@Log1c:

nah, i got $20 that says theres living, indigenous critters on mars right now.

nutbastard

@friendslikeJimRome: Uhm because they couldn't test for it. The previous rovers don't have the chemical spectrometers and shit.

@nutbastard: Or there will be.

Log1c

mark my words, there is life on mars.

nutbastard

@CaptEO2000: I'm sorry, but I'm not stirred.

I for one would only like to say:

SNOWBALL FIGHT!!!!!

ps61318

If ice was discovered six years ago, why is this news? I'll tell you why. No one trusts these robots. Face it, we're not going to really believe that there is water on Mars until a person goes there, bottles it and offers it for sale.

friendslikeJimRome

@CaptEO2000: Don't forget the Martian girls.

Hectorvex

Now if they can only find some Martian Gin, Martian Tonic and a Martian shaker, we got ourselves a Martian party on our hands.

CaptEO2000

@B1ooDshOt: So no-one will give a shit about it except for drunk hooligans?

@finnigan16: That was very punny. No-one gets it.

Hectorvex

Have they found any buggalo yet? Are they looking in the Wong place?

finnigan16

I bet you Ice Hockey will be popular the sport on planet Mars, like soccer is on Earth.

B1ooDshOt

@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: Yes, but what flavor?

Hectorvex

@Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy: AS I was typing I saw your comment.

Damn you SteveDave.

BUT, I've since registered the domain: www.waveman216hasbettermartianiceesthanstevedave.com

BEAT YOU TO THAT ONE YEAH!!

waveman216

@Log1c: Talk to Kuato.

Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy

Mmmmmm, Martian Icees.

Git Em SteveDave is a poor substitute for LindsayJoy

Sweet!

Now I just have to work on my terraforming plans....

Log1c

'The sample has been dubbed the "Wicked Witch" (because it's meeeelting, meeeelting-get it?)'

Oh NASA, you're so clever!

Puck

I hope this thing wakes up some robot army that wiped out the Martians so then we can go to war with a robot army from Mars. Once we thaw Mars, we can use the silly cormorant jet from earlier.

singlecoilpickup

If there is any sign of life ever having existed on Mars, that means that it probably evolved independently from earth life. That strongly suggests that life probably exists all over the friggin' universe. That's a HUGE DEAL. Maybe not as big a deal as iPhone 3g, but damned close.

That being said, I'll bet they will find something, if not now then soon. And it probably won't be flipping through Conde Nast sipping a Pepsi - more likely it'll be some form of extremophile.

Actually I can't tell if what I'm feeling is excitement or the effects of the 4 shots of espresso I just drank. Time will tell.

stryder100

MARS BITCHES!
[wallstreetjackass.typepad.com]

DMcGrew

@nutbastard: Or as the Englishmen remarked to his friend upon finding his friends wife in bed with a Swede: "My word, Mark, there's your wife on Lars!"

ouch, that hurt.

ps61318

@nutbastard: yeah im pretty sure that there are some mexicans there already.. how did they get there nobody knows, but they are already taking those martians jobs (before i get the banhammer im mexican)

esh-satril

@nutbastard:

Let me further clarify that by life I mean organisms that are actually alive and show signs of kicking around. I don't mean dead forms of life. I wouldn't be unduly surprised if we found microscopic fossil remnants of life. As far as I'm concerned that's almost a "gimme".

Citizen Kang

what kind of data rate are they getting out of that thing that it needs 100 sat passes?

UofITom

@nutbastard:

I'm inclined to say there isn't, but I would love to be proven wrong. Heck, if I could, I'd pay to be wrong in this instance. That being said, unless said life is flipping through Conde Nast while sipping a Pepsi, I don't think it'd be Earth-shattering news. Big news, no doubt, for a few days, but not "Z0MG!!1!!!LIFE PWNZ!11!" huge.

