The news interviewed one of the scientists, they mentioned finding trace amounts of carbon. Seems they are still in the debris field, so it might have been carbon from Curiosity. I did hear they are measuring radioactivity on the surface and it is within human tolerances for short periods, but long enough for a manned mission to Mars.
Here (form the Planetary Society) is a good explanation of what caused all
the stir about Curiosity recently.
patrick
http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2012/12031316-curiosity-kerf... _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy
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