Camera on Curiosity's Arm will Magnify Clues in Rocks

Camera on Curiosity's Arm will Magnify Clues in Rocks
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 16, 2010

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-384

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, will wield an arm-mounted magnifying
camera similar to one on the Mars Rover Opportunity, which promptly
demonstrated its importance for reading environmental history from rocks
at its landing site in 2004.

Within a few weeks after the landing, that camera at the end of
Opportunity's arm revealed details of small spheres embedded in the
rocks, hollows where crystals had dissolved, and fine layering shaped
like smiles. These details all provided information about the site's wet
past.

The camera installed on the end of Curiosity's arm this month is the
Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. Its work will include the same type of
close-up inspections accomplished by the comparable camera on
Opportunity, but MAHLI has significantly greater capabilities:
full-color photography, adjustable focus, lights, and even video. Also,
it sits on a longer arm, one that can hold MAHLI up higher than the
cameras on the rover's mast. MAHLI will use those capabilities as one of
10 science instruments to study the area of Mars where NASA's Mars
Science Laboratory mission lands Curiosity in August 2012.

The Mars Hand Lens Imager takes its name from the magnifying tool that
every field geologist carries. Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science
Systems, San Diego, is the principal investigator for the instrument. He
said, "When youâ?Tre out in the field and you want to get a quick idea
what minerals are in a rock, you pick up the rock in one hand and hold
your hand lens in the other hand. You look through the lens at the
colors, the crystals, the cleavage planes: features that help you
diagnose what minerals you see.

"If it's a sedimentary rock, such as the sandstone you see at Arches
National Park in Utah, or shale -- which is basically petrified mud --
like in the Painted Desert in Arizona, you use the hand lens not just to
see what minerals are in it but also the sizes and shapes of the grains
in the rock. You also look at the fine-scale layering in the rock to get
an idea of the sequence of events. Sedimentary rocks record past events
and environments."

While other instruments on Curiosity will provide more information about
what minerals are in rocks, the Mars Hand Lens Imager will play an
important role in reading the environmental history recorded in
sedimentary rocks. The mission's science team will use the instruments
to assess whether the selected landing area has had environmental
conditions favorable for life and for preserving evidence about whether
life existed.

The team currently assembling and testing Curiosity and other parts of
the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is continuing tests of MAHLI this month,
now that the camera is mounted beside other tools on the robotic arm.
The spacecraft will launch from Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011.

Edgett led the preparation in early 2004 of a proposal to include MAHLI
in the Mars Science Laboratory's payload. During those same months, the
camera on Opportunity's arm -- that mission's Microscopic Imager -- was
demonstrating the potential value of a successor, and generating ideas
for improvements. Opportunity's Microscopic Imager has a fixed focus. To
get targets in focus, it always needs to be placed the same distance
from the target, recording a view of an area 3 centimeters (1.2 inches)
across. To view a larger area, the camera takes multiple images,
sometimes more than a dozen, each requiring a repositioning of
Opportunity's arm.

"When I was writing the proposal, the Microscopic Imager took about 40
images for a mosaic of one rock," Edgett said. "That's where the idea
came from to make the focus adjustable. With adjustable focus, the
science team has more flexibility for trade-offs among the rover's
resources, such as power, time, data storage and data downlink. For
example, the camera could take one or two images from farther away to
cover a larger area, then go in and sample selected parts in higher
resolution from closer up."

MAHLI can focus on targets as close as about 21 millimeters (0.8 inch)
and as distant as the horizon or farther. JPL's Ashwin Vasavada, deputy
project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory, said, "MAHLI is
really a fully functional camera that happens to be on the end of the
arm. The close-up capability is its specialty, but it will also be able
to take images or videos from many viewpoints inaccessible to the
cameras on the mast, such as up high, down low, under the rover and on
the rover deck. Think of it like a hand-held camera with a macro lens,
one that you could use for taking pictures of the Grand Canyon, of
yourself, or of a bumblebee on a flower."

Edgett is looking forward to what the camera will reveal in rock
textures. "Just like larger rocks in a river, grains of sand carried in
a stream get rounded from bouncing around and colliding with each
other," he said. "If you look at a sandstone with a hand lens and see
rounded grains, that tells you they came from a distance. If they are
more angular, they didn't come as far before they were deposited in the
sediment that became the rock. Where an impact excavated a crater,
particles of the material ejected from the crater would be very angular.

