Billion Dollar "BUT"

[Mr Q]

With all the money spent on the Curiosity rover mission, we are now told that there MAY be signs of past life on Mars BUT this data may be from Earth contamination on the rover!

Waite a minuet! We send this machine to another planet to explore for present or past life and its findings can't be viable due to contamination from Earth??? Then why are we bothering in the first place???

I don't know about you BUT I smell a rat What is the REAL mission of the rover NASA could be hiding, other than wasting our money

[Keiran]

I havnt really been keeping up to date with the Curiosity, so this is the first i have heard of it....

Really strange how they would let it leave with contamination considering what they were intending to look for.

[JB80]

I don't think they want to be jumping the gun here, it's just some careful wording more than anything and about some preliminary samples. We all saw the fuss recently with the recent articles about a "History defining discovery".

It's just part of the process of elimination is all, the samples could just as easily be deposited from meteorites as much as contamination. That much would at least be expected. They expect that further tests will be able to distinguish the source of the compounds so really I don't see it as much of an issue even if it is contamination, it's not broken or anything like that.

That's the good news, Curiosity's instruments work well so the money spent on it(not much when put in context) was well spent.

Or you may just to wait for Curiosity 2.

http://www.independe...20-8386244.html

[JB80]

Keiran, this is a good summary.

http://www.universetoday.com/98763/curiosity-update-no-definitive-discovery-of-organics-yet/

[barkis]

Let's not start anymore cospiracy theories please. We've had enough of those.

These Interplanetay Robotice Science packages are an essential part of understanding , and expanding Mans knowledge of the neighbours on our doorstep. It's a huge doorstep of course,

so it is going to cost money. As far as the contamination aspect goes, I understand that these robots are prepared in Clinical Rooms, whereby contamination is intended to be at a very low minimum.

The only agenda Nasa have, is data gathering, with a view to possible manned exploration of Mars some time in the future.

There is another Curiosity type mission planned for around 2020, and it is likely to be the precurser to a manned visit, possibly a decade beyond that date.

Nothing is set in stone yet though. Let us not get to Blase about what these brilliant engineers are achieving, I certainly marvel at the rapid progress made in Solar System science gathering.

The Voyager Probes, Moon Landings, Cassini, and Huygens at Titan being prime examples.

Come on guys, let us drink in these suberb events, there is a lot more to come.

My only regret is I was born too long ago, and likely to miss the big stuff .

Ron.

[Keiran]

Thanks Jarrod, made for an interesting read.. Seems like they are going to explore all possibilites.

[VigdisVZ]

Contaminatin happens all the time in very minor quantities, very probably not enough to affect any science in the long run.

Curiosity is just one step in a long long process of investigating Mars. And thus far it's been a very successful step. We have two NASA projects in the pipeline now. First a fixed lander like the Phoenix with some seismic instruments on board. And a new rover in 2020.

The real hero here is Opportunity. She was rated for 3 months of operation when she landed Jan 2004. She's doing science and is still alive today, truding along on worn gears over the crimson deserts.

Yes Ron, I always get goosebumps when looking at the surface images Huygens lander took from the surface of Titan. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Huygens_surface_color_sr.jpg

And lets not forget the russian Venus probes. http://www.mentallandscape.com/c_catalogvenus.htm

Mars isn't the only planet outside the moon we have surface images from. Science is awesome

[acey]

Cost of Mars Science Laboratory mission (including Curiosity): $2.5 billion

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory)

Bonuses paid by Goldman Sachs in 2009: $16.7 billion

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/15/goldman-sachs-record-bonus-pot)

Cost of UK bank bail-out in 2009: £850 billion

(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/163850bn-official-cost-of-the-bank-bailout-1833830.html)

[BuzzBomb]

Cost of Mars Science Laboratory mission (including Curiosity): $2.5 billion

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_Science_Laboratory)

Bonuses paid by Goldman Sachs in 2009: $16.7 billion

(http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2009/oct/15/goldman-sachs-record-bonus-pot)

Cost of UK bank bail-out in 2009: £850 billion

(http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/163850bn-official-cost-of-the-bank-bailout-1833830.html)

So we know which one is the best value for money!

We're still the early pioneers of solar system exploration - the Lewis and Clark of the space age if you like. Sure, there will be mistakes, but we might just become the shoulders' of giants...

Sent from my GT-I9001 using Tapatalk 2

[JB80]

Thanks Jarrod, made for an interesting read.. Seems like they are going to explore all possibilites.

No worries.

For me ESA's ExoMars will be the next big thing on Mars, unlike Curiosity it will have the potential to actually detect for life past or present so that is an exciting mission.

It's a bit frustrating though that NASA essentially pulled out of that partnership and now go on to announce Curiosity 2.

Like Ron and Carl said though we should be thankful for all the great science that is happening right now and in the future possibly but I still can't help but wish we could get the politics and more importantly the funding sorted out so we explore space to the best of our ability.

[Budding Star Gazer]

nasa where due to make an announcement but held off while they checked the data then checked again and again and again, from what i read a few weeks back it sounded like they had lost their heads over this discovery.

when they do release the data it's full of talk of contaminated samples and they say they wish to continue with experiments in different locations to confirm what they have found.

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/msl/news/msl20121203.html

if the rover is contaminated or the samples where not indigenous then i guess on the whole it has been a waste of money but still money well spent, what would happen if the plug was pulled and we stopped exploring on this level, i think it would be a massive backwards step for us and what our future could potentially become.

[spurius]

Is curiosity designed to handle those huge dust storms that are said to happen on mars, and apparently cover half the planet on rare occasions? I reckon too much dust in the machine will screw it right up

[JulianO]

Well dust was an issue with spirit and opportunity, covering the solar cells, but happily winds came to the rescue. Otherwise they have survived the elements exceedingly well. Curiosity has plutonium internal power pack - so that isn't an issue.

[ollypenrice]

It's correct, surely, and good science to be highly self critical and to cover all possibility of error.

There may be one political card beng played, though; the people ultimately in charge of the budget are not scientists but politicians answerable to the general public and the scientists will want to play the 'Life on Mars' card for all it's worth. And it's worth a lot...

Olly