Mars Exploration Rovers Update - February 13, 2004

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html

Update: Spirit and Opportunity


SPIRIT UPDATE: Movin' Towards "Mimi" - sol 40, Feb 13, 2004

Spirit woke up to its 40th sol on Mars to the song "What a Wonderful
World" by Louis Armstrong and then proceeded to have a wonderful sol
which ended at 7:59 a.m. Friday, PST. After utilizing the miniature
thermal emission spectrometer instrument on surrounding soil and
completing some pre-drive imaging with the panoramic camera, Spirit
proceeded 90 centimeters (2.95 feet) towards a collection of rocks
called "Stone Council." The drive lasted less than five minutes.
After completing the drive, Spirit imaged several rocks with the
panoramic camera, and completed a mosaic of the area in front and
to the left of itself.

On sol 41, which will end at 8:39 a.m. Saturday, PST, Spirit will be
repositioned in front of the flaky rock called "Mimi" in preparation
for placing its instrument deployment device on that rock during sol 42.


OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Intending to Trench - sol 19, Feb 12, 2004

During its 19th sol on Mars, which ends at 7:41 p.m. Thursday, PST,
Opportunity climbed to Waypoint Charlie, where it will complete its
initial survey of the outcrop nicknamed "Opportunity Ledge."

The flight team at JPL chose 'Here I Go Again' by Whitesnake as
Opportunity's wake-up music.

The plan for sol 20, which will end at 8:20 p.m. Friday, PST, is to
do a "touch and go," meaning Opportunity will touch the soil with its
instrument arm around the outpost area Charlie, then stow the arm and
drive. It will head for an area of soil that the rover's miniature
thermal emission spectrometer indicates is rich in hematite. Over the
following few sols, engineers intend to use one of Opportunity's wheels
to spin into the soil and "trench" a shallow hole so scientists can check
what's below the surface early next week. Knowing more about the hematite
distribution on Mars may help scientists characterize the past environment
and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for
life.

Scientists and engineers will pore over the data collected along
Opportunity Ledge this week to target a return trip to the most
interesting science locations along the outcrop later next week.

Ron wrote:

[...]
The plan for sol 20, which will end at 8:20 p.m. Friday, PST, is to
do a "touch and go," meaning Opportunity will touch the soil with its
instrument arm around the outpost area Charlie, then stow the arm and
drive. It will head for an area of soil that the rover's miniature
thermal emission spectrometer indicates is rich in hematite. Over the
following few sols, engineers intend to use one of Opportunity's wheels
to spin into the soil and "trench" a shallow hole so scientists can check
what's below the surface early next week. Knowing more about the hematite
distribution on Mars may help scientists characterize the past environment
and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for
life.

Any guesses what they will find in the trench ?
I bet they will not find a lot of hematite below the surface,
because it is concentrated in the spheres and the spheres are only
lying on the top.
There are no sand dunes like at gusev crater, because the spheres
prevent them from forming - is this possible ?
Could there be an other reason as density that prevents these spheres from beeing
burrowed below the dust, maybe some electrostatic effect ?
If the spheres were very light the wind would blow them to dunes, if they
were heavy they would be buried below the dust, and there is a lot of dust
falling down if you wait long enough...


--
http://www.geocities.com/carla_sch/index.html

"Carla Schneider" wrote in message
...
Ron wrote:

[...]
The plan for sol 20, which will end at 8:20 p.m. Friday, PST, is to
do a "touch and go," meaning Opportunity will touch the soil with its
instrument arm around the outpost area Charlie, then stow the arm and
drive. It will head for an area of soil that the rover's miniature
thermal emission spectrometer indicates is rich in hematite. Over the
following few sols, engineers intend to use one of Opportunity's wheels
to spin into the soil and "trench" a shallow hole so scientists can
check
what's below the surface early next week. Knowing more about the
hematite
distribution on Mars may help scientists characterize the past
environment
and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for
life.

Any guesses what they will find in the trench ?
I bet they will not find a lot of hematite below the surface,
because it is concentrated in the spheres and the spheres are only
lying on the top.
There are no sand dunes like at gusev crater, because the spheres
prevent them from forming - is this possible ?
Could there be an other reason as density that prevents these spheres from
beeing
burrowed below the dust, maybe some electrostatic effect ?
If the spheres were very light the wind would blow them to dunes, if they
were heavy they would be buried below the dust, and there is a lot of dust
falling down if you wait long enough...

