NASA Ponders Signs of Water-Bearing Mineral on Mars

Yahoo! News ^ | 2/26/04 | Gina Keating

[LibWhacker]

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - NASA (news - web sites) scientists said on Wednesday that they were within weeks of unlocking one of the key mysteries about Mars -- whether the arid planet once had water and was able to support life.

The rovers Spirit and Opportunity, working on opposite sides of the planet, have returned data from soil and rock samples that leave open the possibility that Mars once was warmer and wetter.

At the end of planned 90-day missions for the rovers, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, should be able to determine what role, if any, water played in the planet's geological history, Ray Arvidson, deputy principal science investigator, said.

"Water is the elixir of life," Arvidson told reporters. "And if we come to the conclusion that water has been involved in the surface or subsurface at some time in the past, then I think the probability that ... life could have gotten started goes way up."

He said scientists would need "a couple dozen more sols," or martian days, to finish critical measurements, download data from the rovers and narrow several working hypotheses about the planet's geological history, not all of which include a role for water.

WIND, LAVA, WATER

Opportunity has spent 33 sols on Mars studying finely layered bedrock in the small crater where it landed at Meridiani Planum near the planet's equator.

Scientists were puzzling out whether the layers were formed by wind, volcanic lava floes or water, and if spherical "blueberries" discovered in the rocks were water-related.

The rover has sent back high-definition and microscopic images as well as data about the composition of the rocks and soil that suggest the presence of gray hematite, which on Earth can form in oxygenated water.

Opportunity's spectrometers have detected a large deposit of hematite in the surrounding plains and in a flat area of bedrock nicknamed Charlie Flats, which held a variety of soil and rock types, Jim Bell, JPL's panoramic camera scientist, said.

"We can't unequivocally say this is coarse-grained gray hematite, but it's a hypothesis we are putting forward," he said. "We really need some better compositional information."

The "blueberries," found throughout the bedrock, may have formed in a water-charged volcanic explosion, from iron-bearing minerals that corroded in water or from molten rock that sprayed into the air and solidified as spheres as it fell to the ground, Arvidson said.

"We're getting chemistry and mineralogy from a number of sites to put the whole story together," he said. "That story is right around the corner but we need to finish this work in progress."

Spirit, now in its 53rd sol, has cut a zig-zagging path from its lander through an increasingly dense field of rocks toward a 15-meter (49 ft) deep crater nicknamed Bonneville.

Inside the crater, scientists hope to pierce the planet's surface layer of volcanic basalt to reach more ancient rocks and soil that may have been formed by water.

Spirit rests in a hollow named Middle Ground, about 110 meters (361 ft) northeast of its landing site. The rover, equipped with a suite of scientific instruments, has been sampling soil and rocks along the way to the 150-meter (492 ft) wide crater.

Engineers plan to upgrade the rover's software in a couple of weeks to allow it to move more quickly through the rocky ground and to negotiate Bonneville Crater's steep rim.

[farmfriend]

ping

[billorites]

I read these Mars stories and they just makes me wanna pee.

[Phil V.]

HERE'S a 3-d of Opportunity's grind - including "the thing" 2/3 way up and near right edge.

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If you'd like to be on or off this MARS ping list please FRail me

[SJackson]

Thanks for the pings. Even though I prefer not to travel outside of the US, I enjoy reading about it. :>)

[Djarum]

Why do they act as if there is doubt as to whether there was water on Mars? The polar ice caps are frozen ________?

[LibWhacker]

Frozen carbon dioxide, I think.

[KevinDavis]

Looks like Mars once had water. This is also proves that Earth is not the only planet that contains life and also we need to send humans to Mars to find out more info on Mars.

[blam]

"That story is right around the corner but we need to finish this work in progress."

Waiting...waiting.

[theDentist]

In a related story, the Sierra Club began preparations for an organized protest to take place outside the main external pressurized entry hatch of any martian base/laboratory mankind might build on the red planet. The protest will be in the name of any form of life that might exist. Greenpeace stated they will delay participation until a body of water large enough to support their protest boats can be located.

[Fitzcarraldo]

"...this [is a] work in progress..."

Arvidson used this phrase about seven times during today's press conference.

When asked about the 'strange shapes' in the rocks and soil, he implied that they might be (paraphrashing) tricks of lighting and perspective.

The most substantial science result presented was given by an Undergraduate, who gave a brief presentation on sand and dust motion on Mars.

[LibWhacker]

Y'know . . . I take that back . . . Look what I just found:

The Geology of Mars:
Ice Caps

 

 

 

The change in the North polar cap from the end of winter (upper left of image) to mid-spring (center) to early summer (upper right) 

Mars has both north and south polar ice caps. These polar caps, like ours on Earth, grow and recede with the Martian seasons. 

3-D View of the North Pole

Both poles have small permanent (or residual) caps and seasonal (or transient) caps that grow very large then shrink.  The north pole permanent cap is water ice. The south pole permanent cap seems to be a mixture of water and carbon dioxide ice.  Both seasonal caps are carbon dioxide ice.  Both poles also exhibit layered terrains.

The south polar area contains a series of layered deposits thought to be composed of ice and dust that settled out of the atmosphere. It is composed mainly of frozen carbon dioxide (dry ice) with some water ice recently discovered. This photo shows the south polar cap of Mars at its smallest size of about 400 kilometers (249 miles). It looks reddish because of the Martian red dust that has been absorbed into it. To read more about the south pole of Mars, click here.

Residual South Polar Cap

The north polar cap is believed to be composed mainly of water ice and is surrounded by sand dunes. When the cap recedes during the north polar summer, the residual (remaining) cap is water ice.  The seasonal (or transient) cap that grows in the winter is frozen carbon dioxide. The white surface at the top of the second image is a layer of water ice. The reddish cliff below is about 500 meters high, and contains many alternating layers of ice and dust. These layers could preserve a record of past changes in the Martian climate and would be exciting to explore. To learn more about the north polar cap on Mars, click here.
North Polar Cap	North Polar Sand Dunes

North Polar Cap Layers

From http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/CAS/lessons/L9/17.HTM .

So why do they make such a big deal out of it???

[longtermmemmory]

Some of us do not have 3d Glasses. or stereo glasses.

Where can we obtain them?

please.

[Paladin2]

I want to see fossils on Mars, even if NASA has to invent them.

[Fitzcarraldo]

I want to see fossils on Mars, even if NASA has to invent them.

What's that thing in the upper right corner?

[LibWhacker]

You can get them here. Not endorsing them, just saying. I've seen several other websites offering them. Someone on FR the other day suggested you raid your kids' dresser drawers to find that pair they used at the last 3D movie they went to, lol.

[Fitzcarraldo]

ping

[LibWhacker]

You can even make your own. :-)

[LibWhacker]

Holy cow! Sure looks like it, down to the finest detail almost.

[tet68]

Wonder what made that impression, bottom of picture, middle of frame.

That IS an impression of some kind?