Spirit Grinds Adirondack, Looks for Iron

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Spirit Grinds Adirondack, Looks for Iron

Posted by Hemos on Monday February 9, 2004 @12:31AM from the mining-for-scienc-e dept.

Quantum Jim writes "Space.com reported on Friday that Spirit used its Rock Abrasion Tool against a Martian rock dubbed Adirondack. Although the rover spent three hours grinding the rock, it was only skinned by about 2.7 mm. Scientists say this is due to an unexpected amount of resistance. Spirit is currently standing by for ground contollers to deactivate a safety feature so it can be repositioned"

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Lack of interest? by tiled_rainbows · 2004-02-09 01:24 · Score: 3, Interesting

Does the fact that, at the time of writing, the only post in this thread is about asci cow porn indicate that people are getting bored with all this Mars stuff?

I hope not, but speaking personally, I'm finding it hard to get excited (about the rock-grinding, not the cow porn. I mean, that doesn't excite me either, I was just saying, in case anyone misinterpreted me).

--

evil math within Nature's Cubic Creation!
1. Re:Lack of interest? by stevesliva · 2004-02-09 03:25 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Boredom is inevitable, at least until the 3D IMAX movie comes out.
  The last time we were roving around on another planet and looking at rocks during Apollo 17, the world responded with a collective yawn. Better to bring your golf club like Alan Shepard. Now that's exciting! You can hit a one-handed seven iron like 1000 yards...
  
  --
  Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
saftey? by dan2550 · 2004-02-09 01:28 · Score: 1

saftey feature = bsod
1. Re:saftey? by noselasd · 2004-02-09 01:45 · Score: 4, Informative
  
  No. When Spirit encountered problems(the flash memory), the software sat a flag.
  The flag indicated that the rover shouldn't drive anywhere regardless of what commands it gets.
  Now that the memory issues are hopefully fixed, the engineers forgot to clear the flag.
  Naturally Sprit wouldn't perform the commands to drive.
  
  More at http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/mera/040208rove rs.html
2. Re:saftey? by Thing+1 · 2004-02-09 17:37 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Still, reminiscient of Chernobyl, where the engineers wanted to "turn off a safety feature" to run a test.
  But I think it was just a poorly-worded submission.
  
  --
  I feel fantastic, and I'm still alive.
eh... by deglr6328 · 2004-02-09 01:44 · Score: 4, Interesting

While Spirit's drilling of an igneous rock is kindof interesting, it's (IMHO) comparatively dull when contrasted with Opportunity's microscopic images of the sedimentary rock at the Meridiani location. The layers could have been formed by sedimentation at the bottom of a lake or by volcanic ash being succesively deposited by eruptions, we should know within a day or two when the APXS and Moessbauer spectrometer reveal the chemical makeup of the rocks.

--
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
1. Re:eh... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-09 02:31 · Score: 5, Informative
  
  It's not quite that simple, because a clastic (fragmentary -- sand, pebbles, etc.) sedimentary rock derived from volcanic rock sources may differ in a chemical analysis only slightly from the original volcanic rock. It is a common problem to distinguish between a primary volcanic ash deposit and some kind of volcaniclastic sedimentary rock. There should be some chemical differences between them, but given the poor understanding of weathering processes on Mars (past or present), it is little tough to make predictions about what the chemical differences will be.
  
  The microscopic imager may be of greater use here, because it may resolve details of the bedding that will distinguish how the material was deposited. Some of the pictures already show some strange "ball-shaped", better-cemented structures that are eroding out of the bedrock and are accumulating on the surface. These could be pebbles (i.e. sedimentary) or they could be lapilli (volcanic structures formed by the sticking-together of ash particles). They could also be zones of cementation that developed long after deposition (e.g., concretions), in which case they do not say much about conditions at time of deposition. The latter two are more likely, because the "balls" are so spherical (most pebbles are not so perfectly equidimensional).
  
  Anyway, people seem to focus on the quantitative chemical analysis instruments as the ultimate tool, but they only give bulk compositions. Chemistry only takes you so far. The imaging is at least as important, and it is complementary to the other tools. For a good field geologist (which these rovers are supposed to emulate), a hand lens is more useful than an APXS or Moessbauer spectrometer would be, but it is great to have them all along.
2. Re:eh... by stevesliva · 2004-02-09 03:28 · Score: 1
  
  Nice! Those layered images are pretty damn cool, but they haven't been featured on the marsrovers front page that I know of. Is that because the people analyzing the photos haven't agreed on how to characterize the photo yet?
  
  --
  Who do you get to be an expert to tell you something's not obvious? The least insightful person you can find? -J Roberts
3. Re:eh... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-09 04:29 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  That's because the apparently foliated structure of the Meridiani outcropping could have arisen from other processes than sedimentary deposition. The parallel channels shown in the outcropping could easily have arisen from steady weathering in an environment dominated by a single wind direction, for instance.
  
  In fact, interpreting them as sedimentary would require some pretty radical planetological claims: (a) a long-lasting supply of deep water in which sediment could accumulate into mudstone or sandstone, (b) a long-lasting influx of water to carry the sediments in, and (c) a mechanism for exposing an outcropping, whether through wind-driven erosion or seismic activity which would not wear the formation to the level of the surrounding sand in the period of half a billion years.
  