Citizen Kang

@nutbastard: mark my words there is profit im mars...

esh-satril

think we can do shaved ice pops? ooo! can mine be Martian Blue? .... what? there is no Martian Blue...

well to hell with this!

UrIt

The speck:

[www.chipotoole.com]

[www.chipotoole.com]

BB7

I wonder what little gold speck that is in the distance? Hmm, a friend? foe?

BB7

@justhesh:
/*spoiler
Its the Reapers!
spoiler*/

Log1c

@Citizen Kang: I think you vastly underestimate the ability of fundamentalists to ignore any and all scientific fact.

I would think that life in our own solar system would be huge for just about everyone. Maybe there would be a go on with life thing but I'd hope at least there would be a huge "stop and think about it time".

tande04

@Citizen Kang: I am actively biting my tongue - ngnngnngnnggg - see? - to avoid commenting about your unintentionally ignorant generilization about fundamentalists.

Ah, there, the moment has passed. My tongue hurts, but it was worth it - much like many dates I've had.

ps61318

I've got two words for you:

Prothean Ruins.

justhesh

@Citizen Kang: Hell, I'll become a fundamentalist if it means mass orgies!!!

stryder100

@Ghinn: I'll bet it's people. They're drinking people.

MARTIAN ICE IS PEOPLE!

Con Seannery

@Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.: By your capitalization I assume you mean the Christian god named God. To answer your question... no.

stryder100

@stryder100:

I think the discovery of life will be sweet, sweet vindication for those of us who've always believed in extra-terrestrial life. It'll be a quiet smile with a knowing nod; not so much an in-your-face, fundies type of insanity. For the average man on the street it'll be news for a while, but life will go on. For the fundamentalists (of all religions, I'm an equal opportunity discriminator) I imagine it'll be like getting kicked in the gut followed by wanton paganism and mass orgies. THAT is when I wheel out the in-your-face attitude.

P.S. Before everyone starts screaming about what a godless heathen I am, I do subscribe to a mono-theistic deity of the Judeo-Christian tradition. I just don't think he's as much of an narrow-minded a-hole as most fundamentalists make him out to be.

Citizen Kang

@esh-satril: mark my words, I am speaking of mars...

Con Seannery

@EctoGamad: I laughed so hard I almost cried when I read that. I was thinking "this shit looks fake" while I was reading the report. You get cool points.

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

Yeah, wake me up when they find a microbrewery on Mars.

Nah, the water's exciting, but it'll be more exciting 6 years from now when they discover something else about it.

Ghinn

Proof there is water in Arizona - shot on the same set as the 'moon landing'

EctoGamad

Have you ever heard of Recall?

atomo

@stryder100: does that mean God is an alien?

Striderhayasa - Phillyyakk on PSN and Live.

Get your ass to Mars... Get your Ass to Mars...

atomo

This is really cool news, no denying it - but why does NASA have to name individual samples? I'm going to walk back into lab and label my microfuge tubes "Grumpy" "Sneezy" "Dopey" et al. now.

Xenobiologista

Why are they trying the cupboard? It's clearly bare.

Ben Zvan

@scarbrtj: Why wouldn't we just raise camels genetically adapted to an atmoshere of 10 millibars? Then we'd only have to put breathing apparatusses on them.

GeekyNerdGuy

@nutbastard: According to the amount of methane in the atmosphere but lack of sulfur dioxide, it's theorized that active methanogens will be found somewhere near the surface.

[www.daviddarling.info]

GeekyNerdGuy

@BB7: i was wondering the same thing... although its not likely that NASA would show us lifeforms unless it is little tiny microorganisms that go pew pew!!

in all seriousness i'm excited about these shots. its pretty cool that we can look at pictures from the surface of mars. now we just need to get some people there, then things get interesting. oh ya and for the long journey the astronauts would need a "partner" to keep them "company"

graphx

@Gann:

i just might! except the discovery of life on mars would likely not be publicly disclosed.

nutbastard

@DMcGrew:

M-A-R-S, Red Rocks!

mykalt45

The second photo makes me think that "Lawrence of Arabia -- the Remake" is going to look so awesome.

