NASA: Curiosity Has Found Plastic On Mars 293
dsinc writes "Last week Curiosity was able to use its SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) device to confirm the discovery. A robotic arm with a complex system of Spectral Analysis devices was able to vaporize and identify gasses from the sample, concluding that it is in fact plastic. How plastic formed or ended up on the Martian surface is quite an exciting mystery that sparks many questions. The type of plastic sampled as we know so far can only be formed using petrochemicals, meaning not only that there could possibly be a source of oil on the Red Planet, but that somehow it got turned into plastic. Even more interesting is that oil or petrochemicals used to create this type of plastic are only known to come from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil pointing to the earthshaking evidence that there was once life on mars. 'Right now we have multiple working hypotheses, and each hypothesis makes certain predictions about things like what the spherules are made of and how they are distributed,' said Curiosity's principal investigator, Steve Squyres, of Cornell University. 'Our job as we explore Matijevic Hill in the months ahead will be to make the observations that will let us test all the hypotheses carefully, and find the one that best fits the observations.'" Update: Yes, it's a hoax
Editors... (Score:5, Insightful)
Why doesn't Slashdot have them? Might as well be reader the National Inquirer. It's not April 1.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Informative)
The domain was registered on Nov 23. Very suspicious.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Editors... (Score:4, Informative)
I thought the real announcement was NASA found water and organic matter on venus:
http://gizmodo.com/5964357/nasa-finds-water-and-organic-matter-in-mercury?tag=astronomy [gizmodo.com]
Re: (Score:2, Flamebait)
Here is a direct link to NASA:
"But the new observations have also raised new questions," adds Solomon. "Do the dark materials in the polar deposits consist mostly of organic compounds?
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/messenger/media/PressConf20121129.html [nasa.gov]
Re: (Score:3)
Only if they're armored. [wikipedia.org]
Score:5? Venus is not Mercury (Score:4, Informative)
The ice was found on Mercury.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:3)
venus
Mercury
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Informative)
If this is some kind of joke that I'm missing, then I apologize. But if you are serious...then try googling first. The Russians did this a long time ago. AFAIK, NASA never attempted a lander though. Venera 13, in 1982, lasted about 2 hours before giving up the ghost.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venera [wikipedia.org]
Re: (Score:3)
I'd be very interested to hear about the technology NASA invented that would be capable of landing anything in such an inhospitable environment... or for that matter, simply making it to the surface still intact and somehow managing to communicate this fact to us.
Lots of landers have operated on the surface of Venus [wikipedia.org].
Re: (Score:3)
You could be surprisedd - Venera 7 - all the way back in 1970 successfully landed on the surface of Venus, and transmitted data back for 23 minutes before dying (somewhat prematurely because of a partial parachute-fail during landing)
Al told, more than a dozen spacecraft has since then returned data after being inside venus atmosphere, and a handful of them has done so after having landed on the surface.
Re:Editors... (Score:4, Informative)
It seems you never saw the cool (or should I say hot) pictures taken by the Soviet landers on Venus, so here you go [mentallandscape.com].
But yeah, it's extremely hostile. Curiosity most probably wouldn't make it to the surface.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Insightful)
"Seems fake," huh? You mean the renderings of the Mars "face" on the front page didn't throw you off?
Bigfoot (Score:5, Informative)
I might also point out that "Xavier Jenks" also runs a website about bigfoot [nolabigfoot.com].
But sure, he's totally the kind of reliable source we've come to expect on Slashdot.
Re: (Score:2)
The domain was registered less than a week ago and some of the registration data doesn't look valid. Also nasa.gov says "The next news conference about the NASA Mars rover Curiosity will be held at 9 a.m. Monday, Dec. 3, [...] Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect." So it's probably a fake.
Re: (Score:2)
That's also NOT a JPL press release. They can't keep Opportunity and Curiosity straight, talk about scientists "ranting" and capitalize Random words. The last is especially indicative of crackpottery.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Informative)
Yeah its a hoax [google.com]
Re: (Score:3)
You're right, the linked website seems really fake... it's built to look like the nasa website, but is on a third-party domain. What's more, all the navigation icons actually take you to nasa's website. Has anyone ever actually heard of nasaupdatecenter.us before today?
Looking at the image of the green and purple plastic beads convinced me that it was fake.
