MARS: The Case for Spirit's Water

SpaceDaily ^ | Mar 09, 2004 | Astrobiology Magazine

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

fyi

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

ping

[NormsRevenge]

"The rock Humphrey is definitely a volcanic rock, from crystallization by magma," said Avridson. "The tantalizing thing is that water was present during last stages of crystallization, and may have been a wet magma or eroded later. We'll look for dark rocks, broken by mother nature to see deeper into the interior."

Now we know. We need a big crater.

---

FRom BBC

Mars rovers' lifetime boosted

[Monty22]

Interesting. Doesn't Gusev have the giant river-looking flow coming out of it? You'd think it would show more signs of water. Mars always fascinates.

[NormsRevenge]

Mars rovers' lifetime boosted

By Paul Rincon
BBC News Online science staff

The rovers will spend 150 days longer on Mars than expected

The US space agency's Mars rovers may work for up to 240 days on the Red Planet, about 150 more than the mission team had originally projected.

Mission engineers have analysed power data for both Spirit and Opportunity which shows the vehicles are performing much better than they had expected.

It means the rovers can keep scouting Mars for many more interesting rocks.

Lead scientist Professor Steve Squyres made the announcement by satellite link-up to a Mars conference in London.

There is probably more driving in our future Jake Matijevic, Nasa JPL

But the mission team adds that its original estimates of Mars' environment and the rovers' performance were very conservative.

The rovers use energy from the Sun to power their batteries, using triangular solar panels that sit horizontally around their waists. The panels have proven to be very efficient.

Heater issue

In addition, the rovers have not needed to use up as much power for heating because the Mars climate has been warmer than projections implied.

Spirit and Opportunity will now be able to stay longer on the surface of Mars to carry out tests, something which has taken on new importance after the discovery of firm evidence showing Mars had the wet environments to support life.

"They will be able to travel some distance from the landing sites to see a different type of terrain, a different type of geological formation," said Jake Matijevic, assistant engineer at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

"There is probably more driving in our future."

He added that the revised estimate of 240 sols, or Martian days, for the rovers' lifetime was a good estimate, but could change if the Martian environment or the health of the rovers changed.

Opportunity has been suffering power loss due to a faulty heater in its robotic arm since it landed on 25 January.

But Mr Matijevic said plans to remove the power source to the heater for part of the night would even things out between the two rovers.

[NormsRevenge]

Found this too. :-( sounds like the Beagle bit it.

Beagle descent possibly too fast

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Thanks for adding that article. The Rovers are amazing contraptions!

[Burkeman1]

Does this mean that water could be extracted from the martian soil by some process?

[NormsRevenge]

Check this one out. Click the pic.

Mars rover position pinpointed


The rover landed in a shallow impact crater.

[Migraine]

...vugs, RATS, berries, geo-logic -- way out of my league, but fun to read...

[NormsRevenge]

here's a shot from the Nasa archives.

Gusev Crater

http://marsoweb.arc.nasa.gov/landingsites/sites/Gusev_Crater/

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Guess they need to add those Retro Rockets!

Or more parachutes, that rock sucks you in fast!

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

I don't know about Mars, but I attended a meeting in Albuquerque where some Los Alamos scientists had a way using nuclear powered heaters ( I think it was ) they said they could extract water on the Moon from the compounds in the various rocks !

So I think it would be possible !

[NormsRevenge]

Yup, they messed up atmosphere or descent-wise... not much room for error..

Here's a site to check out when you're bored.

Rover Landing Sites.. quite an set of shots from all over Mars...

[NormsRevenge]

Check this one out. Interactive Data Maps

I don't know what the heck it all is , but it looks cool. ;-)

The MOC images are pretty good too.

[Burkeman1]

If so- it would make any attempt at permanent settlement of Mars so much more cost effective that I can't even imagine.

[Unmarked Package]

Richard C. Hoagland will undoubtedly lapse into another psychotic episode of paranoia when he reads the final paragraph of that BBC News article regarding the ill-fated landing attempt by the European Beagle 2 rover.

"The meeting was also told that an unidentified object could be seen in the image taken immediately after Beagle was ejected from its mothership, Mars Express, five days prior to the landing attempt."

[NormsRevenge]

lol on Richard H. and ufo.

Thanks for the reminder, btw I got to tune in early tonight to CoasttoCoastAM. In the First Hour: Geologist Jim Berkland (syzygyjob.com) will discuss earthquakes in Wyoming and Yellowstone.

[Big Horn]

I still think they landed somewhere here in Wyoming. We had water at times.