Mud on the 'magic carpet' could prove that there's life on Mars

Scotsman ^ | 1-21-04 | Scotsman

[ambrose]

Mud on the 'magic carpet' could prove that there's life on Mars

JOHN INNES

SCIENTISTS behind the roving Mars buggy are trying to find out if it landed in mud. Strange marks near the Spirit Rover’s landing site suggest that there could be liquid water on or just beneath the surface of the planet.

The water would have to be very salty to avoid freezing or evaporating in the harsh Martian conditions.

If scientists’ suspicions are confirmed, it would be the clearest sign yet that lakes and oceans once existed on Mars and greatly increases the chances of life. The presence of water in the soil could even mean that the Viking Mars landing craft really did detect life on the planet in 1976.

Positive results from the Viking landers were dismissed when it was realised they could have been produced by an inorganic chemical process, but mud would rule out this explanation.

The mystery stems from a disturbed patch of ground close to the lander, the New Scientist reported yesterday. Dubbed the "magic carpet", it was made by the lander’s airbags scraping across the soil. But instead of breaking or cracking, as dry soil would be expected to do, the surface seems to have flowed and folded as if wet.

Steven Squyres, the science team leader, said: "It looks like mud, but it can’t be mud."

Pure water cannot exist at low temperatures, but scientists say that is not true of brine. If the water contained enough salt, it could be stable.

[ambrose]

Life on Mars Ping!

[vger]

It looks like mud to vger!

The yellow box in this high-resolution image from the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit outlines the patch of soil scientists examined at Gusev Crater just after Spirit rolled off the Columbia Memorial Station. Scientists examined this patch on the 13th and 15th martian days, or sols, of Spirit's journey. Using nearly all the science instruments located on the rover's instrument deployment device or "arm," scientists yielded some puzzling results including the detection of a mineral called olivine and the appearance that the soil is stronger and more cohesive than they expected. Like detectives searching for clues, the science team will continue to peruse the landscape for explanations of their findings. Data taken from the camera's red, green and blue filters were combined to create this approximate true color picture, acquired on the 12th martian day, or sol, of Spirit's journey. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

[vger]

Looks like my SUV on Sunday night after a hard weekend in the MUD!

This image mosaic taken by the panoramic camera onboard the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit shows the rover's landing site, the Columbia Memorial Station, at Gusev Crater, Mars. This spectacular view may encapsulate Spirit's entire journey, from lander to its possible final destination toward the east hills. On its way, the rover will travel 250 meters (820 feet) northeast to a large crater approximately 200 meters (660 feet) across, the ridge of which can be seen to the left of this image. To the right are the east hills, about 3 kilometers (2 miles) away from the lander. The picture was taken on the 16th martian day, or sol, of the mission (Jan. 18/19, 2004). A portion of Spirit's solar panels appear in the foreground. Data from the panoramic camera's green, blue and infrared filters were combined to create this approximate true color image. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

[ambrose]

[vger]

Holy Cow! It's the skull of Vger's first wife. I knew she was messing around with some low-life Martian!

[vger]

I forwarded your pict's URL to greicius@jpl.nasa.gov . It looks like you may have found life on Mars!

[ambrose]

And checked out the Martian version of "Winged Migration"...

[vger]

Uhh...those are just flies!

[vger]

Man everything is moving around up there! It gives me the heebee jeebees!

Even the muds moving!

[ambrose]

What a beautiful planet... I wish the rover could capture a Martian sunset, with Phobos and Deimos off in the distance...

[ambrose]

ping

[Ichneumon]

Pure water cannot exist at low temperatures, but scientists say that is not true of brine. If the water contained enough salt, it could be stable.

And just as life forms on Earth have evolved in ways that enable them to retain water (or heat, or whatever else they need) in harsh conditions where the local water/warmth/etc. would normally dissipate under purely natural conditions, perhaps there's subsurface "bacterial" life on Mars that performs whatever actions are necessary to keep the local water semi-liquid, as well as retain it in the soil.

[Don Joe]

That rock at the bottom (to the left of "JPL") looks like a fossilized seashell.

[Benjo]

That rock at the bottom (to the left of "JPL") looks like a fossilized seashell

I agree. It looks like a badly eroded conch shell.

[Cincinatus' Wife]

Water stops work on Mars:

Australian storm slows Mars rover Spirit is unable to receive signal - The Associated Press - [Full Text] LOS ANGELES — A thunderstorm in Australia disrupted science work on Mars, where the Spirit rover was awaiting instructions to study a rock, NASA said Wednesday.

Controllers were supposed to beam commands to the rover through a Deep Space Network antenna in Canberra. Rain and lightning made for a weak signal, and “it actually didn't get all the data,” said mission manager Jennifer Trosper at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Instead, Spirit continued to use a day-old sequence of commands that kept it awake and communicating but not moving or using its instrument-tipped robotic arm.

Rain was expected to continue in Canberra for a day or two. Whether that would delay attempts to have Spirit use its arm to drill into a rock was unclear.

NASA wants the vehicle to grind away an area of the weathered face of a rock dubbed Adirondack. The rock beneath could offer clues to Mars' geologic past.

On another issue, mission members said the Red Planet, as seen in gorgeous panoramic shots from the rover, may not be really red.

The photos of bright red dust, rusty rocks and salmon sky were color-balanced to approximate what a person might see standing on the Martian surface, but it may be weeks before scientists do calculations to show true color, said Ray Arvidson of Washington University, a scientist on the project.

Mars was sort of a medium chocolate brown in photos taken by the Viking landers in 1976, he said. [End]