"When you're talking about ancient rocks as clues for assessing
habitability," he continued, "you're talking about the environments the
sediments were deposited in -- whether a lake, a desert, an ice field.
Also, what cemented the particles together to become rocks, and what
changes have affected the rock after the sediments were deposited? All
these things are relevant to whether an environment was favorable for
life and also whether it was favorable for preserving the record of that
life. Earth is a planet teeming with life, but most rocks have not
preserved ancient organisms; Mars will be even more challenging than
Earth in this sense."

Edgett says he is eager to see an additional image from this camera
besides the details of rock textures. With the arm extended upwards, the
camera can look down at the rover for a dramatic self-portrait on Mars.
But as for the most important image the Mars Hand Lens Imager will take:
"That will be something that surprises us, something we're not expecting."

Mars Science Laboratory is managed by NASAâ?Ts Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. JPL also manages the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and
Opportunity. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena.
More information about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory is at:
http://www.nasa.gov/msl .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.webster @ jpl.nasa.gov

Rover Arm Extending Thank You to Ron Baalke of sci.space.news !

Happy days *and*...
Starry, starry nights !

--
Asimov! where have you gone?
Your written word goes on and on;
All things become so clear to see
In Asimov's Astronomy!

http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS - http://painellsworth.net !
http://www.secretsgolden.com !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Paine_Ellsworth !

On Nov 18, 1:47*am, "Painius" wrote:
Camera on Curiosity's Arm will Magnify Clues in Rocks
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 16, 2010

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-384

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, will wield an arm-mounted magnifying
camera similar to one on the Mars Rover Opportunity, which promptly
demonstrated its importance for reading environmental history from rocks
at its landing site in 2004.

Within a few weeks after the landing, that camera at the end of
Opportunity's arm revealed details of small spheres embedded in the
rocks, hollows where crystals had dissolved, and fine layering shaped
like smiles. These details all provided information about the site's wet
past.

The camera installed on the end of Curiosity's arm this month is the
Mars Hand Lens Imager, or MAHLI. Its work will include the same type of
close-up inspections accomplished by the comparable camera on
Opportunity, but MAHLI has significantly greater capabilities:
full-color photography, adjustable focus, lights, and even video. Also,
it sits on a longer arm, one that can hold MAHLI up higher than the
cameras on the rover's mast. MAHLI will use those capabilities as one of
10 science instruments to study the area of Mars where NASA's Mars
Science Laboratory mission lands Curiosity in August 2012.

The Mars Hand Lens Imager takes its name from the magnifying tool that
every field geologist carries. Ken Edgett of Malin Space Science
Systems, San Diego, is the principal investigator for the instrument. He
said, "When you ?Tre out in the field and you want to get a quick idea
what minerals are in a rock, you pick up the rock in one hand and hold
your hand lens in the other hand. You look through the lens at the
colors, the crystals, the cleavage planes: features that help you
diagnose what minerals you see.

"If it's a sedimentary rock, such as the sandstone you see at Arches
National Park in Utah, or shale -- which is basically petrified mud --
like in the Painted Desert in Arizona, you use the hand lens not just to
see what minerals are in it but also the sizes and shapes of the grains
in the rock. You also look at the fine-scale layering in the rock to get
an idea of the sequence of events. Sedimentary rocks record past events
and environments."

While other instruments on Curiosity will provide more information about
what minerals are in rocks, the Mars Hand Lens Imager will play an
important role in reading the environmental history recorded in
sedimentary rocks. The mission's science team will use the instruments
to assess whether the selected landing area has had environmental
conditions favorable for life and for preserving evidence about whether
life existed.

The team currently assembling and testing Curiosity and other parts of
the Mars Science Laboratory spacecraft at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., is continuing tests of MAHLI this month,
now that the camera is mounted beside other tools on the robotic arm.
The spacecraft will launch from Florida between Nov. 25 and Dec. 18, 2011..

