Page 1 of 8 1234 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 16 of 124

Thread: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

  1. #1
    Moosing about! CAT-THE-FIFTH's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Location
    Not here
    Posts
    32,039
    Thanks
    3,910
    Thanked
    5,224 times in 4,015 posts
    • CAT-THE-FIFTH's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Less E-PEEN
      • CPU:
      • Massive E-PEEN
      • Memory:
      • RGB E-PEEN
      • Storage:
      • Not in any order
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVEN BIGGER E-PEEN
      • PSU:
      • OVERSIZED
      • Case:
      • UNDERSIZED
      • Operating System:
      • DOS 6.22
      • Monitor(s):
      • NOT USUALLY ON....WHEN I POST
      • Internet:
      • FUNCTIONAL

    Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    NASA was saying there would be some news they would be revealing today and it looks like this is it:

    http://science.sciencemag.org/content/360/6393/1096
    https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/n...ethane-on-mars

    Apparently they were found in ancient sedimentary rock which was 3 billion years old.
    Last edited by CAT-THE-FIFTH; 07-06-2018 at 09:23 PM.

  2. Received thanks from:

    Ice Tea (08-06-2018),ik9000 (07-06-2018),Phage (07-06-2018)

  3. #2
    RIP Peterb ik9000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    7,701
    Thanks
    1,839
    Thanked
    1,434 times in 1,057 posts
    • ik9000's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P7H55-M/USB3
      • CPU:
      • i7-870, Prolimatech Megahalems, 2x Akasa Apache 120mm
      • Memory:
      • 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 11-11-11-27
      • Storage:
      • 2x256GB Samsung 840-Pro, 1TB Seagate 7200.12, 1TB Seagate ES.2
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB SuperOverClocked
      • PSU:
      • NZXT Hale 90 750w
      • Case:
      • BitFenix Survivor + Bitfenix spectre LED fans, LG BluRay R/W optical drive
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Professional
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2414h, U2311h 1920x1080
      • Internet:
      • 200Mb/s Fibre and 4G wifi

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    that's cool. Still lots of unanswered questions as you'd expect, but still cool nonetheless.

  4. #3
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Posts
    282
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    19 times in 17 posts

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    I'm not really sure what the discovery is supposed to show. Although it is cool that we(so to speak) have a roving laboratory on Mars. Who the hell cares if there was life on Mars. All we need to find is more habitable planets; not formally, maybe inhabited ones.

  5. #4
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    833
    Thanks
    126
    Thanked
    54 times in 41 posts

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by johnroe View Post
    I'm not really sure what the discovery is supposed to show. Although it is cool that we(so to speak) have a roving laboratory on Mars. Who the hell cares if there was life on Mars. All we need to find is more habitable planets; not formally, maybe inhabited ones.
    <headscratch>

    If a Planet or Moon shows previous organic life then Terraforming may be a possibility and have a higher chance of succeeding.

  6. #5
    root Member DanceswithUnix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    In the middle of a core dump
    Posts
    12,978
    Thanks
    778
    Thanked
    1,586 times in 1,341 posts
    • DanceswithUnix's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus X470-PRO
      • CPU:
      • 5900X
      • Memory:
      • 32GB 3200MHz ECC
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Linux, 2TB Games (Win 10)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Asus Strix RX Vega 56
      • PSU:
      • 650W Corsair TX
      • Case:
      • Antec 300
      • Operating System:
      • Fedora 39 + Win 10 Pro 64 (yuk)
      • Monitor(s):
      • Benq XL2730Z 1440p + Iiyama 27" 1440p
      • Internet:
      • Zen 900Mb/900Mb (CityFibre FttP)

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by Ice Tea View Post
    <headscratch>

    If a Planet or Moon shows previous organic life then Terraforming may be a possibility and have a higher chance of succeeding.
    Don't really see how we can terraform a planet with gravity so low it can't hold on to atmospheric oxygen. Or much atmosphere at all for that matter, sounds like solar storms just erode it away. I'm sure people will go live on the planet at some point, but I don't see it being a nice place.

  7. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Aug 2006
    Posts
    833
    Thanks
    126
    Thanked
    54 times in 41 posts

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars

    Terraforming is hypothetical science and we can't currently fix our own one that is screwed up so i can't see it being feasible either but getting to habitable planet is also hypothetical so i thought it was worth chucking in even though they are still in the realms of Sci-Fi.

