[FPSPACE] Reportage that MECA experiment may have found habitable conditions in regards to "the potential for life" on Mars

[Peter Pesavento]

Bush allegedly has been given a briefing by NASA management on results from
the MECA experiment, according to Universetoday.com, if I have interpreted
the following articles correctly.

 

Following that story, I am posting the original Aviation Week article.  

 

So will this be an announcement relating to the potential for life on Mars?
Maybe they did find by-products of bacterial life at the Martian North Pole.


 

No microbes identified by the MECA's two microscopic imagers, however,
according to Aviation Week.

 

First, the article by Ian O'Neil.

 

http://www.universetoday.com/2008/08/02/the-white-house-is-briefed-phoenix-a
bout-to-announce-potential-for-life-on-mars/

 

August 2nd, 2008


 
<http://www.universetoday.com/2008/08/02/the-white-house-is-briefed-phoenix-
about-to-announce-potential-for-life-on-mars/> The White House is Briefed:
Phoenix About to Announce "Potential For Life" on Mars


It would appear that the US President has been briefed by Phoenix scientists
about the discovery of something more "provocative" than the discovery of
water existing on the Martian
<http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mars/mars-surface/>  surface.
This news comes just as the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA)
confirmed experimental evidence for the existence
<http://www.universetoday.com/2008/07/31/we-have-water-on-mars-tega-test-con
firms/>  of water in the Mars regolith on Thursday. Whilst NASA scientists
are not claiming that life once existed on the Red Planet's surface, new
data appears to indicate the "potential for life" more conclusively than the
TEGA water results. Apparently these new results are being kept under wraps
until further, more detailed analysis can be carried out, but we are assured
that this announcement will be huge.

 

So why is there all this secrecy? According to scientists in communication
with Aviation
<http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/WH08018.xml&headli
ne=White%20House%20Briefed%20On%20Potential%20For%20Mars%20Life&channel=spac
e>  Week & Space Technology, the next big discovery will need to be mulled
over for a while before it is announced to the world. In fact, the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory science team for the MECA wet-chemistry instrument
that made these undisclosed findings were kept out of the July 31st news
conference (confirming water) so additional analysis could be carried out,
avoiding any questions that may have revealed their preliminary results.
They have also made the decision to discuss the results with the Bush
Administration's Presidential Science Advisor's office before a press
conference between mid-August and early September. 

Although good news, Thursday's announcement of the discovery of water on
Mars <http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mars/>  comes as no
surprise to mission scientists and some are amused by the media's reaction
to the TEGA results. "They have discovered water
<http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/mars/water-on-mars/>  on Mars
for the third or fourth time," one senior Mars scientist joked. These new
MECA results are, according to the Phoenix team, a little more complex than
the water "discovery." Scientists are keen to point out however, that this
secretive news will in no way indicate the existence of life (past or
present) on Mars; Phoenix simply is not equipped make this discovery. What
it can do is test the Mars soil for compounds suitable to support life. The
MECA instrument does have microscopes capable of resolving bacterial-scale
life forms however, but this is not the focus of the forthcoming
announcement, sources say.

This new MECA discovery, combined with TEGA data will probably expose
something more compelling, completing another piece of the puzzle in the
search for the correct conditions for life as we know it to survive on Mars.
Critical to this search is to understand how the recently confirmed water
and Mars regolith behave together under the Phoenix lander in the cold
Martian arctic. 

The MECA instrument had already made the landmark
<http://www.universetoday.com/2008/06/26/phoenix-mars-soil-can-support-life/
>  discovery that Mars "soil" was much like the soil more familiar on Earth
<http://www.universetoday.com/guide-to-space/earth/> . This finding prompted
scientists to indicate that the minerals and pH levels in the regolith could
support some terrestrial plants, indicating this would be useful for future
Mars settlers.