Edgett led the preparation in early 2004 of a proposal to include MAHLI
in the Mars Science Laboratory's payload. During those same months, the
camera on Opportunity's arm -- that mission's Microscopic Imager -- was
demonstrating the potential value of a successor, and generating ideas
for improvements. Opportunity's Microscopic Imager has a fixed focus. To
get targets in focus, it always needs to be placed the same distance
from the target, recording a view of an area 3 centimeters (1.2 inches)
across. To view a larger area, the camera takes multiple images,
sometimes more than a dozen, each requiring a repositioning of
Opportunity's arm.

"When I was writing the proposal, the Microscopic Imager took about 40
images for a mosaic of one rock," Edgett said. "That's where the idea
came from to make the focus adjustable. With adjustable focus, the
science team has more flexibility for trade-offs among the rover's
resources, such as power, time, data storage and data downlink. For
example, the camera could take one or two images from farther away to
cover a larger area, then go in and sample selected parts in higher
resolution from closer up."

MAHLI can focus on targets as close as about 21 millimeters (0.8 inch)
and as distant as the horizon or farther. JPL's Ashwin Vasavada, deputy
project scientist for the Mars Science Laboratory, said, "MAHLI is
really a fully functional camera that happens to be on the end of the
arm. The close-up capability is its specialty, but it will also be able
to take images or videos from many viewpoints inaccessible to the
cameras on the mast, such as up high, down low, under the rover and on
the rover deck. Think of it like a hand-held camera with a macro lens,
one that you could use for taking pictures of the Grand Canyon, of
yourself, or of a bumblebee on a flower."

Edgett is looking forward to what the camera will reveal in rock
textures. "Just like larger rocks in a river, grains of sand carried in
a stream get rounded from bouncing around and colliding with each
other," he said. "If you look at a sandstone with a hand lens and see
rounded grains, that tells you they came from a distance. If they are
more angular, they didn't come as far before they were deposited in the
sediment that became the rock. Where an impact excavated a crater,
particles of the material ejected from the crater would be very angular.

"When you're talking about ancient rocks as clues for assessing
habitability," he continued, "you're talking about the environments the
sediments were deposited in -- whether a lake, a desert, an ice field.
Also, what cemented the particles together to become rocks, and what
changes have affected the rock after the sediments were deposited? All
these things are relevant to whether an environment was favorable for
life and also whether it was favorable for preserving the record of that
life. Earth is a planet teeming with life, but most rocks have not
preserved ancient organisms; Mars will be even more challenging than
Earth in this sense."

Edgett says he is eager to see an additional image from this camera
besides the details of rock textures. With the arm extended upwards, the
camera can look down at the rover for a dramatic self-portrait on Mars.
But as for the most important image the Mars Hand Lens Imager will take:
"That will be something that surprises us, something we're not expecting."

Mars Science Laboratory is managed by NASA ?Ts Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, Calif. JPL also manages the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and
Opportunity. JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology
in Pasadena.
More information about NASA's Mars Science Laboratory is at:http://www.nasa.gov/msl.

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Guy.webster @ jpl.nasa.gov

Rover Arm Extending Thank You to Ron Baalke of sci.space.news !

Happy days *and*...
* *Starry, starry nights !

--
Asimov! where have you gone?
*Your written word goes on and on;
All things become so clear to see
*In Asimov's Astronomy!

*http://www.asimovonline.com/asimov_home_page.html

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS -http://painellsworth.net!
* * * * *http://www.secretsgolden.com!
* * * * * * * * *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Paine_Ellsworth!

Painius All rover tests have not found a molecule of water in testing
a billion parts of Mars rock. That fact is never mentioned anymore
WHY? Mars has sand storms that have been seen covering the whole
planet,and they cause errosion,and can imbed crystals into rock. That
fact is never mentioned WHY? Fact is with only 1% atmosphere of
Earth,Sun's rays break water into its elements,and water is broken
down to hydrogen and oxygen. That is also a fact. Best Mafia NASA go
down 200 feet and find my red clams. O ya TreBert

My dearest "bert" wrote in message...
...
On Nov 18, 1:47 am, "Painius" wrote:

Camera on Curiosity's Arm will Magnify Clues in Rocks
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 16, 2010

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-384

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, will wield an arm-mounted magnifying
camera similar to one on the Mars Rover Opportunity, which promptly
demonstrated its importance for reading environmental history from rocks
at its landing site in 2004. . . .

