a martian oddbox

[Pimander]

Biological objectives:
1 - Determine the nature and inventory of organic carbon compounds
2 - Inventory the chemical building blocks of life (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorous, and sulfur)
3 - Identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes

Objectives 1 & 3.  The isotopic ratio of methane would come under "determine the nature and inventory of organic compounds" and also "identify features that may represent the effects of biological processes".

Basically if there is a high ratio of  C¹² to C¹³ that would mean the nature of the organic compound (i.e. methane or CH₄) may represent the effects of biological processes.

Maybe I should start a petition for them to use a lot of energy detecting methane.  The problem is that curiosity is now in a different location to where the methane spikes were detected.

[funbox]

not sure what to make of this one , caught my eye,



http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1441&camera=MAST%5F

those endless fields of rocks ..

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[funbox]

jaguarshrimp, must have been a fearsome martian lake dweller, still a good one for the pot

same photo as linked above



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[Dyna]

Not a place to run barefoot 

[funbox]

Not a place to run barefoot 

indeed , who knows what lurks underfoot , stung by a martian extremophile might turn you into one

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[funbox]

caught my eye



http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/01451/mcam/1451ML0071841310602929E01_DXXX.jpg

funbox

[funbox]

seems to be some interesting geology in this area the rover wandered into

http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/raw/?s=1451&camera=MAST%5F



http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl-raw-images/msss/01451/mcam/1451ML0071841110602909E01_DXXX.jpg

funbox