  8. #7
    Pork & Beans Powerup Phage's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2009
    Location
    Kent
    Posts
    6,260
    Thanks
    1,618
    Thanked
    608 times in 518 posts
    • Phage's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus Crosshair VIII
      • CPU:
      • 3800x
      • Memory:
      • 16Gb @ 3600Mhz
      • Storage:
      • Samsung 960 512Gb + 2Tb Samsung 860
      • Graphics card(s):
      • EVGA 1080ti
      • PSU:
      • BeQuiet 850w
      • Case:
      • Fractal Define 7
      • Operating System:
      • W10 64
      • Monitor(s):
      • Iiyama GB3461WQSU-B1

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by johnroe View Post
    I'm not really sure what the discovery is supposed to show. Although it is cool that we(so to speak) have a roving laboratory on Mars. Who the hell cares if there was life on Mars. All we need to find is more habitable planets; not formally, maybe inhabited ones.
    Just about every major religion will go completely nuts
    Society's to blame,
    Or possibly Atari.

  9. Received thanks from:

    Ice Tea (08-06-2018)

  10. #8
    RIP Peterb ik9000's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2009
    Posts
    7,701
    Thanks
    1,839
    Thanked
    1,434 times in 1,057 posts
    • ik9000's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus P7H55-M/USB3
      • CPU:
      • i7-870, Prolimatech Megahalems, 2x Akasa Apache 120mm
      • Memory:
      • 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance 2133 11-11-11-27
      • Storage:
      • 2x256GB Samsung 840-Pro, 1TB Seagate 7200.12, 1TB Seagate ES.2
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Gigabyte GTX 460 1GB SuperOverClocked
      • PSU:
      • NZXT Hale 90 750w
      • Case:
      • BitFenix Survivor + Bitfenix spectre LED fans, LG BluRay R/W optical drive
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 7 Professional
      • Monitor(s):
      • Dell U2414h, U2311h 1920x1080
      • Internet:
      • 200Mb/s Fibre and 4G wifi

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by Phage View Post
    Just about every major religion will go completely nuts
    no, not at all. Why would it? That's the typical line that gets trotted out by the media trying to drive wedges in things. You might want to look up the number of scientists who hold serious beliefs in God, and how their beliefs in an ordered universe makes them study science to find out more about it. That applies historically, and also today. I think this is exciting news.

  11. #9
    Bagnaj97
    Guest

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by johnroe View Post
    Who the hell cares if there was life on Mars.
    If we can show there was life on Mars then it helps narrow down one of the values in the Drake equation. At the moment, as far as we know, life is unique to Earth. If we can show that life has arisen at least twice in a single solar system then life is probably somewhat common throughout the universe.

    What we still won't know is the probability of that life becoming complex/multicellular, and then the probability of complex life evolving intelligence.

  12. #10
    HEXUS.timelord. Zak33's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    I'm a Jessie
    Posts
    35,176
    Thanks
    3,121
    Thanked
    3,173 times in 1,922 posts
    • Zak33's system
      • Storage:
      • Kingston HyperX SSD, Hitachi 1Tb
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Nvidia 1050
      • PSU:
      • Coolermaster 800w
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Fortress FT01
      • Operating System:
      • Win10
      • Internet:
      • Zen FTC uber speedy

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    i find the self potrait of the rover more astonisihing than the discovery of organic compounds..

    we, the human race, did that! we sent something to another planet, landed it safely, enabled it to survive in energy terms for a huge amount of time...AND TOOK A SELFIE, and then sent it back to earth!

    Quote Originally Posted by Advice Trinity by Knoxville
    "The second you aren't paying attention to the tool you're using, it will take your fingers from you. It does not know sympathy." |
    "If you don't gaffer it, it will gaffer you" | "Belt and braces"

  13. #11
    MCRN Tachi Ttaskmaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Reading, UK
    Posts
    6,917
    Thanks
    673
    Thanked
    806 times in 668 posts
    • Ttaskmaster's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Aorus Master X670E
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 7800X3D
      • Memory:
      • 32GB Corsair Dominator DDR5 6000MHz
      • Storage:
      • Samsung Evo 120GB and Seagate Baracuda 2TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Aorus Master 4090
      • PSU:
      • EVGA Supernova G2 1000W
      • Case:
      • Lian Li V3000 Plus
      • Operating System:
      • Win11
      • Monitor(s):
      • Gigabyte M32U
      • Internet:
      • 900Mbps Gigaclear WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by Phage View Post
    Just about every major religion will go completely nuts
    Only because Earth Jesus was clearly the one, true messiah and Martian Jesus was a false prophet....!!

