What else besides water was discovered on Mars?

Question

Apparently scientists discovered something besides water on Mars, but they won't disclose it to the public until the White House releases the information. See http://www.universetoday.com/2008/08/02/the-white-house-is-briefed-phoenix-about-to-announce-potential-for-life-on-mars/

Answer 1

That for the past eight years, there has been NO intelligent life in the White House....sorry, I couldn't resist.

Hitachi is correct, it looks like scientists are making roiom for the possability of bacterial life....which is HUGE .

Answer 2

A bunch of Martian monsters were patronizing a McDonald's hamburger stand, all queued up in a long line, drinking Starbucks coffee or Bud lite, which, like the atmosphere on Mars, is less filling.

Answer 3

No idea yet, but its probably just a report that says that Mars could have supported life.

Answer 4

Volcanic activity. Combined with the water from the melting polar ice caps can produce very basic bacteria type forms of life.

Answer 5

The Pheonix Lander collects soil samples, heats the sample, then analyzes the vapors given off to detect the chemical compositions.

The mission of Phoenix was not to find water on Mars. This is a common misconception because of the publicity it has received. Water has been known to exist on Mars from 1998 probe data. In fact, the landing site of Phoenix was chosen because it offered a good chance to land where ice water was suspected to be below the surface.

Water is a very common chemical. It is found on every planet in our Solar System in solid, liquid, or gas state and is also found on several moons in our system.

The purpose of Phoenix was to attempt to find chemicals and elements in the soil such as nitrogen, carbon, phosphorous, and methane. The finding of these nutrients would allow for the possibility of peptides and proteins and amino acids to form. The conclusion if these are found would be a strong indicator that life forms (at least in the bacterial stages) existed on Mars in the past or possibly in the present.

It is truly unfortunate that NASA hyped up the water part. The reason for the hype about water is that water would allow the peptides to bond together.

The REAL excitement in the mission - in fact the mission goal - is finding, not water, but these other nutrients in the soil. As water by itself is no guarantee for life forms to exist or develop.

Answer 6

Wal-Mart?

Answer 7

I saw some interesting videos on youtube claiming to have actual photos of Mars confirming that it was inhabited.  They were interesting, intriguing anyhow.  Im just not sure how reliable the sources were.  

Answer 8

No idea.  We'll find out soon, though.

But i'll still wait for the published papers.  It'll be six months, but still worth it.

Answer 9

That would be awesome if they found gold or some other valuable metal. I can see it now... The Mars gold rush of 2010! lol