Painius All rover tests have not found a molecule of water in testing
a billion parts of Mars rock. That fact is never mentioned anymore
WHY? Mars has sand storms that have been seen covering the whole
planet,and they cause errosion,and can imbed crystals into rock. That
fact is never mentioned WHY? Fact is with only 1% atmosphere of
Earth,Sun's rays break water into its elements,and water is broken
down to hydrogen and oxygen. That is also a fact. Best Mafia NASA go
down 200 feet and find my red clams. O ya TreBert

P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A

What is the evidence for water on Mars?

http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1444.html

The Viking Orbiter photographed much of the surface of Mars and revealed
many areas covered by channels that could not have been produced by lava
(right image). These dendritic channels become more complex on downward
slopes just as water channels appear on Earth. Fragments of martian rock
recovered from Antarctic meteorites show considerable water locked up in the
crystals indicating that there was water on Mars at one time. The best
dating that can be done from counts of impact craters on these 'stream beds'
suggests running water about 3-4 billion years ago in the so-called 'Noachen
period'. There may be considerable sub-surface water based on the 'mud
flows' seen in some impact craters. Also, the permanent part of the southern
ice cap is believed to be water ice.

Here is the text from a NASA report by Dr. Vivien Gornitz summarizing the
evidence.

Water on Mars By Vivien Gornitz

On July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder touched down on a rocky, rusty, wind-blown
surface, reminiscent of terrestrial deserts. A trained eye, however, can
spot signs that water was once abundant on Mars. Many of the rocks are
rounded. (above left image) Some could be conglomerates, i.e., pebbles
embedded in silt, sand, or clay, deposited by streams or floods. In places,
soils appear to be crusts or hardpans -- cemented by clays or precipitation
of silica, iron oxides, or sulfates. All of these features are evidence for
former water activity. Today, however, Mars is bone-dry. If all the water in
the atmosphere precipitated on the surface, it would form a layer only 10
thousandths of a millimeter thick, on average. Liquid water is not presently
stable at the martian surface, due to the thin CO2 atmosphere (around 6-7
mbars) and low temperatures (-60°C, on average). Yet, a small water ice cap
remains at the north pole, after the more volatile carbon dioxide frost
sublimes into the atmosphere each summer. Near the north pole, the
summertime water vapor content of the atmosphere increases to 80 thousandths
of a millimeter of precipitatable water.

In March 2004, the Sprint and Opportunity Mars Rovers finally returned solid
evidence that the areas the landed had large standing bodies of water at one
time. Their photographs of rock formations and mineral studies proved that
liquid water had existed, and has caused changes in the rocks they studied
producing layered strata and 'blue berries' due to the leaching of minerals
to the surface of the rocks.

Pictures of the surface taken by orbiting satellites point to many features
showing that Mars once had a much wetter, more clement climate. Twenty-one
years ago, two Viking Orbiter spacecraft circled Mars, mapping its surface.
The satellite imagery revealed the presence of two types of channels that
were probably scoured by running water: networks of branched river-like
channels and huge outflow channels, created by catastrophic flooding. More
recently, pictures of a meandering martian channel, Nanedi Vallis, taken by
the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft,
on Jan. 8, 1998, (above right) show that flowing water cut down canyons over
prolonged periods of time. The canyon is about 2.5 km wide. The enlarged
image shows a tight oxbow meander (bend) and flat terraces along the canyon
walls. In order to develop these features, repeated episodes of running
water are needed.

Teardrop-shaped "islands" in outflow channels recorded by the Viking Orbiter
indicate streamlining by catastrophic floods. The Pathfinder landing site
lies at the mouth of one such large outflow channel -- Ares Vallis.
Sediments carried down by the floods could still hold moisture at depth and
contain traces of possible fossil martian life-forms.

In 2004, the Spirit and Opportunity mars rovers confirmed the existence of
liquid water by discovering 'blueberries' that had formes in rocks which had
been eroded and layered by water. The image below shows a rock face which
looks like similar rocks on earth that have been processed by water and from
which deposits leach, often into nodules.

