According to Space.com, NASA is scheduled to have a “major press event” today “to announce ‘significant findings’ about water on Mars.”
I’m don’t know what the evidence is; even if I did, I might not understand it. I wonder though: given the mission’s $820 million price tag, isn’t there quite an incentive to puff up the findings to justify the cost?
Greetings,
Suffice it to say that politically, you and I are quite consistent on the issues. We both call a rose a rose.
But I have to take exception when it comes to science, as I am a scientist. First, I will wait to hear the news, and second I will consider the facts. The “significant” findings deals with Opportunity, and most likely relates to the “layered” bedrock or the “spherules” found in it, and on the surface. Since these can suggest, water, then making this assertion is not “justification” for the nearly billion dollars spent. It is the reason the money was spent in the first place. Seeing evidence in support of the theory is just as important as disproving it. I.e. if there was not proof, then further BILLLIONS would not be spent in search of something nonexistent.
Therefore, I would wait and hear what they have to say, and then consider the facts they used to make that conclusion, rather than jumping to some conclusion.
–jeff-perado
Right. Have to see what NASA reveals. It might be clear cut. I was just thinking about the institutional bias of self-importance that exists in every government agency.