Posted on 08/09/2005 1:18:11 PM PDT by LibWhacker
NASA's twin Mars rovers continue to turn up intriguing new rock formations after a combined total of nearly 1120 Martian days on the planet.
After discovering relatively little, other than basaltic lava flows, during its first six months on the Red Planet, Spirit continues to make up for lost time as it ascends Husband Hill - unearthing clues to violence in the planet's youth.
Meanwhile, Opportunity is also experiencing a reversal of fortune on the other side of Mars. After trudging over desolate stretches of sand for about five months, it has finally reached an island of bedrock that appears unlike anything yet seen in the mission.
Spirit landed in the lava plains of Gusev Crater, getting off to a slow start in its mission. But since it began clambering up to higher ground in the Columbia Hills in July 2004, it has seen granular rocks with a mix of grain sizes. And recently it has seen the most extreme case of this from a spot about 20 metres below the summit of Husband Hill, which rises about 80 metres above the floor of Gusev Crater.
Plum pudding
About a week ago, Spirit paused to study an outcrop called Voltaire. The outcrop is made of large, often angular "pebbles" that appear to have a different composition than the finer-grained material in which they are embedded.
The rovers' chief scientist, Steve Squyres at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, US, says the "plum pudding" composition hints at an explosive event such as a volcanic eruption or impact.
That view is strengthened by another rock that Spirit has been scrutinising for the last few days. Called Assemblee, it appears to be made of "cruddy glass" that may have been melted by such an event.
"The diversity of rock types is staggering," Squyres told New Scientist. He believes impacts may be to blame, pointing out that Spirit has previously uncovered rocks with high concentrations of nickel - an element found in many meteorites. The impacts would blast away different layers of the surface and jumble them together as they crashed down again. "You're basically throwing it into a blender," he says.
Early influences
But colleague Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, US, says there may be more to the story. "I think the crust is too complicated to have been produced by one process or one event," he says, adding that volcanic eruptions, impacts, wind and water all may have played a role. "These granular rocks were broken up, transported, put in place and cemented."
He says the Columbia Hills are even older than the approximately 3 billion-year-old volcanic plains that make up Gusev's floor and therefore contain clues about the events that shaped early Mars.
As Spirit continues towards the summit of Husband Hill and then proceeds down its southern slope, team members will compare the rocks to others they have studied. "If we see an even greater variety of rocks than we’ve observed so far, it will argue against one or two big events," Arvidson says.
Out to sea
On the other side of the planet, Opportunity is beginning to do some serious science of its own after a long stint of somewhat fruitless roaming. "Opportunity was the glamour rover for the first six months of the mission, but for the last five months, it has been trudging across a bleak plain of sand," says Squyres. "We felt like sailors who have been out to sea for months."
But within the last couple of days, the rover finally reached a little spot of bedrock - one of several scattered around the area. And it may prove worth the wait.
The rover used its rock abrasion tool to scrape the rock and found "blueberries” - broadly similar to those found in other places on Mars - that appear to have formed in the presence of water. But these have different size distributions and are not as spherical as those seen previously, suggesting the composition of the rock is different, says Squyres.
After studying this outcrop further, the team may send Opportunity farther south on Wednesday, towards an old, shallow crater called Erebus.
On Wednesday, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is also set to blast off to Mars. It will begin its work in November 2006, scanning the surface from a relatively low altitude of about 305 kilometres.
I sure hope it ends up on the "plus" side of the rather ghastly success rate for Mars missions. Last I checked it was something on the order of 60%.
About 60 years from the Wright brothers fist flight to landing on the moon. In the nearly 40 years since the moon landing our manned missions have achieved low earth orbit over and over and over.
Bill Gates was no astronaut!
They found oil?
I saw thoses pic's there are great, now I really have to stop the next time...
"pay dirt"? GOLD! Thars Gold in them thar canals! (rush, rush, rush......)
A $2 billion peep show is all....and the lense got fogged-up.
Actually it's because of the space program that many many many advantages have been had. Muscle stimulation therapy, aircraft design, gold plating (yep), reusable insulation, aviation design software, antenna systems, infrared cameras, portable radiation detectors....just to name a few.
It was a total blast. And, honestly, I went because I'm a wonderful girlfriend. I knew nothing about the space program even though Dad worked on the Apollo/Gemini communication programs, AF Col, etc. I was as interested in this stuff as a dog might be interested in an ironing board before I walked in. PLUS, it's free! Can't beat it with a stick.
I think post 10 brings up what you're referring to.
I know this site doesn't post data real time, but CCAFS still shows back to back launches on the 11th & the 12th.
(I am fortunate to be close enough to step outside and watch them.)
https://www.patrick.af.mil/launch.htm
Yup...
we pay for pictures of dirt.
At least on the moon we got some crud back @ $1billion a pound.
Typical liberal cost basis for most bureaucracies.
Much the same way my car studies the back wall of my garage after I come in the house I'll bet........
I come out in the morning to go to work and it's still staring.......spooky
Gets my vote.
How many decades from Benjamin Franklin did it take to find commercial use for electricity?
We need some serious tax exemptions for industrializing space. (Then somebody on FR will complain about offworlding jobs.)
By the way, is Pratt and Whitney still based out of Connecticut? Perhaps you should go picket in front of their headquarters in Hartford.
That machine is scaring the hell out of the little 1-inch people that inhabit Mars.
Yeah, but it's priceless crud.
It is a testament to the overall success of the Mars program that it is no longer front page news anymore. I'm willing to bet that in my lifetime we will land a man (or woman) on the red planet. That ought to make the front page.
Of course!!
When the Martians come here that's exactly what they will see.
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