What with the discovery of water, and the discovery that Mars soil is very
much like the stuff we find on Earth, it is hard to guess as to what the
MECA's second soil test has discovered. What ever it is, it sounds pretty
significant, especially as NASA and the University of Arizona are taking
extraordinary steps to avoid any more details being leaked to the outside
world. I just hope were not getting excited over something benign.

So what will this compelling discovery be? Leave your guess below.

 

And now Covault's article

 

 

 

Courtesy Aviation Week

 

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/WH08018.xml
<http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/WH08018.xml&headli
ne=White%20House%20Briefed%20On%20Potential%20For%20Mars%20Life&channel=spac
e>
&headline=White%20House%20Briefed%20On%20Potential%20For%20Mars%20Life&chann
el=space

 

White House Briefed On Potential For Mars Life


Aug 1, 2008 



By Craig Covault 


The White House has been alerted by NASA about plans to make an announcement
soon on major new Phoenix lander discoveries concerning the "potential for
life" on Mars, scientists tell Aviation Week & Space Technology.

Sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past
life on Mars. Rather the data relate to habitability--the "potential" for
Mars to support life--at the Phoenix arctic landing site, sources say.

The data are much more complex than results related NASA's July 31
announcement that Phoenix has confirmed the presence of water ice at the
site. 

International news media trumpeted the water ice confirmation, which was not
a surprise to any of the Phoenix researchers. "They have discovered water on
Mars for the third or fourth time," one senior Mars scientists joked about
the hubbub around the water ice announcement. 

The other data not discussed openly yet are far more "provocative," Phoenix
officials say. 

In fact, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory science team for the MECA
wet-chemistry instrument that made the findings was kept out of a July 31
news conference at the University of Arizona Phoenix control center. The
goal was to prevent them from being asked any questions that could reveal
information before NASA is ready to make an announcement, sources say.

The Bush Administration's Presidential Science Advisor's office, however,
has been briefed on the new information that NASA hopes to release as early
as mid August. It is possible an announcement would not come until
September, to allow for additional analysis. That will depend upon the
latest results still being analyzed from the spacecraft's organic oven and
soil chemistry laboratories. 

Phoenix scientists have said from the start that neither the TEGA organic
chemistry lab nor the MECA wet chemistry system could detect current or past
life. 

MECA's two microscopes do, however, have the resolution to detect
bacteria--which would be life. Sources, however, say the microscopes have
not detected bacteria.

The Phoenix scoop was successful in delivery of a soil/ice mixture to TEGA
this week after the material stuck in the scoop on two tries. The analysis
of that sample is under way. The sample contains about 1% ice and 99% soil.

As expected, the instrument immediately detected hydrogen and oxygen atoms
indicating water. Its electricity load also increased initially, a positive
sign that water ice was being melted by the system. 

The fact TEGA is starting to process some ice samples "had champagne corks
popping" here, says William Boynton TEGA principal investigator from the
University of Arizona. "We have tasted the water and it tastes great," he
said.

Before launch, some website literature by the TEGA team indicated it
possibly could find organic evidence of "past" life. Both Boynton and Peter
Smith, who heads the mission now, say that is not the case, although TEGA
organic data could start major new arguments about life. 

It has yet to find organics, but still has several sample ovens available to
make such a discovery. An electrical short that earlier threatened TEGA
operations has resolved itself, Boynton says.

News media cited the water ice finding as a major discovery, but it was
totally expected by the science team. The different MECA data combined with
TEGA is increasingly compelling as another piece in the puzzle of life.

The key is in the soil and water, and how the two behave together at that
site on Mars, not the expected confirmation of water ice at this stage in
the mission, Mars investigators told Aviation Week.

The MECA instrument, in its first of four wet chemistry runs a month ago,
found soil chemistry that is "Earth-like" and capable of supporting life,
researchers said then.

It is intriguing that MECA could have found anything more positive than
that, but NASA and the University of Arizona are taking steps to prevent
word from leaking out on the nature of the discovery made during MECA's
second soil test, in which water from Earth was automatically stirred with
Martian soil.

 

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