Slashdot Mirror
Rover Accidentally Uncovers Mars Hydrothermal Vent
The rover Spirit has been dragging one wheel around the surface of Mars for some time. One of the resulting gouges revealed a mineral deposit which was probably caused by a hydrothermal vent. This implies a large amount of water was present when the vent was active.
Very Cool Indeed.
:) Countdown is currently at 1day, 15 hrs...
Lets hope the Phoenix Lander finds something too
You can tell how powerful someone is by the magnitude of the crime they can commit and be able to get away with.
Even it's broken dragging wheel makes informative discoveries on the Martian surface. The Mars rovers are surely one of our most successful robotic missions ever. Kudos to JPL and NASA and the American Congress for keeping to fund these missions. Let's all keep our fingers crossed for the Phoenix lander this Sunday - landing is at approximately 5PM EST this Sunday on NASA TV.
It is certainly amazing that the rover is still running well after original mission end date and altogether amusing that, much like most other brilliant advances in science, the hydrothermal vent evidence was discovered completely by accident.
Chance; 'the powers that be'; chaos; coincidence; divine intervention; flying spaghetti monster or just the universes' subversive perverse version of humour; you get the feeling that if it weren't for an infinite amount of insanely improbable accidents, not only science but life as we know it just wouldn't have happened.
Come to think of it, The *Big Bang* probably happened because Chaos and God were up in God's room with Chaos' new chemistry set and they were arguing over who got to light the Bunsen burner when they accidentally knocked the "NEW INSTANT UNIVERSE!" out of the box and onto the floor.
(read instructions carefully. some assembly required. very fragile. may explode if dropped. do not unpack near open flame, spark or antimatter. Batteries not included. your results may vary. not responsible for damages incurred by improper implementation of instructions. universe may be damaged by improper handling. )
They were probably grounded for 240,000 years.
-Magdalene --"there are 10 types of people in the world, those who read binary, and those who don't"
Come on, Editors. This is big Geek news. Surely this deserves an expanded box on the main page and not just a single freaking line.
(or is that just the way it looks with my preferences? I'll accept brick-bats if I've done something stupid. However...)
"If god did not exist, it would be necessary to invent him" --Voltaire
While these rovers are pretty cool, they really do not contain that much equipment. In addition, once landed, they really do not travel that far. Instead, we would be better served with either a unique airplane or a balloon model. While they are testing the airplane idea, I would think that unless the wings can fold up, that when the infamous mars storms hit, that it will be all over. The balloon idea has the advantage of being able to fold up tight, but it can not be as easily controlled. One idea that I saw out there was to release 5-10 balloons with cameras and no ability to land. Right now, MRO has a camera that sees .3M, but an inexpensive camera on the balloon, should be able to take that much smaller due to height and far less atmosphere.
Quite honestly, the rovers are simple extensions of pathfinder, but we now need a combination of large jumps for spot checks and the ability to do a lot more science. The balloon approach would give us the ability to jump with small tests, while the MSL will be the logical outcome of the rovers combined with polar express. The biggest item that will come from the polar express will simply be the landing under power.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.