New Mars Forums

It would be wonderful to get more international users on these forums, atitarev, and I hope that you aren't discouraged from posting because of your English - it seems just as good as anyone else's here.

I feel that we have a good balance of people on New Mars so far and that the vast majority of discussions are good-humored and constructive, which for the Internet is pretty decent. I'd definitely encourage you to let more people around the world know about New Mars - it might even be worth setting up a special forum here for that purpose if we get enough people.

It wasn't reported because it is, as yet, a totally unreliable story. It's not a BBC News story, it's a BBC News story about a Russian TV story, and Russian media has notoriously bad standards. There are precious few details to go on, and the only attributed 'scientific' evidence there comes from a veterinary anatomist looking at pictures of X-rays, which can easily be faked - and even if they weren't, he believes they look human anyway.

There are three possibilities, which I will list from least likely to most likely.

1) It's a real Yeti
2) It's a human
3) It's a fake

Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and as yet, there is no proper evidence. That is why it's not being reported, just like the news doesn't report the dozens of UFO sightings that happen around the world every day.

Moved from Human missions forum to Unmanned probes.

A very interesting point, Stu. I would liken it to the bad habit of SF authors (and others) to 'data dump' in conversations. So, for example, if the author is trying to explain what a Dyson Sphere is, instead of doing it naturally he might be lazy and 'data dump' into a character:

"As you know, Bob, Dyson Spheres were invented by Freeman Dyson back in the early 20th Century and consist of a shell around..."

There's no way anyone would say this in natural conversation, just as Stu pointed out that there's no way anyone in Dawson's Creek would be able to marshal their thoughts on emotion and life so densely and cogently.

Suggestions! More suggestions, dammit! 

Jim's article is now online.

Thanks Gennaro! I fixed the spelling for you

Issue 3 is now online!

I wonder, is there any information on the web from NASA or whoever about how they've engineered rovers and landers to cope with fines? Are there any special sealants or joints that they use?

That's very strange, I haven't seen it before. Maybe your mailboxes were full up?

Closed at 300 posts. See 'Spirit and Opportunity 3' for more discussion.

...600 posts! Not bad

While I have immense respect for the webmasters of the MS website, because I know exactly how time-consuming and difficult it can be to maintain such a large site (and I'm not just talking about newmars.com), I agree that there is a lot of room for improvement.

The website and the homepage need to be redesigned to be more attractive and accessible to both new visitors and society members. It needs a complete graphical overhaul and it has to be updated more regularly and substantially than it is now.

*If* I had about two weeks of completely free time, all the software I needed, all the media I need in the right formats, a broad design brief and give a free rein, here's what I would do:

Change the webhost to Pair.com (more reliable and faster). Install a content management system like PMachine or Moveable Type. Design a site-wide template that adheres to web standards (XHTML 1.0 and CSS 2.0) and introduce RSS feeds of all regularly updated areas. Give chapter and group heads limited permissions to create and alter their own pages within the website. Give a number of people the ability to submit news stories to the front page. Introduce a database that contains lists of contacts and addresses.

The key thing would be to make it easier to change the website. Currently, if you want something on the website you change, you have to email the webmaster and he has to change it. Clearly this is a pretty awful state of affairs that's prone to delays. Instead, the relevant people should be able to update the website themselves. Furthermore, a website based on proper standards such as XHTML and CSS with a modularised backend such as MT or Pmachine will allow the webmaster to enact sweeping changes without having to do much more than change a template.