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Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Remaining Martian Atmosphere Still Dynamic - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte89 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 09 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • Evidence has strengthened this month that Mars lost much of its original atmosphere by a process of gas escaping from the top of the atmosphere
  • Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument analyzed an atmosphere sample
  • using a process that concentrates selected gases
  • ...17 more annotations...
  • The results provided the most precise measurements ever made of isotopes of argon in the Martian atmosphere
  • found
  • the clearest and most robust signature of atmospheric loss on Mars
  • Isotopes are variants of the same element with different atomic weights
  • SAM found that the Martian atmosphere has about four times as much of a lighter stable isotope (argon-36) compared to a heavier one (argon-38)
  • This removes previous uncertainty about the ratio in the Martian atmosphere from 1976 measurements from NASA's Viking project and from small volumes of argon extracted from Martian meteorites
  • The ratio is much lower than the solar system's original ratio, as estimated from argon-isotope measurements of the sun and Jupiter
  • This points to a process at Mars that favored preferential loss of the lighter isotope over the heavier one
  • Curiosity measures several variables
  • with the Rover Environmental Monitoring Station (REMS),
  • daily air temperature has climbed steadily since the measurements began eight months ago and is not strongly tied to the rover's location
  • humidity has differed significantly at different places along the rover's route
  • Trails of dust devils have not been seen inside Gale Crater
  • REMS sensors detected many whirlwind patterns during the first hundred Martian days of the mission, though not as many as detected in the same length of time by earlier missions
  • Curiosity will be drilling into another rock where the rover is now, but that target has not yet been selected. The science team will discuss this over the conjunction period
  • For the rest of April, Curiosity will carry out daily activities for which commands were sent in March, using DAN, REMS and the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD).
  • ChemCam reveals a complex chemical composition of the dust that includes hydrogen, which could be in the form of hydroxyl groups or water molecules
Mars Base

Contest Challenges Students to Design Next Mars Rover | University Rover Challenge | Sp... - 0 views

www.space.com/niversity-rover-challenge.html

scibyte96 MarsSociety

shared by Mars Base on 28 May 13 - No Cached
  • The competition is hosted by the Mars Society, a non-profit research organization dedicated to promoting the exploration and eventual settlement of Mars
  • The competition site is located at the society's Mars Desert Research Station (MDRS), a rocky barren landscape that's about as close to Martian terrain as you can get on Earth
  • Each team was allowed to spend up to $15,000 on their rovers, which can weigh no more than 50 kilograms — about 110 lbs.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • vehicles
  • compete in four challenges, designed to replicate the activities of NASA's rovers on Mars.
  • teams will guide their rovers to collect the subsurface soil samples most likely to contain photosynthetic bacteria, lichen and other bits of living material
  • specific tasks change each year, but the most difficult ones continue to be those that need rovers to do humanlike work
  • team members must guide their rovers via a remote connection, such as a computer in the back of a truck, as long as it's shielded so the team can't see their rovers
  • The URC is based on the assumption that the rovers are telerobots, which means they would be operated by astronauts on or orbiting Mars
  • In addition to collecting soil, the rovers will deliver a series of packages, such as emergency supplies to "astronauts" (URC staff) in the field, fix a dust-covered solar panel (without water, of course) and finally, navigate an obstacle course that will include climbing steep grades, getting over boulders and passing through PVC pipe gates, aimed to test each rover's maneuverability.
  • This year's teams represent universities and colleges in Canada, India, Poland and the United States
  • including two-time returning champions Toronto's York University (2012 and 2009) and Oregon State (2010 and 2008).
Mars Base

New Calculations Effectively Rule Out Comet Impacting Mars in 2014 - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...t-comet-impacting-mars-in-2014

scibyte90 mars

shared by Mars Base on 13 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • the latest orbital plot places the comet’s closest approach to Mars slightly closer than previous estimates
  • new data now significantly reduces the probability the comet will impact the Red Planet, JPL said, from about 1 in 8,000 to about 1 in 120,000.
  • The closest approach is now estimated at about 68,000 miles (110,000 kilometers). The most previous estimates had it whizzing by at 186,000 miles (300,000 kilometers).
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • The comet was discovered in the beginning of 2013 by comet-hunter Robert McNaught at the Siding Spring Observatory in New South Wales, Australia
  • future observations of the comet are expected to refine the orbit further
  • The latest estimated time for close approach to Mars is about 11:51 a.m. PDT (18:51 UTC) on Oct. 19, 2014
  • When the discovery was initially made, astronomers
  • looked back over their observations to find “prerecovery” images of the comet dating back to Dec. 8, 2012.
  • These observations placed the orbital trajectory of comet C/2013 A1 right through Mars orbit on Oct. 19, 2014
Mars Base

Mars orbiter images may show 1971 Soviet lander - 0 views

phys.org/...iter-images-soviet-lander.html

scibyte90 MarsSovietLander MRO

shared by Mars Base on 12 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • Russian citizen
  • found four features in a five-year-old image from Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that resemble four pieces of hardware from the Soviet Mars 3 mission: the parachute, heat shield, terminal retrorocket and lander
  • follow-up image by the orbiter from last month shows the same features
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • the first spacecraft to survive a Mars landing long enough to transmit anything
  • Further analysis of the data and future images to better understand the three-dimensional shapes may help to confirm this interpretation
Mars Base