Other indirect evidence for a once wetter Mars abounds on a planetary scale.
Many martian craters are surrounded by ejecta that look like mudflows. Near
the equator, only the larger craters (over 4 km diameter) show such "muddy"
ejecta, whereas near the poles, even craters as small as one kilometer
display them. This suggests the existence of a subsurface permafrost layer
(frozen water and soil) which is deeper near the equator, where it is warmer
(and hence, only the larger craters can penetrate to this layer), but
becomes shallower near the colder poles. Certain features on Mars,
surrounding the Argyre and Hellas basins, resemble terrestrial landforms
that were carved by glaciers. Some erosional and depositional features in
the northern lowland plains may have been produced by large transient lakes.
The rusty red color on the martian surface and in the dusty sky yields yet
another clue. The Pathfinder lander study of the magnetic properties of
airborne martian dust indicates the presence of several percent maghemite, a
red magnetic iron oxide (-Fe2O3). Maghemite is common in tropical and
subtropical soils on Earth, but also occurs in soils of temperate regions
and in weathered basalts from Greenland. The nearly-ubiquitous occurrence of
ferric iron on the martian surface, as inferred from Earth-based spectral
observations, implies extensive surface weathering involving water under
oxidizing conditions. Clay minerals are another product of surface
weathering. Spectral absorption bands of clay minerals have been detected by
the Mariner 9 IRIS instrument.

Where did all the martian water go? Mars may have lost to space a
substantial amount of its atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen,
and water vapor. The loss of carbon dioxide -- a potent greenhouse gas --
would have caused Mars to become much colder and drier. While some of the
water may have been irretrievably lost to space, most of it may still reside
in various reservoirs on Mars. Among these are a permafrost layer up to 1 km
thick, clay minerals and oxidation products, and layered deposits at the
poles. Taken together, these reservoirs could hold the equivalent of a layer
of water around 0.5 km thick, if spread uniformly over the martian surface.

The presence of water fulfills an essential condition for the evolution of
life on Mars. The possibility that Mars may once have harbored primitive
life-forms was dramatically illustrated by the discovery of fossil-like
features in a martian meteorite recovered in Antarctica. Water is also a key
resource for any future manned mission to the Red Planet.

So Bert, the search for water continues, and likely no human will set foot
on Mars until enough water to sustain them is found.

Happy days *and*...
Starry, starry nights !

--
I'm a fool upon a hill,
See my planet spinning still?
Sun goes down and stars arise,
Warm and pleasing to my eyes.

See my little telescope?
People say I'm such a dope;
I don't mind because I nurse
Secrets of the Universe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkGVccgJrA

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS - http://painellsworth.net !
http://www.secretsgolden.com !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Paine_Ellsworth !

On Nov 25, 10:23*pm, "Painius" wrote:
My dearest "bert" wrote in ...
On Nov 18, 1:47 am, "Painius" wrote:



Camera on Curiosity's Arm will Magnify Clues in Rocks
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 16, 2010

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-384

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, will wield an arm-mounted magnifying
camera similar to one on the Mars Rover Opportunity, which promptly
demonstrated its importance for reading environmental history from rocks
at its landing site in 2004. . . .

Painius *All rover tests have not found a molecule of water in testing
a billion parts of Mars rock. That fact is never mentioned anymore
WHY? *Mars has sand storms that have been seen covering the whole
planet,and they cause errosion,and can imbed crystals into rock. *That
fact is never mentioned WHY? * Fact is with only 1% atmosphere of
Earth,Sun's rays break water into its elements,and water is broken
down to hydrogen and oxygen. That is also a fact. Best Mafia NASA go
down 200 feet and find my red clams. O ya * TreBert

* P I T A * P I T A * P I T A * P I T A * P I T A * P I T A * P I T A

What is the evidence for water on Mars?

*http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1444.html

The Viking Orbiter photographed much of the surface of Mars and revealed
many areas covered by channels that could not have been produced by lava
(right image). These dendritic channels become more complex on downward
slopes just as water channels appear on Earth. Fragments of martian rock
recovered from Antarctic meteorites show considerable water locked up in the
crystals indicating that there was water on Mars at one time. The best
dating that can be done from counts of impact craters on these 'stream beds'
suggests running water about 3-4 billion years ago in the so-called 'Noachen
period'. There may be considerable sub-surface water based on the 'mud
flows' seen in some impact craters. Also, the permanent part of the southern
ice cap is believed to be water ice.

