Curiosity Mars rover beams images of ancient streambed

[Dave S]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-19744131

[michael.h.f.wilkinson]

Interesting news. I suddenly have images of ancient Martian trout (nicely fried with almonds or cashew nuts. Oh dear, now I am hungry)

[BuzzBomb]

Fascinating stuff.

[paul schofield]

Very nice. All we need now is some ancient fossils or a ship wreck, I'm not fussy.

[glowjet]

Interesting news. I suddenly have images of ancient Martian trout (nicely fried with almonds or cashew nuts. Oh dear, now I am hungry)

I hope you took your trout on a Martian fly pattern

John.

[sologuitarist61]

Very nice. All we need now is some ancient fossils or a ship wreck, I'm not fussy.

Perhaps even a message in a bottle

[dtr42]

sorry guys/gals but it's like saying there's sand in the desert ,it's been known for a long time that mars once had water , it doesn't justify spending billions of dollars on sending yet another probe to prove that

a- mars had water

b- there may be water somewhere

c- the rocks on mars are sedimentary proving they were once in water

and then what ? mars is a dead planet so why do we keep exploring it , we should be looking outside our galaxy with probes like voyager who bang for bucks has gotta be good value]

i can understand the" if we find water then we can create a mars base arguement " but for the life of me i cant understand why you would want to live there [it would be nicer staying in the sahara desert] and if you had a base there then what? again it's not like we can go for a nice sunday drive to mercury or neptune from mars ,

[BuzzBomb]

Bit of a difference between finding water and evidence of running water.

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

[dtr42]

sorry but water is water is water , if you had a rain storm which created a stream and a million years later someone found the stream remains how is that important?

[BuzzBomb]

I'm not going to argue with you. I think it pretty fascinating stuff. Each to their own, it makes for entertaining discussion!

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[Hex]

sorry but water is water is water , if you had a rain storm which created a stream and a million years later someone found the stream remains how is that important?

I think you may have missed the point with respect. For the water to have my erosion turned rocks into rounded pebbles will have taken thousand years, perhaps enough time for life to have developed, were not talking about a flash food here. Since the laws of physics applies equally throughout the universe, and since if water is required by extension to produce life, then in makes sense to look at this area to explore to look for life or the past presence of life

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

[Phil-lost!]

Its not just about proving things, its about doing things. We may one day be able to mine mars when we run out of everything on this planet. If we sent a probe outside our galaxy how much would that cost? And who would be around to see the results?

[dtr42]

i understand that there may once have been life on mars but i doubt there is life on mars now if we explore out with our solar system then the chances of finding life has got to be much higher and so would be better value than to explore a planet that can provide nothing unless as phil-lost says to mine material for this planet and/or the colonies we may settle . if we found that life had existed on mars then what? it proves that other planets with water could or does sustain life like europa [jupiter] an ice planet with maybe an ocean under it but again then what? we have proven that a planet with access to water can produce life ie earth but in our solar system i believe that it is the only planet that has life so we need to go out there beyond our system and explore our galaxy maybe we can find life out beyond our confines . i do find the mars landers interesting ,but you gotta look at the bigger picture ,we are tiny in a universe of giants and we may be the only life [i hope not] for billions of miles around .if there is life on for example europa what difference would that make to everyday life ? we could spend billions of pounds and years of research to find an amoeba alive on europa but again if we did what would it mean? and yes discussion is good

[barkis]

It's almost essential that the exploration of the Solar System happens. We are looking ahead perhaps centuries for manned exploration of the likes of Europa.

Enceladus, Titan, and other ocean bearing moons of the Gas giants are inviting subjects. Many problems to solve before that is a feasability though. Many remote

Unless there is a miraculous development in propulsion methods, then interstellar exploration will have to be confined to science fiction.

Ron.

[LukeSkywatcher]

i understand that there may once have been life on mars but i doubt there is life on mars now

What is your definition of life?

As far as us humans know, where trhere is water the is/can be "life". Mars clearly has still got sub-surface water so there is a possibility that that water is filled with microbial or bacterial "life".

If so, then that would be the biggest discovery in the history of the universe as far as humans are concerned.