Nothing exposed on the surface is going to stay that color in the unshielded martial atmosphere, even if it dropped off the rover.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Informative)
If you think that's bad, the slashdot article last week that claimed that NASA was about to announce some big discovery on mars was also fake, or at least really REALLY exaggerated.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_slatest/2012/11/27/nasa_mars_discovery_misunderstanding_mission_leader_excited_about_entire.html [slate.com]
You know whats sad, is the submitter commented that this article was fake before samzenpus moved it to the front page. Apparently some editors don't read the comments either. I'd say it more resembles digg.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Insightful)
I've been around slashdot for probably at least a decade, and seen some pretty stupid crap here. But seriously, this takes the cake. No one else is reporting anything like this. The picture in the "article" is clearly a bad photoshop of mardi gras beads, and the front page of the linked site has a picture of Chewbacca superimposed on a Martian hill.
I can maybe see samzenpus thinking that he had a real scoop on a big story, but he should have at least ran it by some of the other people there. Someone there must have at least a semi-functioning brain. Or maybe he could have looked into the domain registration, and seen that the domain was registered a few days ago to the leader of the New Orleans Bigfoot Society.
Crap like this is a lot of why decent discussion on nerdy things is dying on this site.
not the why, the end-reult of a broken system (Score:3, Interesting)
Re: (Score:3)
I honestly thought that Martians left some mardi gras beads laying around. That was my first impression.
Re:Editors... (Score:4, Funny)
Re: (Score:3, Insightful)
The factor you're looking for is "capitalism". Ever since CmtrTaco retired, Slashdot decisions aren't made based on human intelligence, but on maximizing pageviews.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Interesting)
Yeah, I have to say. This is absurd. I've been here since '98, '99. This is the worst I've seen it. Come on, some basic checking would be a start.
Maybe it's time to auction off my userid.. Though I don't know why anyone would want it. There's just no prestige anymore.
Re:Editors... (Score:5, Interesting)
I sadly concur. /. has become a joke (of its former glory.)
Let some of us who are karma capped double check the stories OR allow us to post a SUMMARY of all the comments.
Re: (Score:3)
I've been here for years, but slashdot getting bought out has really ruined the last toehold on reality and relevance they had.
Bloody tourists ... (Score:4, Funny)
dropping litter again. Why can't they take the plastic bags they brought their lunch in home with them!
Re: (Score:2)
Did you look at the photo? It looks more like a Mardi Gras necklace than a plastic bag.
Re: (Score:2)
Obvious explanation. Aliens at Mardi Gras. They wouldn't stand out. Hope they didn't fly the saucer drunk.
Re: (Score:3)
The EPA is scouring Mars, looking for someone to fine.
Late-Breaking News: PSYOPS! (Score:5, Funny)
K'Breel, Speaker for the Council, spoke thus:
When an elder member of the press corps suggested the psyops campaign in question consisted merely of deceiving "Editing Unit #5 [slashdot.org]" into linking to http://nasaupdatecenter.us/press.html [nasaupdatecenter.us] instead of http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/newsroom/pressreleases/20120928a.html [nasa.gov], K'Breel had the young reporter's gelsacs slashed, after which the small, rounded particles were first catalyzed into plastic, and upon further heating, reduced to volcanic lapilli.
(An audio recording of Reporter #54550 screaming "Sorry, samzenpus, you put your foot in it today, I swear to CmdrTaco it wasn't me! No hard feelings! Don't devitrify me, 'bro!" as he was led away to the thermal polymerization chamber, has not been authenticated.)
Re: (Score:3)
More like stories need a "dislike" or mod option: -1 EditorTooLazy
Re: (Score:2)
dropping litter again.
Really? MasterCard or Visa? Or is it Pepsi or Coke?
Easy to spot a fake like this... (Score:5, Funny)
You can tell this is fake is because they messed up there. See, they said "earthshaking" when a legit article would have said "marsshaking", because this, of course, is on mars.
Huh ... (Score:4, Funny)
It appears Martians have yet to ban single-use grocery bags ...
George Carlin, the prophet (Score:5, Funny)
Obvious question (Score:3, Interesting)
Are any parts of Curiosity made from plastic?
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
That's what took them so long to confirm the discovery - they were checking to make sure it wasn't a contamination from the rover.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Oh, and, could NASA at least define plastic [wikipedia.org] Wikipedia makes mention of 'synthetic or semi synthetic'. If it's just bits of the backshell / parachute / cover or whatnot - that's not terribly interesting. If it belongs to K'beel - that's an entirely different matter.
