New Rover Spies Layered Rocks on Mars

AP ^ | 31 minutes ago | ANDREW BRIDGES

[BenLurkin]

A NASA (news - web sites) rover got its closest-ever look at bedrock on the surface of Mars on Tuesday, and scientists were eager to determine whether the layering could have been formed in water.

The Opportunity rover spied the fine-scaled layering just days after it landed in a small crater on the far side of the planet from its twin, Spirit. On Tuesday, NASA unveiled a high-resolution photograph of the horizontally striped and fractured slabs of bedrock.

"Look at the wonderful layer cake-structure in there," said Steve Squyres, the mission's main scientist, as he excitedly narrated a slow pan of the black-and-white image. "It's going to be fascinating beyond words to get up close and personal with this thing."

The find is a significant one: Each roughly half-inch thick layer represents an event in the geologic history of the Red Planet that Opportunity should be able to reconstruct with its complement of cameras and scientific instruments.

Scientists believe the layers were laid down billions of years ago, piling up either as ash spewed by successive volcanic eruptions or as sediments borne by wind or water.

Some scientists believe the 18-inch-high band of layered rocks is cross-bedded in part, suggesting a sedimentary origin that would require the presence of water.

If so, the rocks could provide tangible evidence that Mars once was a wetter place capable of sustaining life. Images taken from orbit already suggest vast amounts of water once flowed across the surface of the planet.

The slabs of bedrock rim a portion of the shallow depression near where the six-wheeled robot sits atop its lander.

The Opportunity rover was in good shape after its weekend landing but had developed a small, 15-watt power loss that worried NASA.

Engineers believe a heater in the shoulder of its robotic arm has been turning on unnecessarily when temperatures drop. Engineers continued to monitor the situation, unsure if it could harm the rover.

"We're very paranoid people," mission manager Jim Erickson said.

The Spirit rover, 6,600 miles around the planet, continued to recover from computer problems that last week brought its science work to a halt. Engineers received additional data they hope will help them understand the problem.

Opportunity should roll off its lander sometime in the next two weeks. This week it is scheduled to put to use its mini-thermal emissions spectrometer, an instrument that measures infrared radiation, to reveal what minerals the rocks contain.

Together, the pair of 384-pound rovers make up an $820 million mission to prospect for geologic evidence that Mars was once a wetter world capable of supporting life.

[JoJo Gunn]

That was the best I could come up with. Did you make that image? Looks good. (Always loved that movie).

[doodad]

That would work as well. I really can't wait to see some close ups of the area. I hope the rover works over to the right.

[Lion Den Dan]

say definitively where any cross-bedding would be

I suspect cross-dressing may be to blame. Too much of that stuff and the population dies out.

[John H K]

NASA has their press release for today out on the Rover site, and also brand new pics from SOL 3 from the Pancam:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_p003.html

[Salamander]

Yeah..thanks....that's my silly Photoshop fix for *this* day....:))

Had to hunt like crazy in Google's image search.
Lots of Martian war machine pix but precious few of the critters themselves.

( that movie gave me big-time nightmares as a little kid )...LOL!

Just -awesome- effects considering they didn't have all that computerized CGI stuff back then.

I wonder if it's on DVD yet?

[InABunkerUnderSF]

What's wrong with all you guys? Lookit the far right. It's dinosaur bones.

That's just an old Thoth skeleton.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Now, that could be tectonically folded but it's rare to see folds that tight in that small an area, particularly with what is theorized about the history of Mars.

The impact that formed the crater could have caused the layers to bulge upwards.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Doodad, in your judgement what forces could cause the metamorphism in the ash?

I've read that the martian polar axis wanders all over the place - maybe this area was once under an ice cap. and that provided the pressure.

[InABunkerUnderSF]

Together, the pair of 384-pound rovers make up an $820 million mission to prospect for geologic evidence that Mars was once a wetter world capable of supporting life.

Is it just me or is anyone else getting a little tired of the need the press seems to have to keep reminding us how much the mission costs? The price tag is in almost every story.

If they're going to do this I think they should have to report the cost of every government program when they report anything about it, like "Here's our Doppler cam. photo of the four corners area, showing a band of thunder storms reaching from Prior to Fort Smith. The Doppler radar system costs $150 million dollars and covers an area of forty thousand square miles..." People would get sick of that real quick.

[Muleteam1]

>>maybe this area was once under an ice cap. and that provided the pressure.<<

Seems plausible if the ice was thick enough. We certainly know the dramatic geomorphic features the glaciers cut into North America during the last glacial age.

Muleteam1

[FreedomCalls]

There's layering on Venus too. What's the big deal?

Photo of the surface of Venus from Venera 14.

[FreedomCalls]

More layering on Venus.

Another photo of the surface of Venus from Venera 14.

[FreedomCalls]

More photos from Venus.

Photo of the surface of Venus from Venera 13. It looks like sedimentary rock to me.

[Fitzcarraldo]

Impressive picture of Venus' surface from a Soviet lander.
Sheet lavas, billions of years old.

[FreedomCalls]

Did you notice the mountain off in the distance on the horizon in the photo from Venera 13? Cool stuff!

[John H K]

The Venera pics don't bear the slightest resemblance to the Opportunity pics.

You see any thin laminated layering viewed edge-on in the Venera pics?

[FreedomCalls]

You see any thin laminated layering viewed edge-on in the Venera pics?

I see layering all over the Venera 14 images. In post 51 just to the left of the lander it looks like 3 or 4 thin sheets of slate.

[Fitzcarraldo]

I wonder if the apparent layering seen in the Venus lavas is
due to exfoliation due to high temperatures and corrosive atmosphere rather than deposition.

[JoJo Gunn]

Thanks for the link, John!

[FreedomCalls]

The Venera pics don't bear the slightest resemblance to the Opportunity pics.

Who said they did?