even got a magnetic field AND ozone layer on the planet itself. Not to mention it’s kept life going for 30% of the age of the universe. It’s a good CV for Great Filter applications.
- russtrotter 6y ago
  Some interesting reasons: the proverbial "2nd genesis", panspermia possibilities of our own planet, and answering lots of questions on formation of life on ours and any other planet we might encounter.

Nzen 6y ago

I don't know in general, but JPL published a video [0] yesterday of three interviews. One of the systems engineers for the MOXIE (atmospheric oxygen separation) unit will wait several weeks after landing before their first experiment. Actually, scientific american has published a timeline that seems to corroborate that [1]. [0] https://youtu.be/TUd604rBR6I?t=643 https://youtu.be/TUd604rBR6I?t=643 [1] https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-100-days-on-mars-how-nasas-perseverance-rover-will-begin-its-mission/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-first-100-day...

frabbit 6y ago

What is it about that that excites you so much? Is it the idea that life could originate elsewhere and that there might really be aliens? Or is it the idea that Mars could support some sort of colony? Or the hope of completely novel microbiology?

yellowapple 6y ago
Yes. Any one of these things would be a massive boon to our understanding of life throughout the solar system and broader universe, right down even to here on Earth. All three of them would arguably mark a new era in Earth's history.
- cdelsolar 6y ago
  we are very screwed if they find life on Mars. It means life is incredibly common and thus the Great Filter theory is true and we only have a few years left as a species most likely.
  - JohnJamesRambo 6y ago
    I find it extremely hard to believe you could kill every human being on earth at this point. We’ve reached critical mass, we aren’t going anywhere. When we had that few thousand individuals population bottleneck in the past was when it was dicey. What sort of event could kill every human and end our species? I can only think of planet-wide extinction events like massive asteroid impacts that sterilized the whole earth. And we haven’t ever had one of those in billions of years. Call me too optimistic but I think humans are too resourceful. Some of us would survive anything smaller.
    - yellowapple 6y ago
      > When we had that few thousand individuals population bottleneck in the past was when it was dicey. Yeah, but those individuals were presumably all in pretty close proximity to one another. If we were left with a few thousand individuals across the entire range of the human-inhabited Earth, we'd have one heck of a time continuing as a species. In any case, the risk of an extinction event on Earth is exactly why I believe space colonization needs to be Priority Zero for humanity, from two different angles: 1. Living beyond Earth means that we as a species are that much more resilient against a literal-Earth-shattering catastrophe (and if we can get the bulk of Earth's current/future population off of Earth, then we might very well be able to avoid a couple different plausible extinction events). 2. If we can colonize entirely inhospitable worlds like Mars or the Moon (or my votes, Ceres, Venus, and Enceladus), then "colonizing" Earth is easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy even if it does become Venus 2: Greenhouse Boogaloo.
    - mongol 6y ago
      I wonder what a huge Carrington solar storm would do to humanity. If electricity went out everywhere, transformers burned up all over, electronics fried. If this caused transport failures, mass starvation could follow. I really hope a severe solar storm would not be as bad as that and hopefully someone could enlighten me on this.
      - saagarjha 6y ago
        Killing literally every single human being is not easy. Sure, killing off half of humanity is pretty easy to conceive, but to kill all of humanity it takes a lot more work.
  - yellowapple 6y ago
    > and thus the Great Filter theory is true Or we're just ahead of the curve.
  - DowsingSpoon 6y ago
    Disagree. If there is a filter at all then it could easily be that we’ve already passed it. Maybe the filter is the formation of multicellular life, for example. Also, Earth and Mars have exchanged a lot of material. If we find Mars life, it would not at all be surprising to learn it is related to Earth life.
    - koheripbal 6y ago
      It's hard to imagine that the change from unicellular life to multicellular life is a great filter. Even single cell life has evolved to crazy complexity that blurs the lines between single and multicellular life. > If we find Mars life, it would not at all be surprising to learn it is related to Earth life. If it's DNA/RNA based, we might actually be able to determine the relationship and whether that's true or not.
  - ericbarrett 6y ago
    Earth is pretty special. We’ve got a big ol’ moon (seriously, the Moon is huge for a planet our size), Jupiter running interference for us with its massive gravity and incomprehensible magnetic field, our host star is very polite, we’ve even got a magnetic field AND ozone layer on the planet itself. Not to mention it’s kept life going for 30% of the age of the universe. It’s a good CV for Great Filter applications.
russtrotter 6y ago
Some interesting reasons: the proverbial "2nd genesis", panspermia possibilities of our own planet, and answering lots of questions on formation of life on ours and any other planet we might encounter.