    Quote Originally Posted by johnroe View Post
    I'm not really sure what the discovery is supposed to show. Although it is cool that we(so to speak) have a roving laboratory on Mars. Who the hell cares if there was life on Mars. All we need to find is more habitable planets; not formally, maybe inhabited ones.
    1/. If it was a formerly habitable environment, it might give us clues as to why it was and how we might recreate it...

    2/. Who cares? David Bowie did...
    But yeah, you're right - I guess the football scores are of far greater relevance to society than the future of the rapidly self-destructing human race.... I guess we ought to shut down NASA and pump the cash instead into buying more foreign players, with even more outrageous haircuts and underwear modelling campaigns. That'll really help society out.

    3/. More habitable planets.... Likely much further away and costing far more to establish a colony, than the one on our doorstep that looks far more suitable already. Bit of a parallel thread, here, eh.
    Hey, you could always space-ship radical fundamentalists there... It's even a suitable Blair/Labour red colour!!

  14. #12
    Senior Member Lanky123's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2007
    Location
    Oxford
    Posts
    922
    Thanks
    91
    Thanked
    152 times in 101 posts
    • Lanky123's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-H81M-D2V
      • CPU:
      • Core i5 4570
      • Memory:
      • 2 x 4GB Vengeance LP
      • Storage:
      • 250GB Samsung 840 EVO SSD + 2+4TB HDD + 3TB Synology DS216SE
      • Graphics card(s):
      • MSI Radeon R9 270X HAWK
      • PSU:
      • Silverstone Strider 400W
      • Case:
      • Silverstone Sugo SG02B-F
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 8.1 / Ubuntu 16.04
      • Monitor(s):
      • ElectriQ 32" 4k IPS + Dell 22" U2212HM
      • Internet:
      • Virgin 60Mbit/s

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by johnroe View Post
    I'm not really sure what the discovery is supposed to show. Although it is cool that we(so to speak) have a roving laboratory on Mars. Who the hell cares if there was life on Mars. All we need to find is more habitable planets; not formally, maybe inhabited ones.
    Before searching for habitability/life on other planets we need to understand which atmospheric elements/molecules indicate those properties. The best means of probing exoplanets for habitability/life is a technique called transmission spectroscopy. Essentially you wait for a planet with a suitable orbit to pass in front of its host star and gather as many photons as you can with a massive telescope. This gives you the spectrum of star (almost all the photons) + starlight transmitted through planetary atmosphere (tiny % of photon count). You then subtract the spectrum recorded without the planet in front and (hopefully, signal to noise permitting) are left with the transmission spectrum of the planetary atmosphere. Various absorption lines indicate different elements/molecules in the planetary atmosphere.

    It is therefore very important to understand whether methane (or other atmospheric markers) indicates life or habitability. Are there other atmospheric markers that can help to discriminate between biological and non-biological sources of methane? What else should we be looking for? Astrobiologists can come up with theories of how life develops and what the atmospheric signatures are likely to be. However, it would be foolish not to test those theories against the examples we have on our doorstep (relatively speaking) before drawing conclusions about planets we can't even directly resolve from their host star.

  15. Received thanks from:

    ik9000 (08-06-2018)

  16. #13
    Be wary of Scan Dashers's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2016
    Posts
    1,079
    Thanks
    40
    Thanked
    137 times in 107 posts
    • Dashers's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Gigabyte GA-X99-UD4
      • CPU:
      • Intel i7-5930K
      • Memory:
      • 48GB Corsair DDR4 3000 Quad-channel
      • Storage:
      • Intel 750 PCIe SSD; RAID-0 x2 Samsung 840 EVO; RAID-0 x2 WD Black; RAID-0 x2 Crucial MX500
      • Graphics card(s):
      • MSI GeForce GTX 1070 Ti
      • PSU:
      • CoolerMaster Silent Pro M2 720W
      • Case:
      • Corsair 500R
      • Operating System:
      • Windows 10
      • Monitor(s):
      • Philips 40" 4K AMVA + 23.8" AOC 144Hz IPS
      • Internet:
      • Zen FTTC

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by johnroe View Post
    I'm not really sure what the discovery is supposed to show. Although it is cool that we(so to speak) have a roving laboratory on Mars. Who the hell cares if there was life on Mars. All we need to find is more habitable planets; not formally, maybe inhabited ones.
    We don't know if it's possible for life to survive outside of Earth. To date, the only place life is known to exist in this massive universe is here, on Earth. If we can find life next door, then that seriously changes the view of the universe.