Here is the text from a NASA report by Dr. Vivien Gornitz summarizing the
evidence.

Water on Mars By Vivien Gornitz

On July 4, 1997, Mars Pathfinder touched down on a rocky, rusty, wind-blown
surface, reminiscent of terrestrial deserts. A trained eye, however, can
spot signs that water was once abundant on Mars. Many of the rocks are
rounded. (above left image) Some could be conglomerates, i.e., pebbles
embedded in silt, sand, or clay, deposited by streams or floods. In places,
soils appear to be crusts or hardpans -- cemented by clays or precipitation
of silica, iron oxides, or sulfates. All of these features are evidence for
former water activity. Today, however, Mars is bone-dry. If all the water in
the atmosphere precipitated on the surface, it would form a layer only 10
thousandths of a millimeter thick, on average. Liquid water is not presently
stable at the martian surface, due to the thin CO2 atmosphere (around 6-7
mbars) and low temperatures (-60°C, on average). Yet, a small water ice cap
remains at the north pole, after the more volatile carbon dioxide frost
sublimes into the atmosphere each summer. Near the north pole, the
summertime water vapor content of the atmosphere increases to 80 thousandths
of a millimeter of precipitatable water.

In March 2004, the Sprint and Opportunity Mars Rovers finally returned solid
evidence that the areas the landed had large standing bodies of water at one
time. Their photographs of rock formations and mineral studies proved that
liquid water had existed, and has caused changes in the rocks they studied
producing layered strata and 'blue berries' due to the leaching of minerals
to the surface of the rocks.

Pictures of the surface taken by orbiting satellites point to many features
showing that Mars once had a much wetter, more clement climate. Twenty-one
years ago, two Viking Orbiter spacecraft circled Mars, mapping its surface.
The satellite imagery revealed the presence of two types of channels that
were probably scoured by running water: networks of branched river-like
channels and huge outflow channels, created by catastrophic flooding. More
recently, pictures of a meandering martian channel, Nanedi Vallis, taken by
the Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC), aboard the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft,
on Jan. 8, 1998, (above right) show that flowing water cut down canyons over
prolonged periods of time. The canyon is about 2.5 km wide. The enlarged
image shows a tight oxbow meander (bend) and flat terraces along the canyon
walls. In order to develop these features, repeated episodes of running
water are needed.

Teardrop-shaped "islands" in outflow channels recorded by the Viking Orbiter
indicate streamlining by catastrophic floods. The Pathfinder landing site
lies at the mouth of one such large outflow channel -- Ares Vallis.
Sediments carried down by the floods could still hold moisture at depth and
contain traces of possible fossil martian life-forms.

In 2004, the Spirit and Opportunity mars rovers confirmed the existence of
liquid water by discovering 'blueberries' that had formes in rocks which had
been eroded and layered by water. The image below shows a rock face which
looks like similar rocks on earth that have been processed by water and from
which deposits leach, often into nodules.

Other indirect evidence for a once wetter Mars abounds on a planetary scale.
Many martian craters are surrounded by ejecta that look like mudflows. Near
the equator, only the larger craters (over 4 km diameter) show such "muddy"
ejecta, whereas near the poles, even craters as small as one kilometer
display them. This suggests the existence of a subsurface permafrost layer
(frozen water and soil) which is deeper near the equator, where it is warmer
(and hence, only the larger craters can penetrate to this layer), but
becomes shallower near the colder poles. Certain features on Mars,
surrounding the Argyre and Hellas basins, resemble terrestrial landforms
that were carved by glaciers. Some erosional and depositional features in
the northern lowland plains may have been produced by large transient lakes.
The rusty red color on the martian surface and in the dusty sky yields yet
another clue. The Pathfinder lander study of the magnetic properties of
airborne martian dust indicates the presence of several percent maghemite, a
red magnetic iron oxide (-Fe2O3). Maghemite is common in tropical and
subtropical soils on Earth, but also occurs in soils of temperate regions
and in weathered basalts from Greenland. The nearly-ubiquitous occurrence of
ferric iron on the martian surface, as inferred from Earth-based spectral
observations, implies extensive surface weathering involving water under
oxidizing conditions. Clay minerals are another product of surface
weathering. Spectral absorption bands of clay minerals have been detected by
the Mariner 9 IRIS instrument.

