The Earthlings are coming! (or, the Curiosity Rover thread)

[JRM]

As long as they don't find a black monolith, I think we will be alright.

Maybe, maybe not.... There's something brewing at JPL, to be announced in a couple weeks. Rumor has it to be "one for the history books."

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Big News From Mars? Rover Scientists Mum For Now

by Joe Palca

November 20, 2012

Scientists working on NASA's six-wheeled rover on Mars have a problem. But it's a good problem.

They have some exciting new results from one of the rover's instruments. On the one hand, they'd like to tell everybody what they found, but on the other, they have to wait because they want to make sure their results are not just some fluke or error in their instrument.

It's a bind scientists frequently find themselves in, because by their nature, scientists like to share their results. At the same time, they're cautious because no one likes to make a big announcement and then have to say "never mind."

http://www.npr.org/2012/11/20/165513016 ... um-for-now

[Marlow]

As long as they don't find a black monolith, I think we will be alright.

There's something brewing at JPL, to be announced in a couple weeks. Rumor has it to be "one for the history books."

PoL??!!

ET - phone home.

[JRM]

The best surprise is, apparently, no surprise:

Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect. The news conference will be an update about first use of the rover's full array of analytical instruments to investigate a drift of sandy soil. One class of substances Curiosity is checking for is organic compounds -- carbon-containing chemicals that can be ingredients for life. At this point in the mission, the instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics.

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-377