Spirit of Mars Finds "Magic Carpet" Mystery at Gusev Crater

Space.Com ^ | 01:35 pm ET 16 January 2004 | Leonard David

[sonofatpatcher2]

Mystery at Gusev Crater

By Leonard David

Senior Space Writer

PASADENA, Calif. -- Scientists are puzzled about a patch of soil near the Mars rover Spirit lander that they now call "Magic Carpet". The intrigue has been stirred up by how soil behaved when the lander’s airbags scraped across the martian soil. That soil appears to have been peeled away.

This odd performance of the soil, some speculate, could provide a window into the existence of subsurface water and, maybe, clues about whether Mars could sustain life.

There’s one thing for sure. Whatever the lander’s airbags have caused, the result is a "spirited" debate.

[sonofatpatcher2]

This "Magic Carpet" stuff has raised some real questions and looks to produce more as Spirit takes further looks. However, it will take a while to get any answers.

If there was a manned expedition up there, I believe the answers would be quicker forthcoming.

Anyone have any discussion on this other than from occupied ga's negative rants against space exploration?

[billorites]

[BushCountry]

It appears that "occupied ga" accomplished his goal of becoming infamous. Too bad. This might encourage him and I don't want to read anymore of his painfully ignorant arguments.

Here is the lighter side of the Mars exploration (you have to admit that the rock shapes are pretty strange). In the bottom right-hand corner is the picture of the folder sand?

[BushCountry]

Close-up of the folded sand.

[BushCountry]

"One suggestion for these has been that moisture was getting through the soil and evaporating and leaving behind some salts that help cement the soil together," he said. "Our instruments will be very good at measuring that."

Duricrust involves places where the dust is cemented locally to about a few millimeters to a few centimeters' depth. For most examples, duricrusts are speculated to be caused by water that sublimates from ice that's relatively deeper below the surface and then migrates toward the surface. It condenses very briefly at the surface, melting cementum -- that is clay-like material -- and very loosely binding the Martian sand together.

Martian sand grains are maybe on the order of tens to hundredths of microns in size--much more like flour than sand, with sizes much smaller than the width of a human hair.

The abrasion imaged in the forecground is thought to be part of the trail from an airbag retracting and scratching the surface. But the mud-like patch in the upper right is what is considered a more exotic geological surface.

Matt Golombek, chief scientist for the 1997 Pathfinder mission, told Astrobiology Magazine about his initial impressions from the panoramas: "We didn't see any dunes, really, just a few small ones, like [at the] Pathfinder [site]. We saw what looks like a lag deposit, like you've taken away all the fines and what you're left with are the rocks that are too big [for the wind] to move. And a duricrust surface, which is a more heavily cemented surface, particularly in the center of a bowl-shaped crater [visible in some images]".

Terrestrially in snowy areas, this kind of duricrust is closest in texture to the crust that forms on those extremely cold winter days when the powdery snow was underneath but there's a crust on top. If you're light enough, you can even walk on that crust, as it will support your weight. The Martian duricrust is not thought to be that thick or strong, but the particular cemented area in some parts of the panorama has scientists intrigued about testing its real texture, composition and strength.

[Lazamataz]

Maybe Mars itself is alive, and we abraded it's skin!!!

[Amelia]

Reminds me of where a sea turtle has crawled across the beach to lay her eggs.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Maybe the last thing the Martians did was flock their planet. I know back in Kentucky we flocked just about everything sixty years ago. Other advanced civilizations could have done the same.

The photo remined me. I'll email Walter "North Vietnam's most trusted American" Cronkite's former science advisor and Mars expert at http://www.enterprisemission.com/ to see what he thinks.

(No attempt at humor is too weak to pass up an opportunity to mention Uncle Walter's "contribution" to our Republic. I reckon it to be most of the post Tet offensive casualties.)

[VOA]

you have to admit that the rock shapes are pretty strange

Friendly question from a non-geologist..."strange" in what sense?

I'm not knocking the technical triumph of this lander/probe...
but so far, it looks to me like this patch of Mars is just a copy of the panhandle
of Oklahoma!

[capydick]

This is easy - Mars has got flounder on its surface:

[Wonder Warthog]

"In the bottom right-hand corner is the picture of the folder sand?"

Are there cows on Mars??? The looks amazingly like a "clover season" cow pie.

[Conan the Librarian]

No doubt they are Sand Trout. Like the ones in Dune.

[jetson]

Looks like road kill.

[RckyRaCoCo]

[fish hawk]

I know, it's Charles Laughton in The Hunchback of Notre Dame.

[jaz.357]

Looks more like a martian WALL EYED PIKE!

[BushCountry]

I'm not a geologist, but this rock looks the strangest of the bunch to me. I been in three different deserts and never seen anything similar.

[VOA]

"I'm not a geologist, but this rock looks the strangest of the bunch to me.
I been in three different deserts and never seen anything similar."

Thanks for the comment. I've only the most rudimentary knowledge of geology, even though
I did like "cool" rocks when I was growing up...ones that lit up under UV light or
the occassional old arrowhead.
Naively, I can see how the somewhat rounded shape of the rock might be interesting...
like smoothed by the flow of water.
And my equally-naive wonder is if millions of years of being blasted by
wind-storms of small grains of other rock-material hasn't just worn it down like
being hit with millions of random strikes with the functional equivalent of emery-cloth.

While I'm sure the pictures/rocks are pure joy for geologists/space scientists...
the idea that we can land, control and receive information at these distances (in such an
environment) amps me up...knowing this makes pulling off a similar mission at
(oh, say) a remote Al-Quida training facility on Earth appear a doable mission.

[Phil V.]

If youd like to be on or off this MARS ping list freep me.