Shortage of Mars Headlines

Jochem Huhmann wrote in :

I'm stunned by the lack of discussion regarding the images
sent by Spirit.

Isn't the Usenet the central source of discussion on almost any topic?

Marvin wrote in :

I find it amusing that the news highlights and most visitors to these
forums, all seem to care about the rovers power and mobility but not
about what it is actually capable of discovering. Ive seen 300++ posts
on the solar cells, and 100+ about the "fake" color in the camera
shots. But ZERO discussion about the interesting nature of the sand on
mars. Things like why ultra-dry super-fine dust should clump together
like that on the smaller scales.

Does the clumping have to do with the search for water? I think the
general public is more interested in practicalities, like the search for
life, than geology of only theoretical interest. Even I don't care, and
I'm a major space buff.

But I've gotta say that I was a little dismayed when the network news
referred to the spectrometer on the Spirit arm as a "mass spectrometer."
Spectrometer = small machine. Mass Spec = huge machine. Aaaarrrrgh!!!

(Gary W. Swearingen) wrote in
:

I'd like to see some blogs or informal articles by project personnel, but
I suspect that there's a gag order preventing that.

Gag orders can only be issued by a court. NASA is part of the executive
branch.

Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote in
:

I can tell you what the hold up is. Steve Squyers.

He does seem to be kind of a hard nose. What do you know about him that we
don't?

January 24, 2004

John Schutkeker wrote:

Spectrometer = small machine. Mass Spec = huge machine.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...s+spectrometer

Thomas Lee Elifritz
http://elifritz.members.atlantic.net

Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote in
:

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...ure+mass+spect
rometer

They actually sent a teeny, tiny mass spec up on this thing?! No wonder it
cost $400 million. SPIRIT, PLEASE COME BACK TO LIFE!!!

I don't see mass spectrometry anywhere, and I retract my previous message.

From http://www.astronautix.com/craft/mer.htm

The primary science instruments carried by the rovers we

Panoramic Camera (Pancam): for determining the mineralogy, texture, and
structure of the local terrain.

Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES): for identifying
promising rocks and soils for closer examination and for determining the
processes that formed Martian rocks. The instrument would also look skyward
to provide temperature profiles of the Martian atmosphere.

Moessbauer Spectrometer (MB): for close-up investigations of the mineralogy
of iron-bearing rocks and soils.

Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): for close-up analysis of the
abundances of elements that make up rocks and soils. The Mössbauer
Spectrometer and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer would analyze the
particles collected and help determine the ratio of magnetic particles to
non-magnetic particles. They would also analyze the composition of magnetic
minerals in airborne dust and rocks that have been ground by the Rock
Abrasion Tool.

Magnets: for collecting magnetic dust particles.

Microscopic Imager (MI): for obtaining close-up, high-resolution images of
rocks and soils.

Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT): for removing dusty and weathered rock surfaces
and exposing fresh material for examination by instruments onboard.

Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote in
:

January 24, 2004

John Schutkeker wrote:

Spectrometer = small machine. Mass Spec = huge machine.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&i...ure+mass+spect
rometer

Thomas Lee Elifritz
http://elifritz.members.atlantic.net

In article ,
John Schutkeker wrote:
But I've gotta say that I was a little dismayed when the network news
referred to the spectrometer on the Spirit arm as a "mass spectrometer."
Spectrometer = small machine. Mass Spec = huge machine. Aaaarrrrgh!!!

Actually, a mass spectrometer is a device that measures a spectrum
of molecular or atomic mass. Typically it shoots the atoms through a
magnetic field onto a detector screen. This is like examining a baseball
by throwing a curve ball and seeing how much the path curves. Supposedly
Beagle had a small mass spectrometer on it. Of course Mars Express can't
have that, because an orbiting spacecraft can't scoop up material to do
the spectroscopy. Instead Mars Express has a photographic spectrometer:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/mars/m...24science.html

This is basically a color camera, except that it has thousands of
independent colors in a wide infrared range, instead of the human R, G,
and B in the narrow visible light range.

You also shouldn't confuse mass spec with mass general. That's a hospital
in Boston.
--
/\ Greg Kuperberg (UC Davis)
/ \
\ / Visit the Math ArXiv Front at http://front.math.ucdavis.edu/
\/ * All the math that's fit to e-print *

January 24, 2004

John Schutkeker wrote:

Thomas Lee Elifritz wrote in
:

I can tell you what the hold up is. Steve Squyers.

He does seem to be kind of a hard nose. What do you know about him that we
don't?

Nothing, just what I've seen of him in the media and at the press conferences.
He is indeed an inflexible hard nosed skeptic, just fine for building a
spacecraft to explore Mars, but for actual exploring Mars and doing
breakthrough science, skepticism and bureaucracy are not necessary, daring and
speculation usually suffice, and I have seen none of that in his demeanour.
With critical anomalies, daring and innovation are requirements. Of course, no
lives are at stake here.

Thomas Lee Elifritz
http://elifritz.members.atlantic.net

January 24, 2004

John Schutkeker wrote:

I don't see mass spectrometry anywhere, and I retract my previous message.

From http://www.astronautix.com/craft/mer.htm

The point of the post was to indicate that mass spectrometers are not
necessarily 'huge machines', they are getting smaller and more sophisticated
every year, and will eventually be standard equipment on planetary landers,
flybys and penetrators. It can certainly get a lot more sophisticated than the
suite of spectroscopy instruments available on MER.

For instance, 2 step laser mass spectroscopy was used on ALH80001.

Thomas Lee Elifritz
http://elifritz.members.atlantic.net