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Mars Rovers Find More Evidence of Water
loconet writes "Space.com and JPL are reporting that the Mars Rovers might be on the verge of confirming that large amounts of water once flowed in a region of Mars that has looked curiously dry until now. Such a finding could be comparable to their discovery earlier this year of an ancient shallow sea on the other side of the red planet. Opportunity has found lumpy, odd rock unlike anything its seen to date. The rock concentration seems much rougher than the 'blueberries' found earlier on in the mission. Researchers hope to swing by the rock on the way out of Endurance for further study. 'It could just be one big mass of concretions,' Squyres said. 'I just don't know.' Meanwhile, Spirit, which has now climbed about 10 yards up a hillside, getting above the Gusev plain, found an interesting rock dubbed 'Longhorn'. Both rovers have been exploring more than twice as long as they were designed to last. And even though the Martian winter is at its coldest, engineers are confident that the rovers will continue, despite showing signs of mortality."
the remains of the parachute and heat shield which were seen in other photos early on.
Yeah, not the most exciting thing but you could send the rover(s) on a long trip to see the remnants and examine stuff along the way.
Checking the remains would provide information for future designs regarding heat shield and parachute technology.
We will bankrupt ourselves in the vain search for absolute security. -- Dwight D. Eisenhower
In theory it's possible, but that's where the geologists come in. I would think that they can analyze the rocks and come to a pretty reliable conclusion as to whether they're meteorites, volcanic, or (fingers crossed) sedimentary.
Karma: Segmentation fault (tried to dereference a null post)
Are the rovers equipped to identify traces of life if there are some around ? Or would that specifically require an entirely different mission ? I know Beagle2 was built for this purpose but the poor thing slept to its death on the way down...
Maybe we deserve this world ?
I don't know about anyone else, but when I first saw the picture, my reaction was not "Oh, it's a rock!"
In fact, not that I believe it is as such necessarily, it looks like a fossilized organic somethingoranother. The back end looks something like a frog. Now, this is probably proposterous (it is most likely a volcanic-produced rock), but I sure wouldn't mind being (accidentally) correct.
With the casual way that they mention that they *might* go by and check it out, I certainly hope that they do! Of all of the "rocks" that they have studied so far, I think that this one merits a much less casual reaction. I find their treatment of this discovery a bit odd.
Who knows...
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"We are Linux. Resistance is measured in Ohms."
I'd definitely say the rovers have been money well spent. I'm impressed by how long they've lived past their estimated KIA date. Most impressive. If only more NASA projects could be as successful.
I've seen those images and while they are impressive, I think what they are showing are artifacts from image compression. Have any of the probes taken high resolution images of this area. I would think the EU probe could provide some resolution to this issue.
The entry in the afformentioned website was posted after the slashdot story broke. its obvious intention was to get free advertising on Slashdot.
In fact, this is the third story I've seen today with an advertisement for illuminedgaming.com
- Some sort of errosion pattern
- Pattern formed by soil shifting as ice/dry ice forms and melts/sublimates
- Result of some sort of erruption of gases trapped in the soil during the winter
I went to the homepage of the spider site you linked, and they had links to papers suggesting the third point. While I like his short stories, I think Clarke is looney on this one.In today's news, there is a description of research into a next generation rover designed to search for life, which will be tested in Chile's Atacama Desert. It is currently designed only to detect DNA-based life as we know it. This may be good enough for Mars, considering the meteorite-carried exchanges of material between Earth and Mars.
I have a feeling that we are still fighting Galileo's battle. A particular strand of Christian thought - medieval Aristotelianism - is still making the running. Aristotle, on no particular evidence, thought that the planets were perfect, lifeless and unchanging - the Schoolmen adopted this as dogma - and scientists and engineers at Nasa are still trying to demonstrate that we occupy what is probably a very ordinary little planet, with a very ordinary set of dominant life forms, against people who think we are unique and very important in this huge universe. You know who you are.
You can still see the lens of Galileo's original telescope, which actually destroyed Aristotle's ideas for anyone with an open mind. I hope one day someone brings the Mars Rovers back to Earth, perhaps along with the Hasselblad left on the Moon. They are signs of a human achievement bigger than the Pyramids, St. Peter's or the Great Wall of China - and an achievement which is under threat from fundamentalists, whether Islamic or Christian. I still find it amazing that the country that has produced insitutions like NASA and Woods Hole has places that mandate the teaching of Creationism, and I find that far more worrying than a survey that suggests that only a minority can find the Pacific.
Panurge has posted for the last time. Thanks for the positive moderations.
Why will the rovers fail?
Here's the likelyest causes.
1. The solar cells accumulate dust and their efficiency reduces.
2. Heating and cooling cycles cause micro-fracturing of the crystals in those solar cells. Their power production decreases for sure, AND the cracks increase how much dust clings to them, so if #1 isn't a problem, it possibly will become one.
3. Flexable materials will outgass some of their lubricants and plasticisers. Plastic parts are particularly vulnerable to multiple combinations of thermal cycling, low pressure and the daytime UV. Greases and oils will eventually break down for similar reasons, causing moving parts to stick.
4. Many electronic components are mounted on plasticized boards, not that different from the ones used in commercial designs, although the NASA ones are ruggidized quite a bit. The boards are still vulnerable to the thermal cycling and outgassing problems, although their mostly being buried deep inside the spacecraft helps with thermal cycling problems.
I'd expect to see the craft brought down eventuallly by a wheel lock-up, though either of them may be able to drag one wheel at reduced efficiency for a time.
Before the main control circuits in the craft's center fail, I'd guesstimate that we will hear of boards in the peripherals (like out in a camera arm), going out and taking down those functions.
Who is John Cabal?