Mars Rover Spirit - Steering to Serpent

JPL.NASA.GOV ^ | 3/16/04

[NormsRevenge]

Spirit began sol 71, which ended at 4:26 a.m. PST March 16, 2004, with a morning nap to re-charge after the record-breaking number of activities it accomplished on sol 70. After that, it was back to work. Spirit began by retracting the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, closing the doors, and imaging the doors with the front hazard avoidance cameras to confirm that they were closed. Spirit then proceeded to observe a soil target with the microscopic imager, and it also used the panoramic camera to observe the magnets, do a sky survey and capture a dust devil movie.

Then it was time to drive. Spirit completed a 15-meter (49.2 feet) blind drive followed by a 3-meter (9.8 feet) auto-navigation drive around the south rim of "Bonneville" crater toward a drift named "Serpent." Once there, Spirit completed post-drive science observations and a miniature thermal emission spectrometer study of the atmosphere, ground and future drive direction.

Spirit's main objective on sol 72, which ends at 5:06 a.m. PST March 17, 2004, will be to disturb and analyze the material at Serpent. Spirit will drive over the dune and back up to an optimal observation position. It will then analyze the area with the panoramic camera and mini thermal emission spectrometer. Spirit will end the sol by driving back on top of the dune.

[NormsRevenge]

Wow, that little berry is a tough nut, indeed.

[NormsRevenge]

Bones and many others did a Bangup job on the Columbia Orbiter thread. I am sorry to not see him here as well.

[NormsRevenge]

lolol

[Phil V.]

I have a gut level feeling that they are not being entirely forthcoming with all of the microscopic images of the last few sols. And a good portion of what they are posting is out of focus. They spent a lot of time of "berry-bowl" and there seems to be a huge gap in imagery.

[NormsRevenge]

That's a good observation.

The fact that the "water existed" announcement came so readily does not necessarily mean that all discoveries have been revealed.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the ping!

[Phil V.]

Remember this picture back on sol-046?

I mentioned then, before any hint of "brushing" the area that they'd be missing the boat if they did not try to "pick some berries" . . . fracture them from their "stems" as appears to be what happened in this picture . . . possibly showing the "root" or capillary that delivered the brines/"stuff" that "grew" the berries. I kept waiting for a shifted image of this "root". None came. And no posted pictures of this brushed area. I say that they found some really interesting berry stems. I just have a feeling that they are "hording" some really kool stuff.

[NormsRevenge]

hoarding? lol

could be, they have learned how to market their discoveries quite well, so far.

One of the supermarket tabloids had a picture of some weird catlike critters on it and a banner that proclaimed Life found on Mars. It was kind of funny to see how folks are making money off of this go-around at Mars.

[Phil V.]

Looks like "quad country". They certainly ought to be able to cover the ground to the next crater! . . .

[null and void]

Hoagland? Is that you???

[null and void]

GMTA

[ElkGroveDan]

I can't wait until Opportunity goes hematite dune hopping. My guess is those white slopes on the big crater are more of the same outcrops -- perhaps filled with beastie fossils.

What are they going to do if the rotini is all over the place up there and the little threads are abundant? What indeed.

[Phil V.]

THE NEXT CRATER IS BIGGER!!!

If the larger/deeper crater looks further into Mars' past then Opportunity" ought to be able to finish out the mission scouring the "bigger-deeper-older"

[RJL]

The picture in post 27 has got to be an ant hill.

Who would have thought that ants would be the first known (to us) interplanetary species.

[djf]

Fantastic science. My question is this: Can they differentiate the stuff the dunes are made of? Is there a difference between sand from an ocean beach on Earth with sand from desert/wind erosion conditions? Are the dunes in the pic residual sand from a Martian Bahamas?

[djf]

I think if they had an undeniable picture of a wombat scratching his crotch, it might be a while before we ever saw it... There would have to be academic and political inquiry into the effects on global society if they announced life.

[Don Joe]

Bones got pissed off over treatment on one of the ME threads.

I took a look at his last posting history. Oh my. He spattered a raging opus in several locations, saying he was gong -- and then spent the next two weeks raving, accusing, and generally... well, let's just say the poor guy is seeing Jews under every rock, and becoming increasingly upset by his discovery -- and, at FR's Jew-friendly environment. Lots of railing at the admins for tolerating it.

It was like watching some of the funnier scenes from The Blues Brothers, except without the "funny" part. (At least in terms of the "funny ha ha" kind of funny.)

I never would have suspected he was carrying that "stuff" beneath the surface. If I had, I would have whipped out my Star of Daved and waved it in his face and said "Boo!" :)

[zeugma]

and, at FR's Jew-friendly environment

What you ya mean "Jew-friendly"? Don't you know that FR is full of racist rednecks just itching to wreak havok and violence on Jews and them colored people? /sarcasm

One of the things I like about FR is that it's so much friendler and tolerant of differences of opinion and background than liberal sites.

[Don Joe]

Did you look at his last posts (ideally, in context)?

The guy basically imploded into a raving mass of spittle and venom, pretty much accusing FR of being (in not so many words) an arm of the IJC. He called the mods idiots for... well, it's all there, if anyone wants to see it.

It was kinda classic, kinda sad.

[chilepepper]

fossilized alien feces meethinks...