Will/could that same life on Mars evolve into something else in time?

We simply dont know.

[Ganymede12]

It's a very exiting prospect. Finding bacteria in water beneath Mars!

[LukeSkywatcher]

It's a very exiting prospect. Finding bacteria in water beneath Mars!

Finding water on Mars (ok it's ice) was/is very exciting. There are other places out there that hold more promise for finding life. I should know its name but it eludes me at this moment. The Moon around Jupiter for instance is believed to be one big ocean under its icey surface.

Europa.............................thats the one.

[Ganymede12]

Any one up for some ice fishing?

[Digz]

Mars is the closest object (excluding the moon) where we can practice scientific theories and is a relatively easy place to get to 'quickly'. Studying mars can help prove / disprove theories and allow us to develop science and new theories which can be applied here on earth and on the wider scale such as solar system exploration.

Also, given where we are with scientific development, it is easier and quicker to explore Mars rather than something outside our universe - just remember its taken decades for the voyager probes to reach, what we are considering, the end of our solar system.

I personally find the discovery and images coming back from curiosity fantastic.

[LukeSkywatcher]

I personally find the discovery and images coming back from curiosity fantastic.

I am personally LOVING the findings and images coming from Curiosity also. Best images to date.

I only found out the other day that its a 2 yrs mission to find out if there is a possibility for humans to live on Mars.

[dtr42]

i always find that we ,as humans, look for hope all through our lives to prove that our existance is important and yet everytime i look at the night sky i realise how unimportant we are in the grand theme of the universe . if there was life on mars even the smallest single cell that could or does live in a world with or without water/atmosphere why is that important? if life does exist elsewhere in our solar system/galaxy then why is it important? seems that after 1,4 billion years if we are the most advanced life form in our soalr system then we are indeed lucky to be so advanced .

[Digz]

i always find that we ,as humans, look for hope all through our lives to prove that our existance is important and yet everytime i look at the night sky i realise how unimportant we are in the grand theme of the universe . if there was life on mars even the smallest single cell that could or does live in a world with or without water/atmosphere why is that important? if life does exist elsewhere in our solar system/galaxy then why is it important? seems that after 1,4 billion years if we are the most advanced life form in our soalr system then we are indeed lucky to be so advanced .

You are entitled to your opinion but I would ask, why do you feel it's not important?

I think it is important as it would inspire so many to further scientific research and to keep going with scientific theories and discovery. Discovering life on other worlds would inspire us to dream on, reach goals we wouldn't have thought possible and open so many doors and opportunities.

[dtr42]

You are entitled to your opinion but I would ask, why do you feel it's not important?

I think it is important as it would inspire so many to further scientific research and to keep going with scientific theories and discovery. Discovering life on other worlds would inspire us to dream on, reach goals we wouldn't have thought possible and open so many doors and opportunities.

life is more important to each individual than the i wonder question as in i wonder if there is life outside this planet ,in my lifetime and maybe my children's .children's etc lifetime it may be important but real life has more important problems than is or was there life on mars .There are humans on this planet who cannot or will not survive another day because of hunger. malnutrition, sickness or old age and yet we as a race look to the stars to see if there's life or was life on another planet yet we forever decide that life on this planet is less important . again the sky above me inspires me but wether there is life of any form existing out there doesn't put food/shelter into any life that exist's on this planet and priorities seem to be wrong [billions of dollars/pounds spent on researching the search for life each year and yet money that could have been spent preserving life here [where we know it exists] seem's absurd and in my opinion a violation of what human and human kind is .

[Digz]

Fair comment but ask yourself how many technological advances that have improved our lives come from such activities.

Think of Formula One and what technology gets filtered down to the automotive industry.

[Joguj]

li[billions of dollars/pounds spent on researching the search for life each year and yet money that could have been spent preserving life here [where we know it exists] seem's absurd and in my opinion a violation of what human and human kind is .

Commendable thoughts, but if we had allowed that opinion to rule over our desire to search and discover then you would not be posting a comment on a forum on the internet about telescopes or any acknowledgment of the universe for that matter. The sorry state that we have made of this world should remain a seperate argument to funding of scientific research in my opinion.