NASA To Announce Major Mars Discovery On Monday

[stromboli]

http://www.iflscience.com/space/nasa-announce-major-discovery-regarding-mars-monday

NASA is preparing to reveal a “major science finding” regarding Mars on Monday, with the agency planning a special news conference to announce the findings.

The event will take place at 11.30 a.m. EDT (4.30 p.m. BST) on Monday, and you will be able to watch it live on NASA TV, which we have handily embedded below. Reporters will be onsite and asking questions by phone, while the public can get involved via #AskNASA.

What will the announcement be about? Well, you’ll have to wait and see, as NASA won’t be releasing any more information to the public until then.
Taking part in the news conference will be Jim Green, director of planetary science at NASA Headquarters; Michael Meyer, lead scientist for the Mars Exploration Program at NASA Headquarters; graduate student Lujendra Ojha of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta; Mary Beth Wilhelm of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California and the Georgia Institute of Technology; and Alfred McEwen, principal investigator for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) at the University of Arizona in Tucson.

Such events for NASA are not unprecedented, but they do usually herald a major discovery. In July, NASA convened a similar conference to announce the discovery of Kepler-452b, the most Earth-like planet found outside the Solar System to date. While this latest event won’t be announcing life on Mars, its implications could be vital in understanding more about the Red Planet.

So tune in on Monday for a groundbreaking discovery about a world that we think was once rather similar to our own.

OK it will probably be lame and everyone will be hugely disappointed, since it isn't (apparently) about life. Something something footprints maybe? Stay tuned, all you little science minions.

And you will blame me, you will. Even though I am only the messenger.

[josephpalazzo]

My guess: H₂O, lots of it.

[stromboli]

That was my first thought. Unless they've got a vein of gold or something.

[josephpalazzo]

That was my first thought. Unless they've got a vein of gold or something.

Naw, they would keep that a secret. You know the old saying, Silence is gold...

[stromboli]

Update

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/theres-growing-speculation-nasa-is-about-to-announce-it-discovered-flowing-water-on-mars-2015-9

NASA today made a very brief announcement that it’s preparing to share details of a “major science finding” early next week.

The space agency gave out a list of participants who will speak, and notice of a “brief question-and-answer session”, so there’s not a lot to go on.

But a couple of names on the list have journalists and bloggers speculating that NASA is about announce it has found evidence of water on Mars. Possibly even flowing water.

Lujendra Ojha is a grad student and PhD candidate in planetary science at Georgia Tech.

But it was as an undergrad at the University of Arizona where Ohja made a lot of headlines in 2011. At 21, the science fiction fan and Nepal native co-authored a study that suggested liquid water flowed during the warmer months on Mars.

“It was a lucky accident,” he told CNN at the time. Ohja had noticed irregular features in images taken for another study of gullies in Mars craters by UA researcher Colin Dundas.

As the images had been taken over time, they varied due to a range of distortions, such as shadows. Ohja one day decided to start removing the distortions using a computer algorithm, just to see if any changes could be noticed over time.

“When I first saw them, I had no idea what it was,” he told CNN. “I just thought it was a streak made by dust or something similar.”

Where the water was coming from was still up for debate. As Ohja said at the time:

“There’s going to be years of research put into this to even prove that this is definitely a proof of water.”

And obviously, where there’s water, there’s always the prospect of life.

On Tuesday, September 29, at 1pm (AEST), we may find out.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Whatever they've found, they're going to have to science the shit out of it.

[Youssuf Ramadan]

Tupac?

[Baruch]

The rover found a sign, showing that Elon Musk already purchased all rights to that planet ;-)

[stromboli]

The rover found a sign, showing that Elon Musk already purchased all rights to that planet ;-)

I still respect the guy, but seems there's some hot air in his ebullience.

[Atheon]

It's aliens.

[Youssuf Ramadan]

Probably a McDonalds.  They seem to be everywhere else... 

[Gawdzilla Sama]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFvNhsWMU0c

[stromboli]

I gather we are not all waiting with bated breath......

[trdsf]

I gather we are not all waiting with bated breath......

Oh, I'll be fascinated by whatever they announce.  I want to know what is and was really there; I don't have a pet theory I want to see proven.  Well, I do, but the rovers are in the wrong place to test it.  I figure it's going to be about where the water went.

It would be epic to have them announce finding something like a stromatolite, but I'm not counting on it.

[Termin]

  I'm curious, but they tend to not understand what they consider a major announcement, is not really considered major by the regular everyday person.

I think most people would think major would be life, or the remnants of life. I'm guessing they found liquid water.