Actually, if there is a little soil movement activity, or if the spheres
are moderately dense, the movement of sand could be enough to keep them on
top. Try placing various sized objects in a container and shaking it- the
smallest objects will sift to the bottom and the larger ones will rise to
the top. These spheres could be going through a similar process, keeping
them on the upper layer of regolith.
I am of the idea that the spheres are from one of three possible
origins:
a) an impact in mud and the thin air and low gravity allow them to
solidify and fall back to the ground. The spheres might have been heated in
this sort of event, hardening them.
b) accretion from some geological process, perhaps through the presence
of water.
c) biological activity.

If a) is true, then you would expect that these spheres might be very
old, when it was more likely that water was extant on the surface. But,
permafrost theories also say that there might be occasional torrents when
impacts or other events release the water bound up in permafrost.
If b) is true, you might expect a broader range of sizes, although some
type of sorting process might also be at work. However, the look at the
layering of the rocks and the fact that spheres are embedded throughout
seems to indicate that they were present before the rock layer were formed.
If true, and if the rock is sedimentary (as it appears to be) then it leads
you to think that the spheres are resistant to the action of water and from
an earlier period.
Of course, some suggest that the spheres might have formed inside the
rock, but my gut feeling (not very scientific!) is that this should lead to
various concentrations of these spheres through the rock, not the sparse
concentration we see. In other words, some clusters of the spheres should
occur if they were formed in the rock.
If c) is true, then we have found what we are after. I notice that many
of the spheres have odd characteristics, such as "tapered" ends, or small
depressions. Could these be traces of some structure that an original
organism had?
Another possibility is that some outcrop of mineral had crumbled and
rolled downstream in the past, wearing away and producing smooth "pebbles".
Note that this can also produce a sorting mechanism, as the movement of
water and the mass and size of the stones could select out the ones in a
narrow range of cross sections and masses. If true, we could expect to find
other areas with lots of spheres of different diameter- larger or smaller
overall.
Note that I do include the effects of water in most of my ideas. Well,
enough rambling.

Cheers!

Chip Shults

Hi Carla

"Carla Schneider" skrev i en meddelelse
...
Ron wrote:
snip
Any guesses what they will find in the trench ?

Crushed basalt - judged on the general dark colour of the tracks the rovers
leave behind.
As to the hematite I believe that - from whatever wet watery circulation, it
is a surface-precipitate. As a surface-feature it is vulnerable to the windy
abration that also may scatter it as dust to other parts of the surface.

I bet they will not find a lot of hematite below the surface,

That would make the general raised values an attribute to wind-action
depositing the stuff at one favoured spot - that seems less likely.

because it is concentrated in the spheres and the spheres are only
lying on the top.

Wouldn't that imply different modes of origin for the spheres - the
light-colored solid exposure seems to be composed of spheres but are low in
hematite.

There are no sand dunes like at gusev crater, because the spheres
prevent them from forming - is this possible ?

No. But there has to be a certain amount of moveable sand - it may have
blown elsewhere

Could there be an other reason as density that prevents these spheres from
beeing
burrowed below the dust, maybe some electrostatic effect ?

I don't think so. I have 'so to speak' introduced electrostatics to account
for the cohesion of the soil we saw at the early pictures. I ment it as a
substitusion for chemical reactions that has not happened, but would have,
had water been present - because of the large surface-area of (and
presumably large stock of) dust. It may however reveal a cerious gab in my
understanding of chemistry.

If the spheres were very light the wind would blow them to dunes, if they
were heavy they would be buried below the dust, and there is a lot of dust
falling down if you wait long enough...

Judging geology by pictures has a lot of drawbacks - it's not easy to 'see'
the density of one sphere.

Carsten

Carla Schneider wrote:
Ron wrote:

[...]

The plan for sol 20, which will end at 8:20 p.m. Friday, PST, is to
do a "touch and go," meaning Opportunity will touch the soil with its
instrument arm around the outpost area Charlie, then stow the arm and
drive. It will head for an area of soil that the rover's miniature
thermal emission spectrometer indicates is rich in hematite. Over the
following few sols, engineers intend to use one of Opportunity's wheels
to spin into the soil and "trench" a shallow hole so scientists can check
what's below the surface early next week. Knowing more about the hematite
distribution on Mars may help scientists characterize the past environment
and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for
life.


