Bush Briefed By NASA About Life On Mars

[Richard]

President Bush Briefed By NASA Regarding Mars, Life, Potentiality
8-2-8
 
http://www.universetoday.com/2008/08/02/...e-house-is-
briefed-phoenix-about-to-announce-potential-for-life-on-mars/
 
Well, another story about a top secret briefing by NASA to the White House about a scientific discovery.
 
In the past, NASA has had these slip outs of information that they find exciting and we and the press sit on the edge of our seats only to find out that one would need three doctorates in physics to even give a darn about the new NASA discovery. That doesn't stop NASA from teasing us with this type of showmanship and the press eats it up because they know we can't resist a mystery and a secret.
 
We humans just love a secret. We can't wait to learn a new secret after swearing our own secrecy not to divulge it and then go blab it to everyone we can find. Just slap a big "SECRET" sign on something and it'll be Katie-bar-the-door.
 
So, now we have to wait to hear what the Mars Phoenix Lander has to say next about the mysterious red planet. So far, it's told us Mars has ice and water. My cousin Elmer discovered the same thing by looking out his window with his telescope but no one listens to Elmer, not even his wife.
 
For some reason this Mars Phoenix Lander could travel a quarter billion miles to Mars, land, and can only tell us what's in the dirt on Mars. It wasn't equipped with a device to find life for some strange reason. That's sort of like sending someone to the Bahamas without shorts. You just want them to tell you the weather is warm and the beaches are beautiful but they can't go swimming or sunbathing.
 
That's government for you. Gotta have that dragged on suspense and then big secret so some politician can appropriate more funds to keep us in suspense and mystery. I have a feeling President Bush, the man who couldn't find Osama Bin Laden will announce something about life and Mars and all of us will just yawn and go back to more important things like pestering Congress as to what they're going to do about all the alien abductions and such that we've been complaining about for the past 60 years or so.
 
Stranger things have happened.  
 
Greg
 
ufomafia.com/blog
 
http://www.rense.com/general82/nasmar.htm

[Richard]

Rumors Abound About 'Potential for Life' on Mars

By Alexis Madrigal August 03, 2008

Rumors are flying this weekend that Mars Phoenix has made a major discovery relating to the potential for life on Mars.

Wired.com reached Sam Kounaves, the mission's wet chemistry lab lead, by cell phone this morning. He quickly directed us to speak with NASA's PR representatives, but not before he said, simply, "Rumors are rumors."

They stem from an article in Aviation Week and subsequent pickup on Slashdot and elsewhere indicating that the White House had been briefed on the potential for life on the planet.

"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," wrote Craig Covault, citing anonymous sources on the Phoenix Lander's wet chemistry lab team.

Covault's article showed some restraint, though, and made sure to note that "sources say the new data do not indicate the discovery of existing or past life on Mars."

The subtleties, however, were quickly lost in the blogosphere, where excitement began to build that simple extraterrestrial life, or something suggesting its presence, had been found on Mars.

Late last night, @MarsPhoenix (aka Veronica McGregor, a NASA employee) responded to the story, via the mission's Twitter account.

"Heard about the recent news reports implying I may have found Martian life. Those reports are incorrect," she Tweeted. "Reports claiming there was a White House briefing are also untrue and incorrect."

Covault implies that a test in which Earth water was mixed with Martian soil is the cause of the excitement. Mars Phoenix scientists have repeatedly stated that the lander doesn't have the tools to directly detect life.

Over at LiveScience, David Leonard hints, without sourcing or attribution, that a paper on the work is going to come out in the journal Science.

"The reason that all this seems so hush-hush is due to a future paper and press release that appears likely to pop out of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and its Science magazine," Leonard writes. "Whatever the poop is from the scoop that’s been studied by Phoenix, that information is purportedly going through peer-review."

We're still trying to get to the bottom of this story and will keep you updated with any new developments.

UPDATE 12:10pm: Check out the forum discussion taking place on unmannedspaceflight.com. There is a lot of commentary about how Covault did his reporting and what kinds of discoveries the Phoenix Lander's various instruments are capable of making. (Hat tip to NASA Watch's Keith Cowing for pointing them out.)

http://blog.wired.com/wiredscience/2008/...und-a.html