Where did all the martian water go? Mars may have lost to space a
substantial amount of its atmosphere, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen,
and water vapor. The loss of carbon dioxide -- a potent greenhouse gas -- *
would have caused Mars to become much colder and drier. While some of the
water may have been irretrievably lost to space, most of it may still reside
in various reservoirs on Mars. Among these are a permafrost layer up to 1 km
thick, clay minerals and oxidation products, and layered deposits at the
poles. Taken together, these reservoirs could hold the equivalent of a layer
of water around 0.5 km thick, if spread uniformly over the martian surface.

The presence of water fulfills an essential condition for the evolution of
life on Mars. The possibility that Mars may once have harbored primitive
life-forms was dramatically illustrated by the discovery of fossil-like
features in a martian meteorite recovered in Antarctica. Water is also a key
resource for any future manned mission to the Red Planet.

So Bert, the search for water continues, and likely no human will set foot
on Mars until enough water to sustain them is found.

Happy days *and*...
* *Starry, starry nights !

--
I'm a fool upon a hill,
*See my planet spinning still?
Sun goes down and stars arise,
*Warm and pleasing to my eyes.

See my little telescope?
*People say I'm such a dope;
I don't mind because I nurse
*Secrets of the Universe!

*http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkGVccgJrA

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS -http://painellsworth.net!
* * * * *http://www.secretsgolden.com!
* * * * * * * * *http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Paine_Ellsworth!

Only once upon a time (a very long time ago) did Mars have water.

Your mainstream hype is noted, only because it's your job.

~ BG

My dearest "Brad Guth" wrote in message...
...
On Nov 25, 10:23 pm, "Painius" wrote:
My dearest "bert" wrote in
...
On Nov 18, 1:47 am, "Painius" wrote:

Camera on Curiosity's Arm will Magnify Clues in Rocks
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 16, 2010

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-384

NASA's next Mars rover, Curiosity, will wield an arm-mounted magnifying
camera similar to one on the Mars Rover Opportunity, which promptly
demonstrated its importance for reading environmental history from rocks
at its landing site in 2004. . . .

Painius All rover tests have not found a molecule of water in testing
a billion parts of Mars rock. That fact is never mentioned anymore
WHY? Mars has sand storms that have been seen covering the whole
planet,and they cause errosion,and can imbed crystals into rock. That
fact is never mentioned WHY? Fact is with only 1% atmosphere of
Earth,Sun's rays break water into its elements,and water is broken
down to hydrogen and oxygen. That is also a fact. Best Mafia NASA go
down 200 feet and find my red clams. O ya TreBert

P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A

What is the evidence for water on Mars?

http://www.astronomycafe.net/qadir/q1444.html . . .

. . . There may be considerable sub-surface water based on the 'mud
flows' seen in some impact craters. Also, the permanent part of the
southern
ice cap is believed to be water ice. . . .

. . . While some of the
water may have been irretrievably lost to space, most of it may still
reside
in various reservoirs on Mars. Among these are a permafrost layer up to 1
km
thick, clay minerals and oxidation products, and layered deposits at the
poles. Taken together, these reservoirs could hold the equivalent of a
layer
of water around 0.5 km thick, if spread uniformly over the martian
surface. . . .

. . . Water is also a key
resource for any future manned mission to the Red Planet.

So Bert, the search for water continues, and likely no human will set foot
on Mars until enough water to sustain them is found.

Only once upon a time (a very long time ago) did Mars have water.

Your mainstream hype is noted, only because it's your job.

~ BG

P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A P I T A

Most of the water that WAS on Mars is probably STILL on Mars,
or more precisely, IN Mars.

And since the amount of water needed to sustain explorers is
more water than our present space vehicles can carry, that
Martian water must be found before human explorers will ever
step foot on Mars.

Happy days *and*...
Starry, starry nights !

--
I'm a fool upon a hill,
See my planet spinning still?
Sun goes down and stars arise,
Warm and pleasing to my eyes.

See my little telescope?
People say I'm such a dope;
I don't mind because I nurse
Secrets of the Universe!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8KkGVccgJrA

Indelibly yours,
Paine Ellsworth

PS - http://painellsworth.net !
http://www.secretsgolden.com !
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Paine_Ellsworth !