Re: (Score:3)
Re: (Score:2)
But I trust NASA. I would never trust Bank of America.
USA plans invasion (Score:3, Funny)
0.o (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm speechless, the implications of this are HUGE.
1 -- If there is oil on Mars I bet my ass we'll be there in 20 years.
2 -- If there is _plastic_ on mars we are going to be hard pressed to figure out how it got there, plastics from petrochemicals are not a naturally occurring process. How the hell did it get there?
3 -- Assuming we figure out how it got there, what implications could it have on our entire view of the universe and where we stand in it.
Exciting times we live in.
It is 2012..... (Score:2)
and we found plastic on Mars.
The Vatican is shaking....
LMAO (Score:3, Informative)
TROLLD HARD
Slashdot is a joke..
Oil on Mars (Score:5, Funny)
Suddenly, the United States will discover terrorists on Mars as well, and state that those terrorists intend to strike us unless we strike them first...
Re: (Score:2)
... if that's what it takes to kickstart space exploration again... I'm all for it.
Check the URL (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Xavier Jenks
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
admin@nasaupdatecenter.us
NEWS RELEASE: 2012-420
Re:Check the URL (Score:4, Interesting)
Goddammit. We've been had!
Nice work, whomever.
And if you don't believe me, go to the home page [nasaupdatecenter.us].
Sigh.
Whois:
Whois query for nasaupdatecenter.us...
Results returned from whois.nic.us:
Domain Name: NASAUPDATECENTER.US
Sponsoring Registrar: ENOM, INC.
Registrant Name: Xavier Jenks,
Registrant Organization: NASA,
Registrant Address1:PO Box 791633
Registrant City: Cape Carnival
Registrant State/Province: FL
Registrant Postal Code: 666666
Cape Carnival?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
It lost it by the end of the article. Maybe that was on purpose to tip off the gullible, or maybe the author just got tired of pretending to be educated.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
If they found Mardi Gras beads the name would be appropriate.
Carlin was right! (Score:2)
Not sure if the Pic is real, but... (Score:2)
... looks like they have Mardi Gras on Mars at some point.
but seriously, that is really a cool find. Maybe it will get some more funding going, after all, there could be oil on mars now...
Maybe it landed on a cheap planet from China (Score:2)
Hoax! (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Well, it was curious (ha), but thought at first maybe it could have been an "artist's rendering" or some intern put in charge. Maybe it was some site that republished NASA info but with shiny pictures for the kids and they completely got some facts wrong or were putting in some unfounded extrapolations. But it got too strange once I started some odd phrasing and then none of the links that went to NASA actually showed anything related.
Well Well (Score:2)
Nice move NASA, nice move indeed, i can see those budget cuts may need a second opinion.
Hoax (Score:5, Informative)
Slashdot has been trolled (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:2)
Agreed... Once again the Slashdot editors have failed to do the most trivial investigation before posting articles. In this case the alleged JPL article is at: http://nasaupdatecenter.us/press.html.
Since when is "nasaupdatecenter.us" an official JPL website?
Why is it that this website has no content other than this article and every weblink points to the real site "marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov"?
Why is it that this site has the "news", but no such story on the real JPL website press releases: http://marsrovers.jp
FAKE! (Score:5, Informative)
Domain Name NASAUPDATECENTER.US
Domain ID D38204419-US
Sponsoring Registrar ENOM, INC.
Registrar URL (registration services) whois.enom.com
Domain Status clientTransferProhibited
Registrant ID A82B3BEE4769052E
Registrant Name Xavier Jenks
Registrant Organization NASA
Registrant Address1 PO Box 791633
Registrant City Cape Carnival
Registrant State/Province FL
Registrant Postal Code 666666
Registrant Country United States
Registrant Country Code US
Registrant Phone Number +1.5043193013
Registrant Email admin@nasaupdatecenter.us
http://www.facebook.com/xavier.jenks -- Head researcher at New Orleans Bigfoot Society.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
http://www.facebook.com/xavier.jenks -- Head researcher at New Orleans Bigfoot Society.
ah, one of those reality tv clowns
YHBT (Score:2)
HTH. HAND.
The Great Pacific Garbage Patch... (Score:2)
Fake (Score:5, Informative)
From NASA [nasa.gov]:
Position of mars in orbit? (Score:3)
hoax (Score:2)
Hang on, now. Check how the text in TFA [nasaupdatecenter.us] matches this article [nasa.gov].
