NASA Gets A Good Look At Mars Soil And A True Puzzle

Chicago Tribune/Yahoo ^ | 1-7-2004 | Jeremy Manier

[blam]

NASA gets good look at Mars soil and a true puzzle

By Jeremy Manier, Tribune staff reporter

Opening its primary digital eyes for the first time, the rover Spirit on Tuesday transmitted the most detailed photos ever sent from the surface of Mars, revealing an alien vista of deep russet sands, a mysteriously sticky form of soil and a far-off mesa in the light orange haze.

The rocky scene is about four times sharper than any previous photos from the planet, and experts said the probe should be sending even larger, three-dimensional views of its terrain within a few days. Scientists will use those photos and information from an infrared imaging instrument to choose the most promising places for the rover to start visiting next week in search of signs that Mars once had a habitat suitable for life.

It's difficult to imagine life surviving now in the barren landscape around the rover--though mission planners have said one goal of the robotic Mars expeditions is to scout out possible landing sites in case the U.S. ever sends astronauts to Mars.

But on Tuesday, researchers analyzing the new images took a moment to look at the planet with simple wonder.

"My reaction has been one of shock and awe," said Jim Bell, leader of the mission's imaging team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California.

The sticky-looking soil may be the first true puzzle of the mission, scientists said. Technicians believe the probe's landing airbags disturbed the dirt near the rover when they retracted back under the craft, soon after the landing. The dirt that was dragged by the airbags now looks oddly folded, almost as if it were damp clay.

"It looks like mud, but it can't be mud," said principal investigator Steven Squyres. "It's not like anything that I have ever seen before. It's very weird-looking stuff."

Researchers believe Martian soil in the rover's vicinity is bone-dry near the surface, adding to the mystery. Squyres said it's possible that moisture evaporating from below left a salty, cohesive crust at the surface.

[Doc On The Bay]

So the "Scientists" who launched the "Spirit Rover" had some Minor Problems with Their Bladders!

I'm SURE the "Problem will Soon be "Rectified!"

Doc

[gatex]

"...I don't think iron oxide is magnetic. --- It looks darker than the surrounding soil, ...."

Don't forget magnetite -- Fe3O4 -- a black mineral that is readily recognized by strong attraction by magnet (The Condensed Chemical Dictionary).

[Alas Babylon!]

I don't think iron oxide is magnetic.

Actually, Frank, it is. AKA Ferric Oxide, it's the stuff that coats magnetic tape and disk surfaces that allows us to write bits on them in order to do what we're all doing now....FReeping!

[Petronski]

... the news media ignored it in favor of talking about Soupy Sales and Yoko Ono.

Together? Eww!

[mombonn]

The Blob was the scariest movie I ever saw - of course, I was quite young at the time. I remember sleeping with the windows closed in the summer . . . just in case the blob wanted to ooze through my screens. LOL

[RightWhale]

The whole theater yelled at the guy with the stick: 'Don't touch it!' But, you know, he didn't listen. They never do.

[Ima Lurker]

I've always thought it's funny how we think any other life form would be just like us. How presumptuous! Life, as WE know it, requires water to survive. But that doesn't mean another life form would need the same thing.

It sure is good to be talking about something other than immigration.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Exactly. Why do they keep thinking that life on Mars has to be similar to life on Earth. Why can't dry powdery stuff be alive? 'Cause we haven't seen anything like that here?

[e_engineer]

If there was life on Mars it could be oil.

You don't need life to have oil. Astronomers have found great clouds of oil (codenamed PAH's Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons sp?) floating in space near the center of the galaxy.

In addition, the first 2 interstellar particles detected by the stardust spacecraft CIDA instrument were PAH's.

[Agamemnon]

An interesting speculation. How the magnetism might effect the instrumentation of this craft might might explain other previous less-successful missions.

[TXnMA]

For a really big (3490 X 3851 pixels) and detailed version of this image, go to

this location.

The smeared "gunk" is visible -- in great detail -- at the lower right and lower left corners of the photo (nearest the lander, of course).

That stuff looks really wierd! It's hard to imagine how dragging an airbag across a (supposedly) dry, sandy surface (with a litle gravel tossed in) could form such a gummy-looking surface mark...

This goes to prove that, "As man extends the radius of his knowledge, he expands the circumference where he contacts his igoarance by a factor of 2Pi."

[e_engineer]

Tar. Like in the La Brea Tar Pits.

Maybe not exactly like La Brea. It's -90 degrees C on Mars, so long chain hydrocarbons (tar) would be really viscous like a rubber ball.

Shorter chains might behave like slush, and hydrocarbons would explain the neutron spectrometer readings from last year.

[RightWhale]

Opportunity landing is in 17 days.

[carlo3b]

a mysteriously sticky form of soil Queso Dip? After all the Moon is made of cheese so maybe the Moon came from Mars.

You might have it! Heck, I'll taste it... Bwhahahhhaahahahaha

[Steve Van Doorn]

"You don't need life to have oil."

I didn't know that. Thanks.

[asb3pe]

I don't think iron oxide is magnetic.

It isn't. That's why I prefaced the idea by saying "any remaining iron in the iron oxide".

I also thought about the static electricity idea, but similar to you, I rejected it as being a probably cause, as I just can't see that force holding soil particles together in clumps very well.

Perhaps the "dust" has good insulating properties, and perhaps there could be some sort of liquid just under the surface. In direct sunlight, the martian surface DOES warm up close to and even above freezing, I believe, at certain times of the year.

So... just how big would a quick discovery of some liquid just under the surface be? It would be HUGE! Discovery of microbial life would be almost certain to quickly follow, and that... I can't even fathom the reaction. But I am almost expecting it, because I do believe Mars once harbored life to some degree, and may still, to this day...

[Capitalism2003]

Where do you guys find this stuff? :)

[rapture-me]

"a mysteriously sticky form of soil"

I sometimes find some of the same stuff between my toes. Smells really bad!

[tubebender]

So they finally found the source of Play Doh...

[e_engineer]

Why can't dry powdery stuff be alive? 'Cause we haven't seen anything like that here?,

You just have to look in the right habitat.
There's a large, dry, powdery thing living under my daughters bed. At least I'm pretty sure it's alive, because it keeps growing. ;^)