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NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Grinds "Cool" Rock

Posted by timothy on from the dude-that-is-far-out dept.

coondoggie writes "While its sister rover Spirit has garnered most of the attention lately, NASA's other Mars traveler, Opportunity, is chewing up Martian dirt and unearthing the mineral and chemical makeup of the red planet. NASA scientists said this week the rover uncovered 'one of the coolest things Opportunity has found in a very long time:' a dark, basketball-sized rock known as 'Marquette Island.' According to NASA, the Marquette Island rock is a coarse-grained rock that indicates it cooled slowly from molten rock, allowing crystals time to grow. Such composition suggests it originated deep in the crust, not at the surface where it would cool quicker and have finer-grained texture, NASA stated."

16 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. Unearthing? by Scutter · · Score: 4, Funny

    Opportunity is chewing up Martian dirt and unearthing the mineral and chemical makeup of the red planet.

    Shouldn't that be "unmarsing"?

    --

    "Tell me doctor, with all of your defenses, are there any provisions for an attack by killer bees?"
    1. Re:Unearthing? by Rogerborg · · Score: 3, Funny

      I named my fists Romulus and Remus.

      I named my fists Kirk and... well, the second one doesn't need a name. Kirk wins. You want to go again? Kirk wins again.

      --
      If you were blocking sigs, you wouldn't have to read this.
  2. Opportunity Rocks by smitty777 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The Opportunity is a pretty awesome vehicle. It has outperformed its mission expectations by over 200% - it is in the fifth year of what was supposed to be a 90 sol mission. It takes pretty impressive panoramic pictures as well.

    --
    "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish"
    Albert Einstein
    1. Re:Opportunity Rocks by shabtai87 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      They usually tell engineers to over-engineer, when in doubt, but props to these guys for taking it to the next level!

      --
      @humanity: *facepalm*
    2. Re:Opportunity Rocks by smitty777 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Silly humanoid - did you measure using martian time (sols?)

      --
      "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish"
      Albert Einstein
    3. Re:Opportunity Rocks by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I suspect that it is very hard to beat space travel when it comes to a truly lopsided ratio between (cost of design + cost of shipping) on the one hand and cost of construction on the other.

    4. Re:Opportunity Rocks by GooberToo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      This actually isn't a question of over engineering. The only reason we are getting so much life out of these units is because something most unexpected happened early in the life of the rovers once on Mars. The surprising fact is, dust has not been settling on the solar arrays, which would otherwise prevent the units from recharging. From day one, everyone expected dust to settle on the solar arrays where over time this would eventually completely cut off power to the units. They expected this to happen within a 90 day time frame.

      Since little dust has collected over time the robots have continued to recharge, thusly drastically extending their life beyond their proficised expiration date.

    5. Re:Opportunity Rocks by jgardia · · Score: 2, Funny

      metric or imperial days?

  3. Re:Two rovers, one stuck by montyzooooma · · Score: 2, Funny

    I agree. If Hollywood had been involved in these mission Opportunity would already have carried out a successful rescue mission.

  4. kirk fist, meet my feet by circletimessquare · · Score: 2, Funny

    chuck, and norris

    ROUNDHOUSE

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  5. Re:Two rovers, one stuck by smitty777 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Unfortunately, they are on the opposite sides of the planet. I was thinking the same thing - maybe one could assist the other. But considering it takes about a year to go 3 miles, it doesn't seem very practical. There is a serious race against time, as the martian winter is soon approaching, which NASA feels will certainly end the life of Spirit.

    --
    "Before God we are all equally wise - and equally foolish"
    Albert Einstein
  6. Re:Rocks?!?!? by happy_place · · Score: 3, Funny

    Well this is Mars. There are a lot of them. Family Vacations on mars might be as exciting as driving through Nebraska.

    "I spy with my little eye, something red."

    "Is it... a rock?"

    "Your turn."

    (repeat ad nauseum)

    --
    http://www.beanleafpress.com
  7. In other news by celtic_hackr · · Score: 2, Interesting

    NASA uncovers volcanic rock on a planet with the Solar System's largest volcano (Mons Olympus). Scientists say it must have come from deep inside the planet and could not have formed on the surface. Scientists get all giddy. Film at 11. Call me crazy, but why didn't they just state it came from a volcanic eruption? And how do they know it's not a meteor? Why all the drama. Sure it's cool to find volcanic rocks, or any new kind of rock, especially on Mars, but why all the mystery and misdirection? Why can't science be cool just for science's sake? Ugh.

    1. Re:In other news by SWPadnos · · Score: 2, Informative

      From the article:

      According to NASA the Marquette Island rock is a coarse-grained rock that indicates it cooled slowly from molten rock, allowing crystals time to grow. Such composition suggests it originated deep in the crust, not at the surface where it would cool quicker and have finer-grained texture, NASA stated.

      Note that they explicitly say that the rock did not cool on the surface, where it would have cooled quickly. Therefore, it's very likely that it did not come from an eruption of Olympus Mons.

      --
      - The Sigless Wonder
    2. Re:In other news by red_blue_yellow · · Score: 2, Interesting

      It's not only very likely, it's guaranteed that it did not form in an eruption. The rock they are considering is basically a form of granite. You can find granites in a few places, but a very common place for them to form is in a magma chamber beneath a volcano. Those may stay hot for years, allowing the magma to cool very slowly and crystals to form.

      So, I would say that there are a few things that could be interesting about this. First, our granites are typically micah, quartz, and feldspar (within the continents); I wonder what ones on Mars consist of? Second, this could possibly help us to understand a bit more about the history of plate tectonics on mars. As far as I know, evidence points to tectonic activity in the past, but it's not decided.

      --
      A neutral communications medium is essential. It is the basis of science, by which humankind should decide what is true.
  8. Intrusive Igneous by Drache+Kubisuro · · Score: 3, Interesting

    So if this is a coarse grained rock with a basalt composition, then I guess that means it is a Martian gabbro (on earth they tend to be used ornately as black "granite" countertops). Which is highly interesting because that may indicate crustal deformation. Here on earth, such rocks form deep in the ground in what we call plutons. These are pockets of magma that differentially crystallize into grabbros and granites. Plate tectonics nudges them to the surface and weathering + erosion helps to uncover them. The Sierra Nevadas is a continuous grouping of them called a Batholith. Yes, all that granodiorite use to be underfoot!

    Anyhow, this could be important in perhaps proving that, yes, at one point, Mars had active plate tectonics. Planet formation kind of requires it but good to know Mars may have had some crazy earthquakes in the past uplifting such rocks to the surface.

    --
    -Drache Kubisuro