Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Curiosity Finds Volcanic Soils

Posted by Unknown on from the hawaii-is-from-mars dept.

Zothecula writes "NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has completed its first soil analysis of the Red Planet. The unmanned explorer used an advanced, miniaturized X-ray diffraction instrument that is part of the Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) of its internal laboratory. The soil, collected at a site designated 'Rocknest' in Gale Crater, reveals that Martian soil is a weathered volcanic type similar to soils found in the Hawaiian Islands." And, of course, a shot of the area because it looks cool.

5 of 52 comments (clear)

  1. I'm still waiting... by K.+S.+Kyosuke · · Score: 4, Funny

    I really hope that Curiosity finds a Martian cat one day.

    --
    Ezekiel 23:20
    1. Re:I'm still waiting... by SJHillman · · Score: 5, Funny

      Pretty sure that was their main reason for equipping it with a laser.

  2. Pack your bags! by crazyjj · · Score: 4, Funny

    Martian soil is a weathered volcanic type similar to soils found in the Hawaiian Islands

    Now all it needs is air pressure, oxygen, water, more sunlight, an ozone layer, a magnetic field, arable soil, flora, and fauna--and we can live there no problem!

    --
    What political party do you join when you don't like Bible-thumpers *or* hippies?
  3. Seems to be logical. by jellomizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A lot of the dirt we see on Earth, is made from decayed plant material, even normal beach (non-volcanic) sand on our beaches are made up of a lot of crustacean shells. Even with some water chances are Mars is lifeless, if there is live it wouldn't be as plentiful. So the soil would be mostly volcanic like.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  4. Re:What other kinds of minerals were they expectin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    They are in the commissioning phase for the instruments. They chose to sample this location precisely because it looked like it would be a fairly ordinary volcanic sand. They say in the press release that it's more or less what they were expecting. They weren't expecting big surprises, just confirmation that the instruments do indeed seem to be working.

    They will have more interesting sedimentary rocks to sample once they move on to new sites. In fact, some finely-layered, probably sedimentary bedrock outcrop can be seen on the other side of the gully to the northeast of where the rover is now, in the direction they are planning to head next (the telescopic zoom on the mastcams is awesome!). I think the short-term plan is to drill some of those outcrops and run them through the chemical and other analyses. Then they'll probably turn around and head south to look at the main outcrops on the mountain in the middle of Gale Crater, but that's probably a month or two away at least.