You've been had.
The clue (besides the rather obvious mardi-gras beads in the photo) was the eighth paragraph. Curiosity hasn't been on Mars for eight and a half years. Opportunity has.
It's time for someone to stand up and say "Bazinga".
How did this get past the editors?
How about this clue (Score:2)
NOBODY ELSE IS REPORTING IT!
Plastics don't form in nature. Certainly not in beads. For plastics to be found so readily and easily on Mars would be GIGANTIC news far bigger in fact then "discovering life" in the form of actually living cells. Since the FAKE article claims they are plastic beads as found on cheap necklaces, even if that is an artist interpretation of this FAKE news, it would lead NOT to speculation of life on Mars but on speculation of INTELLIGENT life on Mars capable of plastic production.
Re: (Score:3)
You're right. I cautiously approached the article because so many others were treating it as true, and even though it seemed ... wildly unlikely ... I wanted some proof, not that it was scientifically unlikely to the point of impossibility, but that it matched the characteristics of a hoax. In a surprisingly short time I found three "hoax" factors: The article is not self-consistent, parts unrelated to the claim are demonstrably untrue, and an original exists from which the article was obviously cut-and-
Ridiculous story: obvious fake (Score:2)
Mardi Gras beads? (Score:2)
Martians don't recycle? (Score:2)
Serious decline in editorial quality. (Score:3)
Wow, unmitigated, unconfirmed, completely fabricated BULLSHIT on the front page of Slashdot?? Maybe things really are done here.
A quick Google search with any of a number of sections of the fake 'plastics' article turn up the real NASA article talking about iron-rich pellets, but the picture of fucking MARDI GRAS BEADS in the upper right might have been a clue.
Samzenpus, you should be ashamed.
Garble (Score:2)
That's it for me (Score:4, Insightful)
There are times when I have to endure the company of appallingly stupid people, but they all involve either getting paid or public transportation. Slashdot is neither of these, and I am fucking done. When I find myself missing the expert guidance of CmdrTaco, it is well past time to move on.
Re: (Score:3)
When I find myself missing the expert guidance of CmdrTaco, it is well past time to move on.
You made me snort spit into my nose.
Delete this garbage (Score:2)
plastic (Score:2)
So that's where http://www.plastic.com/ [plastic.com] went!
It's a hoax, yes (Score:2)
but consider the lulz if it turns out that this is in fact true.
I really doubt it will be, but just imagine that meta-troll: trolled into posting a hoax article, on a site owned by a crank, who actually got some good information and nobody believed it.
Trolled so hard (Score:3, Insightful)
CmdrTaco (Score:5, Insightful)
MARS IS A FAKE! (Score:5, Funny)
The whole think was nudged into place by Stanley Kubrick.
Re: (Score:3)
No. Kubrick put up Jupiter. Paul Verhoeven put Mars up.
Re:What is the probability? (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
No, it's not contamination. If you read the article, you can clearly see a picture of cheap beads that the hippie chicks that hang around Berkley wear.
Re: (Score:2)
That pic is obviously shopped.
Re: (Score:3)
Of course it is. I can tell by the pixels.
Re: (Score:2)
Could be decayed rests of a parachute from another mission. But hopefully it's something more exciting.
Re: (Score:3)
Registrant Name Xavier Jenks
Registrant Organization NASA
Registrant Address1 PO Box 791633
Registrant City Cape Carnival
Registrant State/Province FL
Registrant Postal Code 666666
Quite aside from the festive town, there's the postal code, but my favorite bit is Googling for "Xavier Jenks" The third result (the first two are Facebook) is: http://www.bestofneworleans.com/blogofneworleans/archives/2011/06/28/big-foot-real-or-imagined [bestofneworleans.com]
Which includes this little nugget:
Dr. Xavier Jenks, PhD
Research Team Leader
New Orleans Bigfoot Society (N.O.B.S.)
Re: (Score:2)
well, rattle this around in your brain ... the plastic was part of a larger machine encased in metal, and this is a very small remnent of it, the atmosphere doesnt burn every single particle to vapor, thats how shit hits planets
Re: (Score:2)
Yup, this article definitely has some things in common with many of the abiogenic petroleum believers.
Re: (Score:2)
That's what NoScript is for.