Any guesses what they will find in the trench ?
I bet they will not find a lot of hematite below the surface,
because it is concentrated in the spheres and the spheres are only
lying on the top.

The spheres are not only lying on the top -- they are the main
constituent of many of the thin layers. Most of the microscopic
images show layers of small, tighly packed (though not clear how
firmly cemented) spherules. Some, it looks to me like mostly the
somewhat larger ones, are weathering out. It looks to me like
most of the outcrop -- at least the one they have imaged most
closely -- is made of the spheres plus matrix of much more
fine-grained material, which (presumably) when it weathers turns
into the fine sand in which the loose spheres lie.




--
_____________________________________
Richard I. Gibson, Gibson Consulting
Gravity-Magnetic-Geologic Interpretations
http://www.gravmag.com

Education Director, World Museum of Mining
http://www.miningmuseum.org

Remove Roman 1993 to reply

In article ,
says...

snip

Actually, if there is a little soil movement activity, or if the spheres
are moderately dense, the movement of sand could be enough to keep them on
top. Try placing various sized objects in a container and shaking it- the
smallest objects will sift to the bottom and the larger ones will rise to
the top. These spheres could be going through a similar process, keeping
them on the upper layer of regolith.
I am of the idea that the spheres are from one of three possible
origins:
a) an impact in mud and the thin air and low gravity allow them to
solidify and fall back to the ground. The spheres might have been heated in
this sort of event, hardening them.
b) accretion from some geological process, perhaps through the presence
of water.
c) biological activity.

If a) is true, then you would expect that these spheres might be very
old, when it was more likely that water was extant on the surface. But,
permafrost theories also say that there might be occasional torrents when
impacts or other events release the water bound up in permafrost.
If b) is true, you might expect a broader range of sizes, although some
type of sorting process might also be at work. However, the look at the
layering of the rocks and the fact that spheres are embedded throughout
seems to indicate that they were present before the rock layer were formed.
If true, and if the rock is sedimentary (as it appears to be) then it leads
you to think that the spheres are resistant to the action of water and from
an earlier period.
Of course, some suggest that the spheres might have formed inside the
rock, but my gut feeling (not very scientific!) is that this should lead to
various concentrations of these spheres through the rock, not the sparse
concentration we see. In other words, some clusters of the spheres should
occur if they were formed in the rock.
If c) is true, then we have found what we are after. I notice that many
of the spheres have odd characteristics, such as "tapered" ends, or small
depressions. Could these be traces of some structure that an original
organism had?
Another possibility is that some outcrop of mineral had crumbled and
rolled downstream in the past, wearing away and producing smooth "pebbles".
Note that this can also produce a sorting mechanism, as the movement of
water and the mass and size of the stones could select out the ones in a
narrow range of cross sections and masses. If true, we could expect to find
other areas with lots of spheres of different diameter- larger or smaller
overall.
Note that I do include the effects of water in most of my ideas. Well,
enough rambling.

Cheers!

I think maybe there are some clues from the overhead imagery to the
formation of the units we're seeing on the ground. What those clues
mean, I'm not sure... *smile*... but there are clues.

I've looked at the enhanced version of the last DIMES images many times,
and I get the impression that something flowed across the flat plain,
from south to north. There are several features that look like very low
flow fronts -- they're roughly lobate and have subtle surficial
distortions that would indicate the bottom-to-top flow in reference to
the image.

These flow features don't look like the standard fluidized ejecta you
see around Martian craters. They look a *lot* lower, less relief. And
there's no conveniently-located craters (especially of the right size)
in the context views I've seen to have created such a pattern due to
ejecta.

So, there seem to be landform cues for very thin material flow across
the region. It certainly doesn't look like aeolian dust movement, it
looks like ground material flow. Now, whether this represents extremely
thin, runny magma or flooding by water or some other fluid. that's a
mystery, at present. But it ought to be taken into consideration when
trying to analyze the origin of the surficial materials...

Doug

On Sat, 14 Feb 2004 14:59:26 GMT, "Sir Charles W. Shults III"
wrote:

[snip...snip...]
If c) is true, then we have found what we are after. I notice that many
of the spheres have odd characteristics, such as "tapered" ends, or small
depressions. Could these be traces of some structure that an original
organism had?

