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More on Mars "blueberries" -- Opportunity will head to big crater!
Space Daily ^ | March 18, 2004

Posted on 03/22/2004 2:13:13 PM PST by cogitator

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I knew that they had to send Opportunity to the big crater; there's nothing else around there to see, and the image indicates (as the article says) that there are bigger outcrops in that crater.

Opportunity ought to be able to set a Mars land speed record; that plain is FLAT.

1 posted on 03/22/2004 2:13:17 PM PST by cogitator
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To: cogitator
That image gives me a MUCH better perspective on how big (small) that crater is... I havent been following for a few weeks
2 posted on 03/22/2004 2:16:36 PM PST by smith288 (Who would terrorists want for president? 60% say Kerry 25% say Bush... Who would you vote for?)
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To: Dog; kayak; Miss Marple
More valuable info....
3 posted on 03/22/2004 2:39:21 PM PST by Molly Pitcher (Carter's idiocy is surpassed only by his uselessness.)
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To: cogitator
Didn't Kerry promise that "opportunity will be headed into a big crater" if he's elected?
4 posted on 03/22/2004 2:46:14 PM PST by anonymous_user (Politics is show business for ugly people.)
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To: cogitator
Real interesten, but I don't give a hoot in heck about water on Mars, I want to know if they got any oil or gas up there! I just paid dang near $55 to gas up my pickup truck.
5 posted on 03/22/2004 2:48:16 PM PST by ColoradoSlim
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To: smith288
That image gives me a MUCH better perspective on how big (small) that crater is...

It helps to be good, and it's even better to be lucky and good; they were extraordinarily fortunate to end up in that little crater, where they could get some nearly-immediate scientific results. Had they landed on the plain in between, they probably would have ignored the little crater and headed straight for the big one; and though it looks promising, that might not be a better scientific 'target'.

I just read an article that indicates they think they can get around a 200-sol lifetime out of each lander, so they've still got some time (Spirit is on sol 78, Opportunity is on sol 57).

6 posted on 03/22/2004 2:51:19 PM PST by cogitator
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To: ColoradoSlim
I want to know if they got any oil or gas up there!

No one is sure about that, but if so, the cost estimate on extraction and delivery is approximately:

$38,000,000,000 US/ barrel.

That probably won't be useful to your pickup truck.

7 posted on 03/22/2004 2:54:17 PM PST by cogitator
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To: cogitator
Unless the pickup truck is on Mars, of course.


8 posted on 03/22/2004 3:11:04 PM PST by mvpel (Michael Pelletier)
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To: cogitator
I just read an article that indicates they think they can get around a 200-sol lifetime out of each lander, so they've still got some time (Spirit is on sol 78, Opportunity is on sol 57).

How long until the Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the sun? We will lose contact before that. It takes Earth 182 days to get from one side to directly opposite on the other. The question is by how much does Mars lag behind?

9 posted on 03/22/2004 3:41:29 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: FreedomCalls
Mars takes 686.98 Earth days to complete an orbit around the Sun.

Go here to see a small sample.... http://www.humnet.ucla.edu/humnet/french/faculty/gans/java/SolarApplet.html


Get some FREE software HERE.... http://www.shatters.net/celestia/
10 posted on 03/22/2004 6:06:22 PM PST by Elsie (When the avalanche starts... it's too late for the pebbles to vote....)
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To: cogitator; zeugma; xm177e2; XBob; whizzer; wirestripper; vp_cal; VOR78; Virginia-American; ...



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

11 posted on 03/22/2004 6:08:33 PM PST by Phil V.
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To: Molly Pitcher
Of particular interest is the blueberry triplet, which indicates that these geologic features grew in pre-existing wet sediments.

Here is a 3-D magnification I made of the "triplet". I call it the Martian Kochina doll.


12 posted on 03/22/2004 6:14:13 PM PST by Phil V.
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To: Phil V.
Neat.
13 posted on 03/22/2004 7:02:20 PM PST by Darksheare (Fortune for teh day: Typos are a way of life and make cash for teh spellcheckers, contribute today!)
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To: cogitator
Top pic - is that Beagle's "landing spot" in upper right hand? The Crater?
14 posted on 03/22/2004 7:02:20 PM PST by azhenfud ("He who is always looking up seldom finds others' lost change...")
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To: Phil V.
They kept asking "where is that darn hematite we saw from orbit??"

Its in the berries. haha

15 posted on 03/22/2004 7:09:41 PM PST by GeronL (http://www.ArmorforCongress.com......................Send a Freeper to Congress!)
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To: Elsie
Mars takes 686.98 Earth days to complete an orbit around the Sun

So somewhere around the first of August we will cross behind the Sun to the opposite side from Mars. The mission will have to terminate at that point, unless the rovers can survive a 60-day or so loss of communications. So I don't think we can make it to a 200-day mission.

16 posted on 03/22/2004 7:45:28 PM PST by FreedomCalls (It's the "Statue of Liberty," not the "Statue of Security.")
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To: Phil V.
I am not sure I buy the water deposition mineralization theory of what formed the berries.

There is certainly more than enouch rock around to form a basis of alot of items being covered by this hematite scenarion. But everything we see is uniformly round.

Having seen mineral depositions by evaporation, it will deposit on whatever's there. The berries are too perfect.
17 posted on 03/22/2004 8:02:38 PM PST by djf
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To: djf
I'll go out on a limb and predict that sol-046 was the day that the break became apparent. I'll go out on a limb and say that this picture is central tio the great discovery . . .


18 posted on 03/22/2004 9:04:28 PM PST by Phil V.
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To: Phil V.
Thanks for the ping!
19 posted on 03/22/2004 9:30:13 PM PST by Alamo-Girl
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To: Phil V.
Phil V.,Please add me,thank you.
20 posted on 03/22/2004 9:35:06 PM PST by fatima (My Granddaughter is in Iraq-We unite with all our troops and send our love-)
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