This MAY be the answer to what NASA will announce courtesy of The Sunday
Times UK December 3, 2000 edition:

Web page:
http://www.sunday-times.co.uk/news/pages/sti/2000/12/03/stifgnnws01001.h
tml


Dried-up sea beds found on Mars



 NASA scientists have discovered ancient sea or lake beds on
 the surface of Mars that could once have harboured life, writes
 Jonathan Leake.

 The discovery is among the most significant concerning Mars
 so far, because such places are the most likely locations for
 fossils or other signs of past life.

 Nasa will announce the discovery in this week's edition of
 Science with the suggestion that the next generation of Mars
 landings should be sent to such areas.

 This weekend a British group building a craft bound for Mars
 said it was already considering rerouting its vehicle, Beagle II,
 to land in the middle of one of the newly discovered sea beds.

 Professor Colin Pillinger, an astronomer at the Open University
 who heads the Beagle II project, will also announce that he has
 raised the full £30m needed for the British mission.

 He has just been offered £9m by the European Space Agency,
 with the rest coming from commercial sponsors. "We will
 launch in June 2003 and hope to land on Mars on Boxing Day,"
 he said.

 The Nasa discovery is based on images taken by Mars Global
 Surveyor, which has been orbiting the red planet for more than
 a year.

 It is said to have sent back detailed pictures of rocks that could
 only have been created by sedimentation, in which particles
 sink to a sea bed and are compressed into rock.







In article <[log in to unmask]>,
  Wirt Atmar <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Glenn writes:
>
> > In a brief story entitled "NASA to announce major Mars discovery,"
> >  CNN reports:
> >
> >    "Two red planet scientists who found
> >     evidence of recent water flows on Mars will
> >     soon present "their most significant discovery
> >     yet," NASA said Friday.
> >    ...
> >     NASA offered only scant details about Thursday's
> >     meeting, but top agency scientists and managers will be
> >     in attendance, including Ken Nealson, director of the
> >     Center for Life Detection at NASA's Jet Propulsion
> >     Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
> >
> >  The full article is at:
> >     http://www.cnn.com/2000/TECH/space/12/01/mars.surprise/
> >
> >  NASA has a brief piece at:
> >     ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/note2edt/2000/n00-058.txt
>
> I thought about mentioning this yesterday, but I decided not to for a
couple
> of reasons: one is I pollute the list with too much off-topic material
as it
> is. The second is that the announcement has an odd flavor to it.
>
> I'm subscribed to several NASA mailing lists (and you can be too if
you wish;
> see the material at the bottom of the announcement below). The
announcement
> that Glenn is referencing came from NASA Headquarters public affairs
office
> yesterday morning. If you subscribe to the list, you get the material
the
> same time that CNN does (however, be forewarned, most of it is not all
that
> interesting. Much of it lately has concerned the conviction of several
NASA
> contractors for fraudulent billing).
>
> =======================================
>
> Subj:    MAJOR MARS DISCOVERY TO BE ANNOUNCED AT DEC. 7 SCIENCE
BRIEFING
> Date:   12/1/00 12:30:39 PM Mountain Standard Time
> From:   [log in to unmask]
> Sender: [log in to unmask]
>
> Donald Savage
> Headquarters, Washington, DC                   December 1, 2000
> (Phone: 202/358-1727)
>
> Mary Hardin
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
> (Phone: 818/354-0344)
>
> NOTE TO EDITORS: N00-058
>
> MAJOR MARS DISCOVERY TO BE ANNOUNCED AT DEC. 7 SCIENCE BRIEFING
>
>      Imaging scientists Dr. Michael Malin and Dr. Ken Edgett from
> NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft will present what they
> describe as their most significant discovery yet at a Space
> Science Update at 2:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, Dec. 7. Their
> findings are being published in the December 8 issue of Science
> Magazine.
>
> This science update will be held in the James E. Webb Auditorium
> at NASA Headquarters, 300 E St., S.W., Washington, DC, and will be
> carried live on Telstar 5, transponder 11. The Ku-band satellite
> is located 97 degrees West longitude with a downlink frequency of
> 11929 MHz, vertical polarity.
>
> Please note that, due to coverage of the ongoing Shuttle mission,
> NASA Television does not expect to carry this briefing, and two-
> way question-and-answer capability from agency centers will not be
> available.
>
> Participants will be:
> * Dr. Ed Weiler, Associate Administrator for Space Science, NASA
> Headquarters, Washington, DC., will be panel moderator.
> * Dr. Michael Malin principal investigator, Mars Orbiter Camera on
> NASA's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft at Malin Space Science
> Systems (MSSS), San Diego, CA.
> * Dr. Ken Edgett, staff scientist at MSSS.
> * Dr. Jim Garvin, Mars Exploration Program Scientist at NASA
> Headquarters.
> * Dr. Ken Nealson, director of the Center for Life Detection at
> NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA.
>
>                          - end -
>
>                             * * *
>
> NASA press releases and other information are available automatically
> by sending an Internet electronic mail message to [log in to unmask]
> In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type
> the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes).  The system will
> reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription.  A second
> automatic message will include additional information on the service.
> NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command
> GO NASA.  To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail
> message to [log in to unmask], leave the subject blank, and type only
> "unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message.
>
> =========================================
>
> What's odd about the announcement is that the discovery is touted to
be
> "major", yet NASA is not devoting very much resource to its coverage.
> Ordinarily, these sorts of briefings are carried on NASA TV (including
their
> duplication on the web-based NASA TV site), with the capacity for full
> two-way discussions from the various NASA sites, but not this time.
>
> A reason for that lessened coverage may be the natural tension that
exists
> within NASA between manned and unmanned space flight operations. At
the same
> time as the briefing, the Endeavour crew will be doing some truly
major
> construction operations on the International Space Station, which is
always a
> little dangerous.
>
> Nonetheless, if I were go guess as to what major discovery was to be
> announced (given that it was observed from orbit), it would likely be
either:
> (i) some tangible evidence of vulcanism on or near the surface of Mars
(so
> far, nothing reliable has yet been observed), or (ii) even more
importantly,
> evidence of the effects recent liquid water, even if underground, as
occurs
> in karst-like geomorphologies. While "life" would be detectable from
orbit
> [seasonable phase changes in soil colors would be measurable, but not
because
> of spectral analyses indicating the presence of photosynthetic
bacteria- or
> algae-like organisms (the Mars Global Surveyor doesn't have that
> capability)], the chances of that being observed now, after having
been
> missed for so long, are relatively slim.
>
> Nevertheless, if either of those two events (vulcanism or recent
water)
> proves to be true, the chances for eventually finding some form of
life on
> Mars rises dramatically.
>
> Wirt Atmar
>
>


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