Mystery Spheres on Mars Finally Identified

Space.com ^ | 17 March 2004 | Leonard David

[ElkGroveDan]

Scientists have learned the composition of the mysterious sphere-shaped objects scattered across the crater floor at Meridiani Planum, the landing site of the Opportunity Mars rover.

By using a Mössbauer Spectrometer mounted on Opportunity's robot arm, a patch of the tiny spherules -- also called "blueberries," although they aren't blue -- received close examination and have now been identified as hematite.

The spectrometer is designed to study minerals that contain iron, which are common on the Martian surface. Also used to pin down the makeup of the spherules was the rover's Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer, a science instrument that can recognize minerals formed in water.

Meridiani: shallow lake?

This new evidence further supports the hypothesis that the hematite mineral was likely formed in a past standing body of water. The Meridiani area, it is thought, was once a shallow lake.

Once Opportunity wheels itself out of its current shallow crater site, scientists expect the hematite-rich spherules to litter the landscape at Meridiani Planum.

Philip Christensen, a Mars Exploration Rover scientist from Arizona State University in Tempe, announced the finding yesterday at the 35th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference being held in Houston, Texas.

Formation via precipitation

"This finding further supports the hypothesis that these interesting 'Mars balls' are actually sedimentary concretions, rather than any of the other working hypotheses," said James Garvin, Lead Scientist for Mars Exploration and the Moon at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

There have been a variety of contending theories for what may have caused the unusual mineralogy at Meridiani, including volcanic causes.

Garvin told SPACE.com that this latest finding strongly supports the view that the rocks in the outcrop at Meridiani have been modified by water -- a determination made already through other research at the site.

"Hematite as a major compositional phase in the spherules supports their formation via precipitation, rather than as impact-related fallout," Garvin said.

"So, the story is getting better... and multiple lines of independent evidence support water-related chemical 'processing' of the rocks," Garvin added. "Now all we have to do is figure out what made the rocks in the first place and how long the water may have been involved in the 'soakings'. What a fun time!"

[ElkGroveDan]

Now we need to find the giant hematite lizard that laid all these eggs.

[ElkGroveDan]

ping

[N. Theknow]

Mystery Spheres on Mars Finally Identified

Mars has boobs?

[dogbyte12]

I always thought the mystery spheres would turn out to be Kerry's cojones. They haven't been spotted anywhere on earth.

[Robert_Paulson2]

so then, WHERE is the water.
If it was liquid, where are the theories about WHERE it has gone or WHY it has changed?

liquid water needs 32 degrees to thaw.
when was the last time Mars saw 32 degrees?

If it was two billion years ago, or two weeks agon makes a difference. We have suspected WHAT was on mars, for a long time. WHERE it is, went or how it left matters a lot. What we can do to recover and use it, matters a lot.

very frustrating...
we KNOW mars had water... is it on the north or south poles or what?

[Viking2002]

I was just thinking that Martian life must have a hematite-rich diet. From the looks of it, Martian bunnies, perhaps?

[freedumb2003]

received close examination and have now been identified as hematite.

Now that they have been discovered, the hematites filed suit in California to become married, saying that "genetalia doesn't matter as long as we are in Love."

[Diogenesis]

========= Meridiani Planum =========

At Meridiani Planum, Mars.

[dr_who_2]

Should have guessed.

[spokeshave]

Well.that's a relief.......I thought that they were dingleberries

[ChuckShick]

It sounds like the Horta to me. Where's Spock when you need him.

[Phil V.]

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

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Will hematite display a hexagonal crystaline structure as it builds the berries or do organisms oganize the hematite into hexagonal arrangements?

Below this picture from sol-028 is a 3-D of the shperule hear the center . . .

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[lonevoice]

Paging Richard C Hoaxland. Now that they've identified the blueberries, maybe they can get started on the pistons and fossils.

[Phil V.]

. . . note to self . . . TAKE A TYPING CLASS!

[FreedomFarmer]

No dingleberries in space...

Klingons.

[amom]

Excellent! This just keeps getting better.

Thanks for the ping.

[Rebel_Ace]

"...liquid water needs 32 degrees to thaw. when was the last time Mars saw 32 degrees?..."

Actually, in very low pressure environments, solid ice "evaporates" directly into the air without going through the "liquid" phase. When this is happening, the term (or verb) for it is "sublime", as in the ice sublimed into vapor. Since the air pressure on Mars is so very low, I would expect a chunk of ice anywhere away from the extremely cold poles to slowly disappear on it's own.

Once the water vapor was in the air, hard radiation could split the Hydrogen and Oxygen, where the lighter Hydrogen could "leak away" into space, and the heavier oxygen could bind with material on the surface to form a crusty-rust.

[gcruse]

Now we need to find the giant hematite lizard that laid all these eggs.

That would be the SHEmatite.

[Starve The Beast]

Well, shoot, there goes my caviar theory.

[Kirkwood]

"Once the water vapor was in the air, hard radiation could split the Hydrogen and Oxygen, where the lighter Hydrogen could "leak away" into space, and the heavier oxygen could bind with material on the surface to form a crusty-rust."

This is exactly what I was taught as an astronomy undergraduate 30 years ago. I don't think the theory has changed during that time.