Mars Team Energized About "Sleepy Hollow" Near Rover

NASA ^ | January 5, 2004 | NASA

[gitmo]

Antlion larvae, or 'doodlebugs', trap ants by digging inverted cones or pits in the soil. These pits are usually 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter and are usually found in the soil near or under the base of a house or other building which provides protection from direct rainfall. The antlion larvae prepare the sides of their pits with fine sand or soil particles so ants that fall in can't climb out, and land in the jaws of the 'doodlebug' waiting at the bottom. Predation in action can be observed by dropping an ant into the edge of a pit. The 'doodlebug' usually captures the ant but often flips soil and sand all around in the process. Antlion larvae eventually pupate in the soil, becoming adult insects that look somewhat like dragonflies, except that they are more fragile and are feeble fliers. Antlions are beneficial to man because of their ant diet and they cause no problems.

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[Billthedrill]

Well, let's just drive on over and have us a look.

On Mars. Cool.

[FreedomCalls]

"Sleepy Hollow" could be a trap. What if the sand is so soft that the rover can't get back out of it once it goes in?

[gitmo]

What if the ant lions get it?

[cyborg]

Sleepy Hollow looks like Sedona,Arizona

[Orange1998]

Here is good pic

http://wwwi.reuters.com/images/2004-01-06T183106Z_01_JPL01D_RTRIDSP_2_SPACE-MARS.jpg

[mvpel]

...when the rover drives off its lander platform in a week or so.

Who was it who was saying we don't need people on Mars, that machines can do just as good a job?

It's taking a week for them to gear up to examine something that's a half dozen steps away.

[FreeAtlanta]

I just hope the rover can send back action photos while it is getting devoured.

[AppyPappy]

heheheh...I hope it gets a good shot of King Ghidra

[maestro]

And,.....just how 'deep' is the 'dust' on Mars?

Boulders of clay?

After 'so' many billions of years where are all the ______?

/sarcasm

[mplsconservative]

Ohhhh nooo! Not the giant Martian doodlebugs! Have you reported this to NASA?

Seriously though, thanks for posting this article. This stuff is fascinating. America is such a fantastic country. We're able to look forward to the future through space exploration and at the same time wage a major battle on terrorism. Best country on earth. Enough said.

[Bush Cheney]

I would first like to see the whole panorama. What's to say the the other side does not have a treasure trove of interesting large rocks and boulders?

[Looking for Diogenes]

"It's a hole in the ground," he said. "It's a window into the interior of Mars."

I'll never look at a pothole quite the same - now they're "windows into the the interior of the Earth."

I read that the control team is concerned about a sand trap. hey have a protocol for testing the looseness of the soil with one wheel.

[PMCarey]

I read that the control team is concerned about a sand trap. hey have a protocol for testing the looseness of the soil with one wheel.

I know they're not allowed to ground their club while in the sand trap. Can they use a wheel?

[KevinDavis]

I'll be more excited when humans are going to Mars.

Space Ping! This is the space ping list! Let me know if you want on or off this list!

[PA Engineer]

Kevin

Please put me on your space ping list. Thanks.

[mvpel]

If the rover gets stuck in the sand, just have one of the geologists walk over and pluck it out.

Oh... wait... nevermind.

[Looking for Diogenes]

Can they use a wheel?

Apparently the front wheels can be raised, lowered, and extended. That allows them to "feel-out" a potential trap.

I think they've already gotten their "hole-in-one" with a perfect landing.

[MrConfettiMan]

It's taking a week for them to gear up to examine something that's a half dozen steps away.

I'm not against sending astronauts to other celestial bodies, but if we sent people to Mars and they arrived just a couple of days ago I'll bet it would be weeks before they started walking around outside. You don't simply send an elaborate piece of equipment on a multi-million mile journey to another planet and have it start "doing its thing" before you thoroughly check-out all of its systems. After all the time and money NASA has spent on this mission, doing anything other than this would be foolish. Besides, if anything were to go wrong I'm sure one of the first things a critic would ask is, "Well, didn't you perform a system test before the rover left the landing site?" :)