3 ms·

To SUM it up I hope we found evidence of one of the following. - Evidence of Oceans on Mars - Nitrogen in the soil, needed for plants to grow on mars - A

by jdavid 14y ago

To SUM it up I hope we found evidence of one of the following. - Evidence of Oceans on Mars - Nitrogen in the soil, needed for plants to grow on mars - Amino Acids - Fossils It could be something that is a play on words, 'Earth Shattering' could mean volcanic activity I also wonder if they are finding rare minerals or metals. It could also have to do with Isotope ratios, as much of our history currently depends on Carbon Dating and other Radioactive Isotope decay rates. Different Atmospheric conditions could have different isotope ratios, this would be a pretty big shake up and it does not necessarily require the rover to find a specific chemical or a complex thing like DNA or organism remnants. My mind would be blown, if NASA found one of the following. - living plants - living microbes - manufactured materials not of human/ earth origin. - tons of precious metals.

jdavid 14y ago
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objectives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objec... Curiosity has 8 core objectives, it's probably related to one or two of theses: Biological (1) Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds (2) Investigate the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur) (3) Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes (biosignatures) Geological and geochemical (4) Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials (5) Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils Planetary process (6) Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes (7) Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide Surface radiation (8) Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic radiation, cosmic radiation, solar proton events and secondary neutrons We have heard some reports on (8), but other objectives seem like they might take a while. Plus the rover is not in the richest part of the ... theoretical river delta so I would suspect that NASA would hold their tongue on confirming (2) and or (3) until they are deeper into the mission, but (4) still seems likely, unless (2) and (3) are plentiful at this point.

by jdavid 14y ago

jdavid 14y ago

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objectives http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curiosity_rover#Goals_and_objec... Curiosity has 8 core objectives, it's probably related to one or two of theses: Biological (1) Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds (2) Investigate the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus, and sulfur) (3) Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes (biosignatures) Geological and geochemical (4) Investigate the chemical, isotopic, and mineralogical composition of the Martian surface and near-surface geological materials (5) Interpret the processes that have formed and modified rocks and soils Planetary process (6) Assess long-timescale (i.e., 4-billion-year) Martian atmospheric evolution processes (7) Determine present state, distribution, and cycling of water and carbon dioxide Surface radiation (8) Characterize the broad spectrum of surface radiation, including galactic radiation, cosmic radiation, solar proton events and secondary neutrons We have heard some reports on (8), but other objectives seem like they might take a while. Plus the rover is not in the richest part of the ... theoretical river delta so I would suspect that NASA would hold their tongue on confirming (2) and or (3) until they are deeper into the mission, but (4) still seems likely, unless (2) and (3) are plentiful at this point.