Sponge-like critters would seem to be a possibility. They evolved very
early here and have fossilized remains that are similar to some of the
fragments.

http://www.colossal-fossil-site.com/...07porifera.htm
http://www.colossal-fossil-site.com/...06porifera.htm
http://www.oum.ox.ac.uk/children/fossils/sponges.htm

Of course, there's always the "Face on Mars" problem: Look at enough
chunks of rock and eventually you'll see something recognizable.
Would be cool, though...

--
Rich Webb Norfolk, VA

"Carla Schneider" wrote in message
...
Ron wrote:

[...]
The plan for sol 20, which will end at 8:20 p.m. Friday, PST, is to
do a "touch and go," meaning Opportunity will touch the soil with its
instrument arm around the outpost area Charlie, then stow the arm and
drive. It will head for an area of soil that the rover's miniature
thermal emission spectrometer indicates is rich in hematite. Over the
following few sols, engineers intend to use one of Opportunity's wheels
to spin into the soil and "trench" a shallow hole so scientists can
check
what's below the surface early next week. Knowing more about the
hematite
distribution on Mars may help scientists characterize the past
environment
and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for
life.

Any guesses what they will find in the trench ?
I bet they will not find a lot of hematite below the surface,
because it is concentrated in the spheres and the spheres are only
lying on the top.

Gee Carla, where did you get that information? Even the JPL scientists have
said that they have had trouble taking readings from the spherules ecause of
their small size. They haven't said what they are composed of. In
addition, there is no reason to assume that the spheres are only sitting on
top of the soil. Let's wait until they conduct the trenching and report on
their analytical results before we all make such pronouncements, shall we?

There are no sand dunes like at gusev crater, because the spheres
prevent them from forming - is this possible ?

Actually if you look at the picture at the following link. you will see
small dunes in the foreground. Since the rover has yet ot even leave the
crater, nad since the dunes you refer to at Gustev crater are ver small, I
see no reason to expect that these dunes will not be found at the
opportunity site as well.

Could there be an other reason as density that prevents these spheres from
beeing
burrowed below the dust, maybe some electrostatic effect ?
If the spheres were very light the wind would blow them to dunes, if they
were heavy they would be buried below the dust, and there is a lot of dust
falling down if you wait long enough...


--
http://www.geocities.com/carla_sch/index.html

George wrote:

"Carla Schneider" wrote in message
...
Ron wrote:

[...]
The plan for sol 20, which will end at 8:20 p.m. Friday, PST, is to
do a "touch and go," meaning Opportunity will touch the soil with its
instrument arm around the outpost area Charlie, then stow the arm and
drive. It will head for an area of soil that the rover's miniature
thermal emission spectrometer indicates is rich in hematite. Over the
following few sols, engineers intend to use one of Opportunity's wheels
to spin into the soil and "trench" a shallow hole so scientists can
check
what's below the surface early next week. Knowing more about the
hematite
distribution on Mars may help scientists characterize the past
environment
and determine whether that environment provided favorable conditions for
life.

Any guesses what they will find in the trench ?
I bet they will not find a lot of hematite below the surface,
because it is concentrated in the spheres and the spheres are only
lying on the top.

Gee Carla, where did you get that information? Even the JPL scientists have
said that they have had trouble taking readings from the spherules ecause of
their small size. They haven't said what they are composed of. In
addition, there is no reason to assume that the spheres are only sitting on
top of the soil.

Did you see the colored map of hematit concentration ?
No hematite where the airbacks compressed the soil, that means
the spheres have been pressed below the dust and the spheres are
the carrier of hematite mineral.

Let's wait until they conduct the trenching and report on
their analytical results before we all make such pronouncements, shall we?

It was a guess, I wanted to file here.
So if I am right I will be able to say I knew it in advance.


There are no sand dunes like at gusev crater, because the spheres
prevent them from forming - is this possible ?

Actually if you look at the picture at the following link.
???
you will see
small dunes in the foreground. Since the rover has yet ot even leave the
crater, nad since the dunes you refer to at Gustev crater are ver small, I
see no reason to expect that these dunes will not be found at the
opportunity site as well.

Lets see. usually a crater should be a place to expect such dunes if there
are any. There are no dunes visible that bury the spheres.


Could there be an other reason as density that prevents these spheres from
beeing
burrowed below the dust, maybe some electrostatic effect ?
If the spheres were very light the wind would blow them to dunes, if they
were heavy they would be buried below the dust, and there is a lot of dust
falling down if you wait long enough...


--
http://www.geocities.com/carla_sch/index.html

--
http://www.geocities.com/carla_sch/index.html

"Doug..." wrote in message
...
In article ,
says...

snip

Actually, if there is a little soil movement activity, or if the spheres
are moderately dense, the movement of sand could be enough to keep them on
top. Try placing various sized objects in a container and shaking it- the
smallest objects will sift to the bottom and the larger ones will rise to
the top. These spheres could be going through a similar process, keeping
them on the upper layer of regolith.
I am of the idea that the spheres are from one of three possible
origins:
a) an impact in mud and the thin air and low gravity allow them to
solidify and fall back to the ground. The spheres might have been heated in
this sort of event, hardening them.
b) accretion from some geological process, perhaps through the presence
of water.
c) biological activity.

If a) is true, then you would expect that these spheres might be very
old, when it was more likely that water was extant on the surface. But,
permafrost theories also say that there might be occasional torrents when
impacts or other events release the water bound up in permafrost.


If they're ancient I wouldn't expect the spheres to show a diversity
of condition, some badly broken, some very pristine. The Spirit
site looks ancient, this just doesn't to me.



If b) is true, you might expect a broader range of sizes, although some
type of sorting process might also be at work. However, the look at the
layering of the rocks and the fact that spheres are embedded throughout
seems to indicate that they were present before the rock layer were formed.
If true, and if the rock is sedimentary (as it appears to be) then it leads
you to think that the spheres are resistant to the action of water and from
an earlier period.
Of course, some suggest that the spheres might have formed inside the
rock, but my gut feeling (not very scientific!) is that this should lead to
various concentrations of these spheres through the rock, not the sparse
concentration we see. In other words, some clusters of the spheres should
occur if they were formed in the rock.


Isn't soil on earth built by repetitive biological cycles? Wouldn't
we expect to see fossilized examples of the biology that built the
soil in the bedrock, sedimentary bedrock?



If c) is true, then we have found what we are after. I notice that many
of the spheres have odd characteristics, such as "tapered" ends, or small
depressions. Could these be traces of some structure that an original
organism had?


When I look at this pic I can't help thinking we're seeing an
entire life cycle. Smudges of formation, mature forms and
broken forms.

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...P2953M2M1.HTML



Another possibility is that some outcrop of mineral had crumbled and
rolled downstream in the past, wearing away and producing smooth "pebbles".
Note that this can also produce a sorting mechanism, as the movement of
water and the mass and size of the stones could select out the ones in a
narrow range of cross sections and masses. If true, we could expect to find
other areas with lots of spheres of different diameter- larger or smaller
overall.
Note that I do include the effects of water in most of my ideas. Well,
enough rambling.



I really wish the rover would take a spin outside the crater to get
some good images of the surrounding field.



Cheers!

I think maybe there are some clues from the overhead imagery to the
formation of the units we're seeing on the ground. What those clues
mean, I'm not sure... *smile*... but there are clues.

I've looked at the enhanced version of the last DIMES images many times,
and I get the impression that something flowed across the flat plain,
from south to north. There are several features that look like very low
flow fronts -- they're roughly lobate and have subtle surficial
distortions that would indicate the bottom-to-top flow in reference to
the image.

These flow features don't look like the standard fluidized ejecta you
see around Martian craters. They look a *lot* lower, less relief. And
there's no conveniently-located craters (especially of the right size)
in the context views I've seen to have created such a pattern due to
ejecta.

So, there seem to be landform cues for very thin material flow across
the region. It certainly doesn't look like aeolian dust movement, it
looks like ground material flow. Now, whether this represents extremely
thin, runny magma or flooding by water or some other fluid. that's a
mystery, at present. But it ought to be taken into consideration when
trying to analyze the origin of the surficial materials...



I live along the Florida everglades, it's a 40 mile wide river of grass
following the flow of mostly underground water. I can't help but think
the soil, spheres and smooth flowing terrain around Opportunity is a result
of underground water or ice.


Jonathan

s





Doug