Gusev Crater Planet Mars [Rover Saturday]

spacedaily.com ^ | 1 Jan 04 | Karen Miller

[RightWhale]

Gusev Crater Planet Mars

by Karen Miller for NASA Science News

Hunstville - Jan 01, 2004

On January 3, Spirit, NASA's 400-pound rover, is scheduled to land on what may be a dried-up lake bed on Mars. "There's not much doubt: this site contained a body of liquid water, at least for some amount of time," says Jim Garvin, NASA's Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration. The site is Gusev Crater, a 90-mile wide hole in the ground that probably formed three to four billion years ago when an asteroid crashed just south of Mars' equator. There's a channel system that drains into it, which probably carried liquid water, or water and ice, into the crater. "It's hard to imagine the landscape looking this way unless water was somehow involved," says Garvin.

Right now, inside the crater, researchers expect to find sediments, which may be nearly 3,000 feet thick. These sediments, which, researchers hope were deposited by water, may have been covered by dust and sand that's blown into the crater over the past two billion years. But if there was once water in Gusev, its signature should still be there.

Water, of course, is important because it could signal an environment once-friendly to life. The landscape seen from orbit is very persuasive. But researchers can't be certain that Gusev contained liquid water until they examine the site up close. "The Gusev landscape we see today could have been modified by lava, ice, and winds," notes Garvin. "Aspects of it could have been formed by standing water, or by intermittent floods." Spirit carries a suite of tools that will find out.

The rover will be able to grind away the surface cover on rocks and analyze minerals inside. It will be able to view its surroundings with unprecedented detail and precision. It can scoot over to the most interesting rocks it finds in order to examine them more closely. With these tools and others, Spirit will work to find out what really happened. One clear sign of past water will be in the rocks.

For example, if indeed Gusev once held a giant lake ( more than 10 times the size of the famous Crater Lake here in the US) certain key minerals are likely to be found in its rocks. Spirit might find evaporites -- minerals formed as water dries up. Salt or gysum are familiar ones here on Earth. Salt's component parts -- sodium and chloride -- are separated, dissolved in sea water, but as the water dries up, the sodium and chloride join together to form the mineral "halite," for example.

On Mars, Spirit might find evaporites like gypsum, or calcium magnesian sulfate. It might also find minerals involving carbonates (i.e., calcium carbonate). These are sometimes, although not always, produced by or from living organisms. But they are almost always a sign of water--"at least here on Earth," notes Garvin. Another sign will be in the way the sediments are organized. For example, if the sediments were blown in by winds, the layers may be more erratic, to reflect the changing directions of airflow (as in fossil dunes here on Earth). If they were deposited by water, they are more likely to be layered evenly, one on top of the other in rhythmic stacks.

The most exciting result, says Garvin, would be proving that liquid water existed at the surface of this site for a long time. "Persistent standing bodies of water are possible habitats for life," he explains. But whatever information Gusev yields will be important. Water or not. Life or not. Whatever it tells us will help determine the course of future explorations on Mars.

[RightWhale]

Doesn't compare with the excitement of the Yellowstone caldera, but several scientific hypotheses would be tested when Rover starts roving around the crater floor.

[farmfriend]

Space ping.

[Veritas_est]

"There's not much doubt: this site contained a body of liquid water, at least for some amount of time," says Jim Garvin, NASA's Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration.

Interpretation: "We're just guessing here, but we really want to look like professionals, and have you believe we know what we're talking about."

[Consort]

They should land it near that British Beagle to see what happened to it.

[per loin]

The martians are not currently admitting visitors.

[Orlando]

Gusev Crater is located 14.5 (South) and 175.3 (East)
just south of Mars equator, but what region is Gusev located ?

Here's the realtime approach of Mars Spirit Lander to Mars.
At 2:20 pm,est (0720 GMT) Spirit is approx 460,747 km , which is 286,294 miles.

The Earth/Moon lunar distance is 384,401 km, which = 238,856 miles.

http://mars1.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/realtime/mera1.jpg

The new avg daytime temp by the equator in summer-time is
approx 65 degrees F, which is 20 C.

http://tes.asu.edu/tdaydaily.gif

[RIGHT IN LAS VEGAS]

And they are photographing, fingerprinting all others.

This is a profiling planet!

[Orlando]

Here's a semi-done Mars Atlas without long/Lat...numbers,so
it hard to pin-point Gusev Crater without those Long/lat..
Does anybody know the region where Spirit is going to land at ?


http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/atlas/index.html


Hope that helps ?

[MHGinTN]

Does anyone know whether the landing will be covered for general public consumption ... as in live?

[Orlando]

I think there will be a 10 minute + delay not sure?

This might help alittle ?

http://www.msss.com/mer_mission/finding_mer/index.html

I guess they (jpl) don't want the public seeing live images. You never know, who might should up ?

[NewRomeTacitus]

Probably little live coverage considering only three of the last thirteen probes landed successfully. Bad PR potential.
Here's another page from the above-mentioned site with photographs of the crater. You have to love the optimistic diagram of Spirit's intended territory.
http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/craters/

[Orlando]

sorry, that's show-up.

[MHGinTN]

Thank you.

[MHGinTN]

Appreciate the link. I find this a lot more interesting than the bowl games ... and I'm a football fan!

[woofer]

Interpretation: "We're just guessing here, but we really want to look like professionals, and have you believe we know what we're talking about."

"Send more money."

[Caipirabob]

The martians are not currently admitting visitors.

Yeah, they saw what happened with California and the Mexicans...

[GRRRRR]

I think Karl Rover should be staying at the White House and not roaming around, all over the place. He's got plenty of work to do for President Bush...sheesh, get our priorities straight!

GRRRRR

[Orlando]

If I was in charge in sending Mars Landers , I would send a lander to the most interesting place on Mars the Cydonia Region.


http://www.msss.com/education/facepage/pio.gif


The place I would STAY AWAY FROM is the "Arabia Terra Region" The was a image looking at a small cave in a dark
color spot in a crater, and the image speaks for itself, if you zoom in 2x,4x in middle of image, what you see looks
________ ??? Here's that imaage.


http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/dec00_seds/8N7W/M14-01647subc.jpg

[Orlando]

It changes #'s at times.

http://www.msss.com/mars_images/moc/dec00_seds/8N7W/M14-01647subc1.jpg

[RightWhale]

The most interesting-looking place may not turn out to be the most interesting. The other image didn't load.