    We won't last for long on this planet, now that we have the ability to start looking elsewhere we need to jump on it. Colonising Mars is a distant bit of science fiction, but one that would ensure the longevity of the human race if there was a disaster on Earth - and ultimately (and even more challenging) colonising another star system.

    But bear in mind. Manned flight was born in 1903, before that the human race couldn't fly, we could float with things, or fall in style, but not fly. And then in 1976 we successfully landed an unmanned craft onto another planet, over 50 million km away through the vacuum of space. That's less that two generations of humans. I wouldn't underestimate future generations ability to propel us further.

    It also has a significant impact on our understanding on the source of life. We currently theorise that life originated on Earth exclusively, if life can be identified on neighbouring planets, then there is more doubt to that, there is more possibility to the idea of life being seeded from asteroids etc.

  17. #14
    MCRN Tachi Ttaskmaster's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2013
    Location
    Reading, UK
    Posts
    6,917
    Thanks
    673
    Thanked
    806 times in 668 posts
    • Ttaskmaster's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Aorus Master X670E
      • CPU:
      • Ryzen 7800X3D
      • Memory:
      • 32GB Corsair Dominator DDR5 6000MHz
      • Storage:
      • Samsung Evo 120GB and Seagate Baracuda 2TB
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Aorus Master 4090
      • PSU:
      • EVGA Supernova G2 1000W
      • Case:
      • Lian Li V3000 Plus
      • Operating System:
      • Win11
      • Monitor(s):
      • Gigabyte M32U
      • Internet:
      • 900Mbps Gigaclear WHOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by Dashers View Post
    If we can find life next door, then that seriously changes the view of the universe.
    Especially since the difference is a commute of 13 light minutes rather than 13 light years.... and that's without heavy traffic!!

    "Hi, hon, it's me. I'm stuck on the M-459 just past Ceti-3B... Yeah, someone came out of hyperspace without looking and hit a freighter. Yeah, BMW pilot, as usual! GalNav says I'll be home in about eleven generations, but feel free to start dinner without me..."

  18. #15
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2016
    Posts
    282
    Thanks
    8
    Thanked
    19 times in 17 posts

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Oh don't get me wrong, I think it's a great achievement, putting a lab on Mars. I think this is what I'd call a historical search for life.

    Thanks Lanky123> I am aware that the search for habitable planets is ongoing and they are using different methods. I just like asking questions, playing with ideas. I for a long time have been suggesting we use comets that are known to return periodically , and place a recording system on them. Which after that test a few years ago, is possible. The recording device would become active within distant solar systems.

    I believe there is life out there. Another of my theories is that all life on this planet is one organism. I think we often focus on humans, but life itself just evolves to suit any environment(almost). So therefore alien life might have the same bases as life here but simply adapted to a different environment. I don't know about 'gods' that's all mythology to me.

  19. #16
    root Member DanceswithUnix's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2006
    Location
    In the middle of a core dump
    Posts
    12,978
    Thanks
    778
    Thanked
    1,586 times in 1,341 posts
    • DanceswithUnix's system
      • Motherboard:
      • Asus X470-PRO
      • CPU:
      • 5900X
      • Memory:
      • 32GB 3200MHz ECC
      • Storage:
      • 2TB Linux, 2TB Games (Win 10)
      • Graphics card(s):
      • Asus Strix RX Vega 56
      • PSU:
      • 650W Corsair TX
      • Case:
      • Antec 300
      • Operating System:
      • Fedora 39 + Win 10 Pro 64 (yuk)
      • Monitor(s):
      • Benq XL2730Z 1440p + Iiyama 27" 1440p
      • Internet:
      • Zen 900Mb/900Mb (CityFibre FttP)

    Re: Ancient organic compounds found on Mars

    Quote Originally Posted by Dashers View Post
    It also has a significant impact on our understanding on the source of life. We currently theorise that life originated on Earth exclusively, if life can be identified on neighbouring planets, then there is more doubt to that, there is more possibility to the idea of life being seeded from asteroids etc.
    Supposedly the only way the heavier elements in our bodies are created is through multiple super-nova. Maybe it isn't just elements that get pushed across space by exploding stars, if a system started to support life then would a super-nova of the host star be enough to break molecules on a goldilocks zone planet into constituent atoms, or would they be blown across space?

Page 1 of 8 1234 ... LastLast

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •