Posted on 01/09/2004 5:45:17 PM PST by LibWhacker
Less than a week after landing on Mars, the U.S. Spirit spacecraft has found possible evidence that water once flowed on the now-barren planet, the goal of the mission. The scientists are cautious about their interpretation.
Although the Spirit robotic rover has not yet begun its trek over Martian terrain, one of its scientific instruments has remotely detected small amounts of a mineral in nearby soil that hint of ancient water.
The instrument that did this is an infrared camera designed to sense the composition of material from afar by measuring heat emissions.
Mars mission scientist Phil Christensen says the presence of the mineral, called carbonate, might mean its is a remnant of rocks that formed in water from dissolved carbonate particles.
"So it might be that this carbonate actually does indeed have to do with the water that we came to look for," he said.
But Mr. Christensen warns that the mineral does not necessarily mean the landing site called Gusev Crater was an ancient lake, as is believed. The carbonate could have come from atmospheric dust that interacted with rocks and soil without water present.
The six-wheeled robotic explorer will help them determine the answer by examining rocks and soil closely when it eventually departs the Spirit lander. The nature of the soil in which the carbonate is found will reveal a lot.
Cornell University researcher Steven Squyres says if it is in wind-blown dust, it probably came from elsewhere and says nothing about a watery past for Gusev Crater. But if the soil that contains carbonate is coarse, like water sediments, that is evidence that the crater is an ancient lake bed.
"I think we're going to be chasing this carbonate story [for] weeks, months maybe," he said. "What we can do as we start to head out across the countryside is we can look at different patches of soil and we can measure the carbonate abundance is different kinds of soil."
The rover's expedition to do this has been delayed because airbags that cushioned the landing cannot be fully retracted and continue to block its path down Spirit's front ramp. To get around this obstacle, engineers have decided to rotate the lander one-third of a turn to the right and roll it off a secondary ramp on the lander's side late next week.
Steven Squyres says his team is prepared to command the rover to dig with its mechanical arm in whatever direction it heads.
"We always knew that we could egress in any direction and that the egress direction was going to be picked on the basis of safety," he said. "That's part of why we make sure to get a full 360 degree panoramic view. So we're going to be ready to pick targets, ready to do science no matter which direction the egress turns out to be."
In preparation for dispatching the rover, engineers have begun to raise it from its compressed travel position, as if it were a newborn stretching and kicking. The process of expanding the vehicle's legs and wheels to their fully extended position is taking two days.
The South Pole is slightly less hostile an environment than is Mars by a ratio of 1,000,000-1. If the penguins don't cramp your style, what about that God-forsaken place??
And by the time you or any of the Trekkies here buy a "homesite" on Mars, the Earth as we know it will have been blown to smithereens during the prophesied Armeggedon scenario...
For now, you may want to check out Siberia or The Yukon. A RE/MAX or Century 21 real estate agent may be able to help you out.
No part of this Constitution shall be construed to mean in any way that the legislature, the executive, nor the judiciary shall be allowed or entitled in any way, for any reason, to re-distribute the wealth of one party or group to another group, irrespective of perceived or real disparities. The right to own property shall mean that NO ONE has a right to take it away from you, especially the government.
The Second Amendment shall be construed as to mean that you HAVE to own a gun, unless you're mentally ill, mentally defective, or a criminal. NO OTHER EXCEPTIONS ARE PERMISSIBLE. Being determined to be liberal shall not be construed as a mental defect, common sense to the contrary.
No legislator shall serve more than twelve years in the Federal government in any branch. No exceptions will be allowed, and no changes to this rule are allowed.
Ex Post Facto laws and bills of attainder really are illegal, just to remind any moron legislator or Supreme Court judge who can't understand the original text.
Freedom of speech means exactly that. Nobody can shout "Fire!" in a crowded theater. No other exceptions to this rule are allowed, period, no matter how good the intent. We'll call this one the McCain Mutiny amendment.
Gee, with radical thoughts like these, in print, I can almost hear the Gestapo at my door, wondering where I got these dangerous, destructive ideas.
I know the Lunar Rover carried during some of the Apollo missions had fenders. From the pictures of the Mars rover I've seen, I'm not sure if it has fenders or not. And yes, it would be A Bad Thing if a big glob of Martian gunk smacked right into the camera's lens.
If this is true, then perhaps it is water.
Ever drive from Palm Springs to Needles CA, on a back road. Talk about space......
Based on the technology we are aware of and what we know now. In 100 years, we may look at Mars and say - "Terraform? That'll take 10 years."
It's along the lines of that Michael Crichton speech...
Why does everyone think it's a nation-state race? That's part of the collective thinking hopefully the exponential increase in liveable space could rescue individualism from, like when people talk of an American economy versus a British one. That economy is driven by individuals from each that work creatively and productively for profits. Anyone who keeps score sees that private initiatives produce more results than top-down government administered bureaucracies, so why is it "different" with NASA?
Somehow I think Anderson's vision of private firms advancing spacefaring is more sensible than Bush's bold national vision. But he's been pretty visionary with my taxes for awhile now. When does the conservatism-part begin?
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