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11:36 elakdawalla : Hi all, presentation can be downloaded at http://planetary.s3.amazonaws.com/misc/ustream_pres_20080806.ppt
11:57 ZeroOne : From the blog: Repeating my earlier announcement: I plan to do
a Ustream chat today at 19:00 UTC. There's going to be a lot to talk about on
Phoenix;
12:00 ArizonaWildcat : Chart 17 should be TEGA, not MECA.
12:03 MeteorWayne : Let me say in advance, Thank you Emily for asking the most
intelligent questions at Phoenix conferences. though Leo comes close.
12:04 StellaGaze : hmm...
12:04 djellison : Remember - if you have questions, please post them with QUESTION:
- and I'll add them to the Question Queue
12:12 ZeroOne : Might ppt presentation be easier to use, for each viewer, if
it were saved as window-based HTML instead of full-screen PPT? As is, you can't
view both PPT on your own computer and Ustream alternately. Just hear HTML solves
that but don't know for sure.
12:13 djellison : That is a good point - I'll pass it along
12:14 Funkopolis : At what point in the process does the MECA play the disco
version of the theme to Star Wars? When the sample is in, or when testing is
complete?
12:16 nick601 : cyclic voltammetry is a means of measuring redox potentials of
dissolved species
12:19 Funkopolis : QUESTION: Can anything else cause that kind of spike? Chemical
or not (heated up way to fast, etc.)?
12:27 ZeroOne : Boynton wore that witch's hat. It better be TEGA.
12:27 Zvezdichko : it's not MECA, it's TEGA
12:28 mammoth : QUESTION: Sounds like they are pretty confident this is perchlorate,
despite the negative (2nd) TEGA test. So why didn't they come forward with this
result before (over a month since the initial MECA test & not a peep about
it in last Thursday's press conference)?
12:29 ZeroOne : They did blame the time it takes to check it's not contamination.
12:29 mammoth : But that's only a "remote possibility"
12:30 ZeroOne : Enough to be not confident.
12:31 nick601 : QUESTION 1: Didn't the Viking landers detect oxidising species
in the Martian soil? (peroxides?)
12:31 Funkopolis : QUESTION: There was some concern a while back about TEGA having
a potential short, and the-next-sample-could-be-our-last. Is this that 'potentially
last' sample? Or is that to come? Any sign of a short?
12:32 MeteorWayne : It's more than that. At this point the evidence is inconclusive.
12:32 djellison : I think that covers your Q mammoth
12:32 nick601 : and QUESTION 2 :) What's the concentration of ClO4 in the soil
sample? A few ppm? higher?
12:33 MeteorWayne : I'd say since the evidence is inconclusive, they really can't
say!
12:33 nick601 : should be able to estimate though :)
12:34 MeteorWayne : Not really. Look at what the sensors measure and how the
results have to be derived from a devolution of the readings from all the sensors.
12:34 Funkopolis : No, we need an expert on turning inconclusive evidence into
a fact... Somebody get a creationist!
12:34 Zvezdichko : better a young earther ;)
12:34 noamzur : QUESTION: Since there obviously is perchlorate on Earth as well,
why is it such devastating news for Mars? Sorry, but I am not a chemist...
12:35 mammoth : natural perchlorate is rare on Earth
12:35 nick601 : it depends on the concentration. it can be used as a terminal
electron source by some microorganisms, so it isn't all bad news
12:35 ZeroOne : TEGA and MECA. And TECA and MEGA!
12:35 Zvezdichko : QUESTION: Do we have detection of any organic matherial in
the second TEGA sample?
12:36 MeteorWayne : Zv: NO.
12:38 Funkopolis : Made-up results will be available immediately
12:38 ugordan : lol
12:39 mammoth : We heard about pH and marsparagus almost immediately
12:39 djellison : Any more questions?
12:40 mammoth : QUESTION: has the MECA team talked about their next sample?
12:41 Funkopolis : Like the back seat of a volkswagen?
12:41 Zvezdichko : QUESTION: Do they plan to look for Cl- again in the next TEGA
sample?
12:41 MeteorWayne : QUSTION: Any comments on the Internet frenzy?
12:41 ZeroOne : Extremophiles think mammals are extremophiles.
12:42 djellison : Extremophiles think a 36 deg C petri dish is hell on earth
:)
12:42 MeteorWayne : ZO, and actually we are! No other species covers the range
of habitats on earth
12:42 Funkopolis : Well, _I_ wouldn't wouldn't to be trapped in one either
12:42 nick601 : indeed, Sulfolobus is quite happy growing at pH 2 and 95 degrees
C, respect!
12:43 ZeroOne : No shorts!
12:45 nick601 : no-one's asked about the crusty stuff on Phoenix's legs yet,
quelle horreur
12:45 MeteorWayne : Then ask it!
12:45 alro613 : hehe..
12:45 Funkopolis : There's crusty stuff on Pheonex's legs?!? Alert the press!
12:45 MeteorWayne : If you don't, I will!
12:45 ZeroOne : neverland cupborad
12:46 ZeroOne : cupboard next to dodo; neverland in the middle
12:46 MeteorWayne : Tick,tick,tick
12:46 Zvezdichko : thanks, Emily
12:46 Funkopolis : The question is just asked so they take another picture and
we can all laugh and say "Made you look!"
12:46 djellison : Any last Q's?
12:46 MeteorWayne : From emily, the team has commented. -QUESTION
12:47 Funkopolis : QUESTION: With Phil Plait taking over Presidency of the JREF,
are you going to apply for the post of Bad Astronomer?
12:47 djellison : LOL - I wont ask that one :)
12:47 djellison : TPS needs Emily!
12:47 ZeroOne : I'll vote for her.
12:47 MeteorWayne : QUESTION Someone else asked, any news about the lumps on
the legs.
12:47 mammoth : call it an AWST frenzy then & his sources (plural, he says)
-- don't blame "the web"
12:47 djellison : And I'm NOT doing the legs again :)
12:48 djellison : Some traditions are worth breaking :D
12:48 ZeroOne : Those sources I whish I knew and could mock and deride.
12:48 Zvezdichko : QUESTION: Will Doug allow the astrobiology topic on UMSF?
12:48 Zvezdichko : *joke*
12:48 MeteorWayne : Re Legs, sorry this was my first tune in to the event. :(
12:48 Funkopolis : QUESTION: What's going on with stuff that's not Phoenix?
12:49 StellaGaze : QUESTION: Is there really water on Mercury? Can you do a talk
about it next time? hehehe
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