NASA | Need To Know: Sample Analysis at Mars Findings

There’s big news coming out of the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument suite (SAM) on NASA’s Curiosity rover. For the first time, organic matter has definitively been detected on Mars. In addition to finding organic compounds in rocks, SAM has also detected sharp increases and decreases in methane levels in the atmosphere. MSL participating scientist, Danny Glavin, explains these findings and what they tell us about our search for life on the Red Planet.

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[LanceWinslow]

It's about time they announced this. #LifeOnMars

[marrs]

They are so cautious... so damn cautious. Just tiptoeing around the inevitable... You have to love them for it!
 Thanks NASA folks! :-)

[flexotar]

This is awesome! The findings reveal long term possibilities, which are far more fascinating to adapt our learning with rather than short-term opinionated conclusions. Who knows what has happened billions of years ago? We have to keep looking. What will happen in the next one hundred years? We'll be there, for sure!

[HughFromAlice]

Love the conclusion..."The probability that the lake on Gale Crater could have supported life goes up". First definitive discovery of organics on Mars AND spikes in the methane levels! Yeaayyy! Very well put together and covers the main points. ……Hᴜɢʜ….ツ    

[nwakolpo]

Why they would suggest a water-volcanic interaction that describes the measured quantity of methane while Mars is considered as no liquid core body ?

[galaxia]

World Breaking News - where is the press conference please?!? Press conference. BREAKING

[nellieprice]

REALLY good news! But there IS life on Mars...lots and lots

[asifffx]

pollute water in earth and search water on mars? PERFECT!!!

[halcyonsandiego]

Next step:
Isolate a metabolic source for the Methane
Eliminate Vulcanism, comets & other sources for the methane,
Find Yeti or Bigfoot bones....somewhere.
Easy to say...Much harder to do.

[marsologist]

This is a NASA 'owls' channel geared towards those that don't examen the rover images carefully.

[KeithSpell]

I hope they do find life else where ..

[MarkleZephire]

One day I hope that they will conclude that we earthly humans are actually originally from Mars. Perhaps then we can do away with our fears and superstitions and get on with the advancement of scientific discovery!

[wheelmanstan]

So let's put man on mars, melt those ice caps, and get some crops going!

[tonytuthill]

Great news...er...I think?   With the new NASA EMDrive you could send somebody there in thirty days to do some hands on testing? : smile nudge nudge: C'mon. More on EMDrive. Let's break some speed records.

[heyao]

curiosity probably have already found presence of life, they are just not telling us cuz mankind are not ready

[VendPrekmurec]

If there are fluctations of methane in the Martian atmosphere, ground, there could exist the Ecosystem which has its own cycle of life, in close connection with geological, chemical elements...the life itself there could be reduced to the minimum... But according to the spectrometry of the ground; there is 30% of water bellow 50 cm and 60% bellow 1 m in the martian soil, conglomerate; which means there is trapped a ground water, probably lakes bellow 10, 15 m of Martian surface, if you will find caves there, you will also probably find water/lakes and life there...
That's why I want to go to Mars and stay forever up there... Beam me up Stotty
When people will see first photos of aliens, celular organisms, invertebrates(worms?) they will go... "oh, cuuuute"
But I am more optimistic about the cold planets, moons, like Titan, Europa;
imagine living beings which produce its own "food" in the darkness of this ocean with a process called chemosyntesis from CO2, methane and transform its nutrients into organic matter. Use of the oxidation of inorganic molecules (e.g. hydrogen gas, hydrogen sulfide) or methane as a source of energy, rather than sunlight, as in photosynthesis. Chemoautotrophs, organisms that obtain carbon through chemosynthesis, are phylogenetically diverse. And then there could exist living beings which could produce a heat out from H2O2(=toxic Hydrogen peroxide)
 with a reaction to Mangan dioxyde or simply with giant "liver" like organism(like in our organism(this is where we get most of the heat); with encymes - which does not need Mangan Dioxyde for a normal digestion of this toxic material), in this ocean; around this heat could live living beings with chemosyntesis; these thermal living beings would be most important on that icy moon, just like are plants important for giving us O2 and secundary food for herbivores; and herbivores are eaten by Carnivores (humans are herbivores and carnivores; Omivores), and dying organisms would be digested into anorganic material by the microorganisms (bacteria) again, ...And the organisms which would produce organic material from anorganic through the chemosyntesis would share its "food" with the organism which would produce a thermal energy (heat) out from H2O2! These living beings could live in Symbiosis like lichens(=fungi+algae or fungi+cyanobacteria)!

Aliens with bio-thermoniscence (i know, i've invented this word lol) and bio-iluminiscence under Europa's surface...

[fabadila]

Human need to go to mars to collect more data asap. Because robot has limit ability than human. May be human could find fossil under martian ground

[freekjohannesgeeris]

Still farting around, muddying the waters, and beating around the bush eh NASA?