NASA Mars Rover's First Soil Analysis Yields Surprises

JPL.NASA.gov ^ | 1/20/04 | JPL/NASA

[NormsRevenge]

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Images and additional information about the project are available from JPL at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and from Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., at http://athena.cornell.edu .

[NormsRevenge]

Mysterious Lava Mineral on Mars
Jan. 20, 2004

This graph or spectrum captured by the Moessbauer spectrometer onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the presence of three different iron-bearing minerals in the soil at the rover's landing site. One of these minerals has been identified as olivine, a shiny green rock commonly found in lava on Earth. The other two have yet to be pinned down. Scientists were puzzled by the discovery of olivine because it implies the soil consists at least partially of ground up rocks that have not been weathered or chemically altered. The black line in this graph represents the original data; the three colored regions denote individual minerals and add up to equal the black line.

The Moessbauer spectrometer uses two pieces of radioactive cobalt-57, each about the size of pencil erasers, to determine with a high degree of accuracy the composition and abundance of iron-bearing minerals in martian rocks and soil. It is located on the rover's instrument deployment device, or "arm."

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/University of Mainz

[NormsRevenge]

A Rainbow of Martian Elements
Jan. 20, 2004

This graph or spectrum taken by the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the variety of elements present in the soil at the rover's landing site. In agreement with past missions to Mars, iron and silicon make up the majority of the martian soil. Sulfur and chlorine were also observed as expected. Trace elements detected for the first time include zinc and nickel. These latter observations demonstrate the power of the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to pick up the signatures of elements too faint to be seen before. The alpha particle X-ray spectrometer uses alpha particles and X-rays to measure the presence and abundance of all major rock-forming elements except hydrogen.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry

[NormsRevenge]

Super Rover's X-Ray Vision
Jan. 20, 2004

Located on the arm of the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit, the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer uses alpha particles and X-rays to determine the chemical make up of martian rocks and soils. This type of information helps scientists understand how the planet's crust was weathered and formed. Mars Exploration Rover team members used this palm-sized instrument on a small patch of martian soil just after Spirit rolled off the Columbia Memorial Station. They found that although the soil was very similar to what they had seen previously on Mars, the instrument's improved sensitivity allowed them to see new elements and subtle differences not detected before.

Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Max-Planck-Institute for Chemistry

[Hunble]

Ok, help me out here.....

Why is this not expected?

Scientists were puzzled by the discovery of olivine because it implies the soil consists at least partially of ground up rocks that have not been weathered or chemically altered.

Uh, could this have something to do with being inside of and also rather close to a small crater?

[jwalburg]

Rovers

[ambrose]

What are these circled images?

(Here's the original uncircled image: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/016/2N127786600EFF0327P1932L0M1.JPG)

[NormsRevenge]

jw - Thanks!

Great 'toon! :-]

[sigSEGV]

CCD pixel flipping. You can get the same thing with your digital camera at home. With the raw image, you'd be able to see that they align perfectly with the pixel grid of the camera. Unfortunately, the JPEG compression makes it harder to see.

[sigSEGV]

Note that the specks are in the same exact spot of the CCD in another shot of a different area.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/2/n/016/2N127786698EFF0327P1932L0M1.JPG

[ambrose]

Not little Green Men ?? :(

[NormsRevenge]

Thanks. an interesting effect.

[ambrose]

Hey... am I the only one who would sooooooooooooooo love to be there, right now? (with an oxygen mask, of course).

[NormsRevenge]

I hear ya. I'm a bit of a rockhound myself. ;-)

[ambrose]

I wish they'd land a rover at one of the mountain ranges, and another one at the polar areas.

[NormsRevenge]

Yup. We need to go where the water is, maybe.. and where the hill folks live. ;-)

[ambrose]

And let's quit f$*@($g around and get on with it!

[AppauledAtAppeasementConservat]

"Hey... am I the only one who would sooooooooooooooo love to be there, right now? (with an oxygen mask, of course)."

Add a matching pressurized suite to that oxygen mask and I'd wanna join ya! Seriously though, wouldn't it be awesome to reach down and pick up those rocks and look at them up close.

[NormsRevenge]

Yup! I agree. Rovers are cheap. Let's Do It!

FYI --- Report: NASA Lags on Shuttle Return-To-Flight Plans

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ROFLMBO***!!!!

What a great Toon!!!