NASA plans to update the public on the most recent discoveries made by the Mars Curiosity Rover in a press conference at noon EST today.
The space agency has teased reporters and science junkies, hinting at some new discovery by the rover in its first in-depth analysis of rocks on the Martian surface.
Rampant speculation followed the initial announcement, with pundits and public weighing in on what it might be. Guesses ranged from an overblown progress report to proof of alien life.
NASA has since tried to calm down some of the hysteria, stating that it is definitely not alien life that Curiosity found.
"Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect," said NASA officials in a statement last week.
"At this point in the mission, the instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics."
But there is debate over the term "organics." While it's quite certain that Curiosity didn't find little green men, of even very hardy bacteria, could the rover have found compounds that could once have been life?
Earlier readings of the Martian atmosphere detected little to no methane, a byproduct of life as we know it. If Curiosity has found carbon, the core building block for life on Earth, there may be hope for the extraterrestrially-interested.
Either NASA is holding information close to the vest, or those fans may be disappointed.
"The news conference will be an update about first use of the rover's full array of analytical instruments to investigate a drift of sandy soil," said officials at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Still, the first results will shed a great deal of light about the history of Mars.
In its relatively brief time on the planet's surface, Curiosity has already discovered ancient riverbeds, proof that deep liquid water once flowed along the Martian landscape.
The Curiosity press conference is the first announcement in a weeklong conference in San Francisco covering topics like planetary evolution and habitability.
The video below will update at noon when the briefing begins.