Debris found in Southern CA Desert - Anyone know what it might be?

Mike Flugennock wrote:

On a slightly-related subject, Opportunity seems to have spotted her old
backshell again in
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/galle...B118R1_br2.jpg
...in the left third of the pan, at about ten o'clock from the low-gain mast.


What's the thing that looks like a badly-weathered 4 x 4?

Pat

In message , MattWriter
writes
The three tubular things look like hydraulic or pneumatic cylinders.

Pat BRBR


I can't imagine this being a satellite or components thereof. There's almost
no evidence of heating, and the impact speed should have been high enough to
both crush and bury it a lot more.

Wouldn't the impact speed have been the same as for anything else that
falls out of the sky (from an aircraft, for instance)? Terminal velocity
isn't necessarily going to bury it. It certainly doesn't look burnt,
though, unlike the pictures of rocket debris I've seen.
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Peter Stickney wrote:

I don't think so - it's too small, and not enough wires. Check out
Radio Research (Found through the Thomas Register) for what would be
involved.
Pat - I've already got dibs on the B-47 radar/turret combination.


Oddly enough, that was the first one that popped into my mind also- but
if that's the case, then where are the guns?

Pat

"Doug..." wrote in message
...
I'm getting a little worried about Spirit Girl, though -- she hasn't
posted to her livejournal in more than a month.

She's a goth. They get sulky like that.

Neil Gerace wrote:

"Doug..." wrote in message
...

I'm getting a little worried about Spirit Girl, though -- she hasn't
posted to her livejournal in more than a month.


She's a goth. They get sulky like that.




When goths get sulky, they do more bad poetry..

On Tue, 25 May 2004 16:23:34 GMT, Doug...
wrote:

Steve Squyres said as much during the last press conference -- he'd
REALLY like to see the effects of entry on the shield. And, like I've
been saying for some time, it's obvious that the heatshield's impact dug
a hole that's deeper than any other fresh hole at the landing site.
Squyres really wants a look into that hole, too. So, I'll betcha we get
to visit the heatshield before it's all over...

....IIRC, they were saying for a while that *one* of them would get to
see one or both of the shell halves, but all of a sudden they quit
making that promise.

OM

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In article ,
om@our_blessed_lady_mary_of_the_holy... _facility.org says...
On Tue, 25 May 2004 16:23:34 GMT, Doug...
wrote:

Steve Squyres said as much during the last press conference -- he'd
REALLY like to see the effects of entry on the shield. And, like I've
been saying for some time, it's obvious that the heatshield's impact dug
a hole that's deeper than any other fresh hole at the landing site.
Squyres really wants a look into that hole, too. So, I'll betcha we get
to visit the heatshield before it's all over...

...IIRC, they were saying for a while that *one* of them would get to
see one or both of the shell halves, but all of a sudden they quit
making that promise.

Yeah -- I think that, before they identified the Columbia Hills as a
traverse target for Spirit, the first primary trraverse target after
Bonneville Crater was going to be the backshell and 'chute. But when
they grew the balls to decide that they could, indeed, drive for two
months and get to the nearest obviously different landform from what
they are sitting on, the backshell and 'chute lost a lot of their
intrinsic interest.

However, I don't think anyone has ever doubted that Opportunity's
heatshield, being positioned fairly close to Endurance Crater as it is,
would be visited. Even Squyres insists that, in the event they decide
to drive on into Endurance, they'll postpone that until *after* they do
more exploration out on the plains. And that includes a visit to the
heatshield and the hole it dug on impact.

Doug

Greetings all,

My hiker friend took another trip out to the site yesterday and found
some more debris about 1/2 mile away. I didn't get a chance to talk
to him before he went, but he took a few more photos which are here,
scanned from disposable camera prints : -o

http://home.earthlink.net/~jpa_2/

Also, the items are at approx 33 00' N and 116 22' 30" W, not as
specified below.

Note there is a number on the wing : 212

Item 1 is the first part he found, which is in a relatively hidden
area.
Item 2 is the wing, which also has some graffiti marks from other
hikers and is in a more exposed area.


-Paul



On Tue, 25 May 2004 03:29:20 GMT, Paul wrote:

Mary and others,

I'm not familiar with quoting coords so bear with me. Within a mile.
the item is at:

Latitude North 33 deg 00'

Longitude West 116 deg 7'30"


I understand it's about 3 foot dia. Can't say if there are any exotic
alloys there.

A group of us under-employed folk from the local coffee shop might
visit the site later this week and take better photos. It's about a 2
hour drive and a half hour walk. We will look for nameplates but
don't plan on messing with it too much as it's in a state park.

FYI, the same image with less JPG compression is at:

http://home.earthlink.net/~jpa_2/wreckage.jpg


-Paul





On Mon, 24 May 2004 13:00:34 -0700, Mary Shafer
wrote:

On Mon, 24 May 2004 05:59:12 GMT, Paul wrote:

The item in the photo at the link below was found impacted on the
desert floor .... anyone seen anything like this before?

Yeah, not exactly like, but it's pretty obviously aircraft debris. I
mean, it hasn't reentered the atmosphere, since there's no melting and
the paint is still there, so it's not part of a satellite or
spacecraft.

For some reason, I keep thinking F-4. I don't know why, though. How
about some dimensions and materials? A picture may be worth a
thousand words, but a picture with dimensions and some words is worth
a lot more.

Can you give me an approximate latitude and longitude so I can look it
up on my Western Aeronautical Test Range maps? The more correct they
are, the more useful, but that may not be possible.

Mary

"Charles Buckley" wrote in message
...
When goths get sulky, they do more bad poetry..

It's sulky-smooth.

OM wrote:

...IIRC, they were saying for a while that *one* of them would get to
see one or both of the shell halves, but all of a sudden they quit
making that promise.


Which seems strange; I would have gone for the impact hole immediately,
as it would have been a superb chance to see freshly exposed Martian
subsurface material. If you were going to find subsurface ice before it
sublimated into the atmosphere, this would be a great place to start
looking.

Pat