Hollow Mystery For Mars Rover (Hollow Grains)

New Scientist ^ | 1-19-2004 | David L Chandler

[blam]

Hollow mystery for Mars rover

13:27 19 January 04

NewScientist.com news service

The Mars rover Spirit has completed its first full set of scientific measurements with the instruments on its robotic arm, revealing mysterious hollow grains in the soil.

The one-metre arm used its microscope to take a close-up image of an undisturbed patch of soil next to the NASA rover. It shows mostly sand-sized particles, but with a large number of apparently hollow spheres or tubes. The image resolution is about 30 microns per pixel - about the width of a human hair.

Such grains were completely unexpected. But John Grotzinger, a geologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says they closely resemble formations he has seen in soils in the southwestern deserts of the US. "There are little tubes that build up by capillary action," he told New Scientist, as salty water evaporates from the nearly-dry soil.

The Martian grains must also be strong enough to withstand the region's strong winds and perpetual scouring by dust devils - tornado shaped vortexes that can tower to heights of kilometres.

Triple point

The pressure and temperature conditions at Spirit's landing site, Gusev crater, are close to the triple point of water, Grotzinger says. This means any water present could change phase between solid, liquid and gas in response to small changes in conditions, and it is an area whose temperatures vary widely during the daily and seasonal cycles.

Interactive Mars

Pure liquid water cannot be stable at the site under present conditions, says Grotzinger. But a brine might be as the dissolved salts would change the freezing and boiling temperatures.

Other scientists suggested in 2003 that brines in the soil might explain other puzzling Martian features seen in images taken from orbit by Mars Global Surveyor. These are thousands of dark gully-like streaks seen on the walls of some craters and canyons.

But Grotzinger warns that it is far too early to rule out alternative explanations, such as dust that has been clumped together by electrostatic forces. This has previously been suggested to explain some crusty soil seen by the Pathfinder lander in 1997.

But, whatever is causing these unusual features, Grotzinger believes the rover's multiple spectrographic tools and trench-digging capabilities give it a very good chance of finding out.

David L Chandler

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Darksheare]

Interesting.
Mars is pretty high in iron.(obviously)
Magnetite is possible, so grains sticking together and stacking may be evidence of magnetite existing somewhere.
Depends on the nature of the stickng together/stacking.

But teh hollow grains..
This is weird.
Mars is alot stranger than previously thought.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Just where do you find these candy wrappers? And what shade of blue or red is necessary? LOL

[Pan_Yans Wife]

pong

[Phil V.]

Perhaps a florist might have some colored cellophane. . . . gift wrap . . . Red red and I’ve used two different shades of blue. Both work.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Thanks, brilliant! (I haven't been able to find 3-D glasses, anywhere!)

[mewzilla]

Maybe they're eggs...

Teeny little hortas?

[StriperSniper]

The Earthlings are going to invade and the government is spending our hard earned tax dollars on press releases and denials instead of preparing for the battle to come."

Synopsis: People are Alike All Over: Episode #25 – March 25, 1960 – when a space expedition crashes on Mars, passenger Sam Conrad (Roddy McDowall) is terrified when he encounters Martians. To his initial relief, they are humans, extremely friendly and apparently just like us…

Source

[RightWingAtheist]

I LOVE TZ!

[RightWingAtheist]

This just gets more and more fascinating. Thanks!

[myself6]

I found a blue transparent plastic folder for one side and bought one of those boxes of valentines candy wrapped in red cellophane for the other.

My wife walked in while i was utilizing my improvised 3D glasses ( red cellophane draped over one lens of my glasses and holding a blue folder over the other side). She now believes that I have lost my mind.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Tell her all the "cool kids" are doing it. :)

[brazucausa]

THANKS for ping.

[myself6]

I gave her the box of chocolate. But she then muttered something about nerds bearing gifts.

[Grut]

A normal human hair is about 100 microns or larger, not thirty.

I recall that when I was in the Air Force we frequently cited a hair-diameter standard that was finer than normal.

[Phil V.]

She now believes that I have lost my mind.

You too? . . . CONDOLENCES . . . (I'm in the middle of a negotiation with my wife over activities this Saturday . . . a previously agreed upon visit to Tahoe and the evil money guzzling alien machines . . . or the second landing thread. . . . MY PRESENT OFFER . . . double down on Mars . . . we stay home, and I double her allowance . . .)

[Heatseeker]

LOL. It could be worse - you could tell her you need to adjust your biorhythms to Martian time. Don't ask me how I know this.

[RightWhale]

The atmosphere is so light that man could jump from one floor to another without the use of stairs.

When I was young I could leap 24". On Mars that would have been 63", which is 5 feet. Floors are usually at least 8 feet apart, sometimes 10 or 12 feet. Anyway, it's usually considered gravity rather than the weight of the atmosphere that determines how high one might leap.

[RightWhale]

The pressure and temperature conditions at Spirit's landing site, Gusev crater . . .the triple point of water

This was discussed on FR a couple years ago in relation to the 'Martian glass municipal subway tubes' that are actually ice rods.

[Professional Engineer]

MARTIAN AIR FORCE DENIES STORIES OF UFO CRASH

Pssst Over here