  If you want to be excited by them, talk about their observable features (foliation, heterogenous grain size, polarization proerties), not about their genesis. We don't have the evidence to conclude they're sedimentary, much as we would like to do so.
4. Re:eh... by deglr6328 · 2004-02-09 08:50 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  If you want to be excited by them, talk about their observable features (foliation, heterogenous grain size, polarization proerties), not about their genesis. We don't have the evidence to conclude they're sedimentary, much as we would like to do so.
  
  Yes, because when I think excitement, I think heterogeneous grain size polarization properties. :-) :)
  
  --
  - "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
5. Re:eh... by RobertB-DC · 2004-02-09 10:12 · Score: 1
  
  These could be pebbles (i.e. sedimentary) or they could be lapilli (volcanic structures formed by the sticking-together of ash particles). They could also be zones of cementation that developed long after deposition (e.g., concretions), in which case they do not say much about conditions at time of deposition. The latter two are more likely, because the "balls" are so spherical (most pebbles are not so perfectly equidimensional).
  
  I've been excited about the spheres, too. Unfortunately, there seem to be so many (and as you noticed, so perfect) that I can't imagine them ever being tumbled about in a Martian spring.
  
  I imagine they're the result of volcanic or impact processes throwing molten material up into the air. With a gravity one-third of Earth's, large, hot particles would have more time to coalesce into a sphere before they hit the ground.
  
  Bad news for the search for life, though. But part of me roots for the "dead planet" theory. We can put all the strip miners in a refurbished Saturn V, point it at Mars, and let them fight out mineral rights on the trip!
  
  --
  Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
Looking for the obvious by Pogue+Mahone · 2004-02-09 01:45 · Score: 4, Funny

From the title:
Spirit grinds Adirondack, looks for iron
It's right there in the middle, between Ad and dack. Silly of it not to spot that right away ;-)

--
Every bloody emperor has his hand up history's skirt [Peter Hammill/VdGG]
1. Re:Looking for the obvious by Quantum+Jim · 2004-02-09 04:40 · Score: 1
  
  Doh! I didn't even see that. Nice pun. :-)
  
  --
  It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
  - Jerome Klapka Jerome
2. Re:Looking for the obvious by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-09 14:07 · Score: 0
  
  John Nash! Welcome to Slashdot!
Images. by noselasd · 2004-02-09 02:00 · Score: 5, Informative

Those interrested in images from the rovers should perhaps bookmark
Mars Exploration Rover Imagery.
Nice and updated page with all the latest images.
1. Re:Images. by ktanmay · 2004-02-09 02:45 · Score: 1
  
  Or better yet.
2. Re:Images. by noselasd · 2004-02-09 03:05 · Score: 1
  
  That page provides a cleaner full-overview to all the images exactly how ?
Missing raw images by Frans+Faase · 2004-02-09 02:09 · Score: 2, Interesting

It seems NASA themselves are also getting lousy with putting all the raw images on the website. I get the feeling that some are missing. Are they affraid of others putting the color images together before they do themselves?
Tools by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-09 02:34 · Score: 2, Funny

Spirit used its Rock Abrasion Tool against a Martian rock...

...and by attaching the special router bit, it should manage to build a lovely bird-bath by the end of the week.
Re:Little Green Men by A55M0NKEY · 2004-02-09 03:01 · Score: 1

Unless one of the rovers discovers little green men, then there prolly won't be much exciting from them in the near future. They've already sent back the panoramas, so there won't be any more and different ones till they've moved quite a ways away.

But we still get intermittant stories about stuff that was discovered by te Viking probe. I'm sure the data these rovers collect will lead to lots of interesting discoveries over the coming years long after the rovers have stopped working when people have time to figure out what it means.

--
Eat at Joe's.
"ground controllers"? by mnmn · 2004-02-09 03:55 · Score: 0, Offtopic

Shouldnt they refer to them as "controllers in the sky on the wayward different planet"? We should use the reference of the rover when referring to it like "it turned left", which wouldnt be true if we used the reference of the "ground controllers".

Or are we firmly entrenched in the terms used when Sputnik was launched?

--
"Give orange me give eat orange me eat orange give me eat orange give me you." -Nim Chimpsky
1. Re:"ground controllers"? by Quantum+Jim · 2004-02-09 04:34 · Score: 1
  
  Sorry, I should have called them "mission control" I guess. (Although I just watched The Right Stuff before submitting the article.)
  
  --
  It is impossible to enjoy idling thoroughly unless one has plenty of work to do.
  - Jerome Klapka Jerome
Microspheres by bluyonder · 2004-02-09 04:24 · Score: 5, Interesting

I noticed that two of the micro images from Opportunity had overlapping coverage so I added them together into a red/blue anaglyph. Take a look here. (sorry Chris)
1. Re:Microspheres by Tablizer · 2004-02-09 14:10 · Score: 1
  
  Mother of God, Kix on Mars!
  
  --
  Table-ized A.I.
wouldnt it be cool by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-09 04:57 · Score: 0

if the controllers used Spirit to grind "NASA was here in 2004" on the rock?

if they did, then a far-future alien version of Richard Hoagland would at least have something worth blabberin' about.
Naming... by BladeMelbourne · 2004-02-09 15:35 · Score: 1

... against a Martian rock dubbed Adirondack ...
I can understand naming a huge rock hurtling through space, or the big red rock (monolith) in the middle of Australia. But naming a small rock on Mars?
Do the folks at NASA name their french fries before eating them too? LOL
Good news that both explorers are functioning well now.
1. Re:Naming... by Anonymous Coward · 2004-02-10 11:15 · Score: 0
  
  LOL! ROFFLE!