ON MARS.

Can we make a pressurized suit for a camel? That's the only potential obstacle.

scarbrtj

@nutbastard: Would you make that $200?

Gann

I bet this stuff will still cost less than Fiji Water.

GeekyNerdGuy

Kuato lives!!!!!

iscangel

Oh fcuk, Michael Jackson has already purchased property on Mars?!?!

$#!T, well then I'll just have to wait for the property market on Venus to open up, prob hotter babes there anyway...

bpapa9013

@friendslikeJimRome:
yea til they put it on ebay!

sleepyyazo

Funny how the headline would be less believable if you replaced "Phoenix Lander" with "NASA Engineer" and "Martian Water" with "Woman's Genitals".

CaptEO2000

@pashdown: I think you have to pass a Rorschach test with all G-rated answers.

It's harder than you think.

GeekyNerdGuy

How do I get the dirt-mound naming job at NASA?

pashdown

@Log1c: Or maybe...just maybe...we'll find some sexy Asari...and we'll get to have a controversial sex scene where nothing is shown, but the pundits will still hate us for our taboo love...

So, so taboo...and so right...

Chromeo

@GeekyNerdGuy: Because the last thing we need is an army of camels in scuba gear.

XDoctor

@XDoctor: that would be SCBA gear - no need for the "U" unless they find a LOT more.

Geisrud

"Mars Odyssey discovered this ice six years ago, but we've now touched it and tasted it,..."
TESTED or TASTED!!
Or is there someone (earthling) on Mars that we do not know off and NASA is trying to side it in ....

honk4RC

On the right side of the photo, why does it look like there's a rock that made its own path/trail in the soil?

Migo

@bpapa9013: AAARHG!!! You beat me to Michael Jackson reference!

Luizzle

As interesting as watching ice melt

throwinglittlepickles

I presume you're all familiar with the "Great Filter" argument, which leads some of us to hope that they don't find any life on Mars:

[tinyurl.com]

Whether you buy the argument or not, the concept of the Great Filter certainly leads you to think a little more deeply than the standard "woo-hoo! Life must be everywhere, man!" line...

GarthWood

Its all a scam! This picture was taken outside Fallujah and Photoshopped to make it red!

fellersmtc

mars go boom!

REIFEL

Hopefully this is not the awakening of a symbiotic organism that has been dormant for billions of years just waiting for its day to step once again on the face of earth to reclaim its dominance over the human race. Sorry . . . just an aside.

wtenor1

"Mars Odyssey discovered this ice six years ago, but we've now touched it and tasted it, which is something that hasn't been done before," said a scientist at today's press conference.

Wow, good thing we didn't step in it!

Uncle Remus

Just wait until this thing has self-awareness. Mankind has just created a new race called Daleks....

"Exterminate! Exterminate!"

indeed.

stoneman

can we start buying bits and pieces of Mars?? would like to get some before prices go crazy and Dubai take over

mricyfire

AAAHHHAAA what crack addict named these areas? LOL

vgart

The main pic looks like a martian civilization in thumbnail size. LOL

shanzi

My guess is that:
• We have always landed on the outskirts of a booming city and missed it... so it does not show in the pictures.
• Overhead satellites can be easily fooled by camouflage.
• Martians are not stupid, they leave our probes alone, so they cannot be seen, thus avoid contact or future human landings.
• Probes that get too close or could possibly get closed are crippled so they cannot go too much further (Spirit's front wheel)
• Probes that may land on a martian city or satellites that might expose a city shot down. (Martian orbiter... metric confusion?nah...)

The list goes on an on... They just do not want to be part of the Comcast network, period.

aec007

@Citizen Kang: a gimme? let's see what the catholics think about it.

krom