Mars Robot May Destroy Life It Was Sent To Find 129
Hugh Pickens writes "New Scientist reports that instead of identifying chemicals that could point to life, NASA's robot explorers may have been toasting them by mistake. Even if Mars never had life, comets and asteroids that have struck the planet should have scattered at least some organic molecules over its surface but landers have failed to detect even minute quantities of organic compounds. Now scientists say they may have stumbled on something in the Martian soil that may have, in effect, been hiding the organics: a class of chemicals called perchlorates. At low temperatures, perchlorates are relatively harmless but when heated to hundreds of degrees Celsius perchlorates release a lot of oxygen, which tends to cause any nearby combustible material to burn. The Phoenix and Viking landers looked for organic molecules by heating soil samples to similarly high temperatures to evaporate them and analyse them in gas form. When Douglas Ming of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and colleagues tried heating organics and perchlorates like this on Earth, the resulting combustion left no trace of organics behind. "We haven't looked the right way," says Chris McKay of NASA's Ames Research Center. Jeffrey Bada of the University of California, San Diego, agrees that a new approach is needed. He is leading work on a new instrument called Urey which will be able to detect organic material at concentrations as low as a few parts per trillion. The good news is that, although Urey heats its samples, it does so in water, so the organics cannot burn up."
We can't let them kill the Mars life (Score:5, Funny)
I suggest we send someone back in time to prevent the robot from killing the life on Mars.
So it makes soup? (Score:4, Funny)
In other words, HG Wells had it backwards (Score:5, Funny)
Re:So it makes soup? (Score:3, Funny)
Re:We can't let them kill the Mars life (Score:5, Funny)
Re:In other words, HG Wells had it backwards (Score:3, Funny)
Where's the kaboom? There was supposed to be a Mars-shattering kaboom!
Some NASA engineer laughs... (Score:1, Funny)
Some NASA engineer laughs quietly to himself, knowing he prematurely stopped the Martian invasion of Earth before it even had a chance to begin.
Re:We can't let them kill the Mars life (Score:5, Funny)
Is there a Bad Analogy Guy fan club?
Yes. [slashdot.org] Much bigger than yours [slashdot.org], maybe half the size of mine [slashdot.org] (and thank you for your support.) :D
Anyone who says slashdot isn't a game isn't paying attention.
Re:In other words, HG Wells had it backwards (Score:2, Funny)
So let me get this straight.. (Score:2, Funny)
They've built a perchlorate percolator?
Re:I am Lrrr (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Sorry to reply to myself... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Martian bonfires anyone ? (Score:3, Funny)
Martian bonfires anyone ?
Didn't he write Born To Be Wild [wikipedia.org]?