The NASA LANDER HAS MADE IT!!!

[Ramo]

I thought it was generally accept that there probably used to be water on Mars.

[VetLegion]

Originally posted by TheStinger
The rovers should be sent to find Beagle 2

Machines should help each other

Could someone please notify or link the colour pictures in this thread when they appear?

I've had enough of checking the NASA site every now and then.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Ramo
I thought it was generally accept that there probably used to be water on Mars.

Generally expected or accepted?

Wouldn't it be nice to know.

[GePap]

Originally posted by Ramo
I thought it was generally accept that there probably used to be water on Mars.

With that and a nickle you get 5 cents in scientific circles. Solid, " only an idiot would challenge this" proof is acceptable when trying to prove something no longer obviously true, like that water once covered protions of Mars.

And of course, if they find traces of anceitn water, they can then start trying to figure out how to look for ancient fossils of any type.

[Japher]

"used"? or "use"?

I want to know.

oh, and I think it's "accepted" since he adds "probably" in there too. Though still, it's kind of like there might have been a chance that we thought water could of existed on Mars.

Says nothing

[Ramo]

Generally expected or accepted?

Wouldn't it be nice to know.

$100 million+ for less uncertainty seems to me an expensive propostion. In cases like this, the socialist trumps the scientist in me.

[Ramo]

With that and a nickle you get 5 cents in scientific circles.

Geology isn't a real science anyways. *Puts on flame suit.*

[Sprayber]

Re: Devil's advocate

Originally posted by Big Crunch


I don't think diverting the few million spent on this space mission would make anywhere near as big a dent on those problems as diverting the few billion spent on other non-essential government programmes would.

Oh I'm all for diverting large amounts from a lot of useless programs. I tend to think giving lots money to people who crash their probes because they forgot to use metric measurements or sent up a telescope that couldnt do what is supposed to do until they sent yet another mission to repair it is a good idea. But then again, it's just a 100 million here and a billion there. What good could that small change really do for people.

I'm not against the space program in of itself, but I can't really get excited by them putting a multi million dollar toy on the surface of Mars.

[Sprayber]

It's also funny how people get so excited about possible water on Mars when our own water here on Earth probably needs just a little more attention. I really hate to turn into a an enviro fundie or a welfare fundie but damn man, we have all kinds of problems here where we live. Does going to Mars solve those problems? Please enlighten me, I may be wrong.

[Mr. President]

Going to Mars doesn't solve those problems, but maybe, just maybe, somewhere down the line it'll solve other problems.

Like overcrowding, and competing with other countries for resources, and unfriendly neighbors.

But you're an Alpha Centauri player, Sprayber. You should understand.

[Dauphin]

Originally posted by Sprayber
It's also funny how people get so excited about possible water on Mars when our own water here on Earth probably needs just a little more attention. I really hate to turn into a an enviro fundie or a welfare fundie but damn man, we have all kinds of problems here where we live. Does going to Mars solve those problems? Please enlighten me, I may be wrong.

I agree that the money could be better spent on improving lives on Earth, but I can also see the benefit in spending some money on non-essential activities.

To be a true humanist would be great, were you give all your disposable time and income to a charity that does make a difference in peoples lives. Most people don't, they make varying degrees of effort, but in general 'waste' their money on self-indulgence or leisure activities. I don't see this as wrong, and I don't think it needs to be discouraged unless it is decadent.

I think the same is true for society as a whole - we don't need to spend all our money and effort on improving society, some of it should be expended on dispensible activities.

[Odin]

Originally posted by Ramo


Geology isn't a real science anyways. *Puts on flame suit.*

Hooray for Pathfinder/Sojerner's big brother! Those first pictures really do look like a dried up crater lake; there are no large boulders like we saw with Viking and Pathfinder photos, presumibly, I think, because the lake sediments covered them

[Sprayber]

Originally posted by Crimson Sunrise
Going to Mars doesn't solve those problems, but maybe, just maybe, somewhere down the line it'll solve other problems.

Like overcrowding, and competing with other countries for resources, and unfriendly neighbors.

But you're an Alpha Centauri player, Sprayber. You should understand.

When they start building the Unity I'll be the first to sign up. I already know who I'll be following

[shammy]

Back to the topic from politics..

They have published the first high-resolution colour images from Mars.

There is small image, a larger image (8mb) and a full resolution TIFF image (40mb) available. They also said these images are just the "tip of the iceberg" what they will be getting in the future. These images are somewhat compressed and not stereo images, those will be coming later.

[VetLegion]

Personally I would have made the sky blue for the effect, but NASA photoshop division probably knows what they are doing.