Distance Traveled, Extraterrestrial Vehicles | Wheeled Vehicles, Moon & Mars | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/es-driven-on-other-worlds.html

scibyte79 opportunity

shared by Mars Base on 24 Jan 13 - No Cached
  • So far, robotic rovers have reached out to the moon and Mars, with astronauts actually driving a lunar car on the moon during NASA's Apollo program
  • Leading the pack is an oldie of a space mission: the Soviet-era Lunakhod 2. This huge moon rover drove 23 miles (37 kilometers) on the moon during its 1973 mission and is currently the world champion for off-world driving, winning the gold medal
  • In second place
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • is NASA's Apollo 17 moon rover, which was driven by astronauts Gene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt in 1972
  • 22.3 miles (35.89 km) during their mission, which was the last moon landing of NASA's Apollo program.
  • bronze medal for space driving goes to NASA's Mars rover Opportunity,
  • driving across the plains of Meridiani Planum on the Red Planet since 2004
  • Opportunity has driven more than 22.03 miles (35.46 km) and is still going today.
  • The latest to enter the race is Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity, which is just getting started with only 0.4 mile (0.7 km) traveled so far.
Mars Base

Opportunity rover rolling again after fifth Mars winter - 0 views

phys.org/...rtunity-rover-mars-winter.html

scibyte46 mars opportunity rover

shared by Mars Base on 10 May 12 - No Cached
  • NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drove about 12 feet (3.67 meters) on May 8, 2012, after spending 19 weeks working in one place while solar power was too low for driving during the Martian winter.
  • While at Greeley Haven for the past 19 weeks, Opportunity used the spectrometers and microscopic imager on its robotic arm to inspect more than a dozen targets within reach on the outcrop
  • Radio Doppler signals from the stationary rover during the winter months served an investigation of the interior of Mars by providing precise information about the planet's rotation
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • Opportunity will look back with its panoramic camera to acquire multi-filter imaging of the surface targets it studied on Greeley Haven.
  • rover team will also check that the power supply still looks sufficient with the rover at a reduced tilt.
  • first drive since Dec. 26, 2011, took the rover about 12 feet (3.67 meters) northwest and downhill on Tuesday, May 8.
  • exploring the Meridiani region of Mars since landing in January 2004
  • arrived at the Cape York section of the rim of Endeavour Crater in August 2011
  • studying rock and soil targets on Cape York since then.
  • next goal is a few meters farther north on Cape York, at a bright-looking patch of what may be dust
  • haven't been able to see much dust in Meridiani
  • Endeavour Crater offers Opportunity a setting for plenty of productive
  • crater is 14 miles (22 kilometers) in diameter
  • Unless wind removes some dust from Opportunity's solar array, allowing more sunlight to reach the solar cells, the rover will need to work during the next few weeks at locations with no southward slope
  • kept a northward tilt of about 15 degrees in recent months at its winter haven
  • favorably angled toward the winter sun low in the northern sky
Mars Base

Mars Express Reveals Possible Martian Glaciers - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...eals-possible-martian-glaciers

scibyte24

shared by Mars Base on 03 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • , one of the greatest needs future astronauts will face is water
  • Mars Express has imaged an area on the red planet which may yield large quantities of sub-surface ice
  • Extending from the northeastern portion of the Elysium volcanic province to the northern lowlands
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • spanning latitudes from roughly 30°N to 50°N, the Phlegra Montes
  • gently rolling series of hills that have been probed by radar
  • surmised these low mountain ranges are not volcanic in origin, but created through tectonic forces and may conceal a copious supply of frozen water
  • high resolution stereo imaging from ESA’s Mars Express orbiter, we’re able to detect a feature called ‘lobate debris aprons’.
  • it’s a normal feature for mountains found around these latitudes
  • Earlier studies of the debris aprons show the material has slid down the mountain slopes with time – a feature shared with Earth’s glaciers
  • scientists surmise this region may be a type of Martian glacier
  • also been confirmed by radar on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
  • lobate debris aprons could indeed signal the presence of ice – perhaps only 20 meter below the surface
  • , nearby impact craters also show signs of recent glaciation
  • ridges formed inside these ancient holes from snowfall, and then slid down the slopes
  • With time, it compacted to form a glacier structure
  • A one time, Mars’ polar axis was quite different than it is today
  • it created different climatic conditions and mid-latitude glaciers may have developed at different times over the last several hundred million years
Mars Base

Wow! Curiosity Rover Captures 2 Mars Moons Together In Stunning NASA Video | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/osity-martian-moons-video.html

Curiosity scibyte101

shared by Mars Base on 07 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • Earth's moon
  • A spectacular new video from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the Red Planet's two tiny moons eclipsing each other
  • Curiosity snapped 41 images of the Mars moons in the night sky on Aug. 1, with rover scientists then stitching them together to make the final 30-second video
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • the first time a view of the two Martian satellites — called Phobos and Deimos — eclipsing each other has been captured from the vantage point of the planet's surface
  • researchers are studying the images to refine their knowledge of the orbits of Phobos and Deimos
  • ultimate goal is to improve orbit knowledge enough that we can improve the measurement of the tides Phobos raises on the Martian solid surface
  • Phobos' orbit is taking it closer to the surface of Mars very slowly
  • Deimos may gradually be getting farther and farther away from the planet
  • Phobos is just 14 miles (22 kilometers) wide on average, while Deimos is even smaller
  • But Curiosity was able to spot both of them because they orbit
  • 3,700 miles (6,000 km) in Phobos' case and 12,470 miles (20,070 km) for Deimos
  • Earth's moon
  • a diameter of about 2,160 miles (3,475 km)
  • farther away — its average distance is 239,000 miles (384,600 km)
  • Phobos appears half as big in the sky to Curiosity as Earth's moon does to human skywatchers
  • Earth's moon
Mars Base

India's First Mars Probe 'MOM' Blasts Free of Earth Joining MAVEN in Race to Red Planet - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...ng-maven-in-race-to-red-planet

scibyte111 India-MarsOrbiterMission

shared by Mars Base on 02 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • India’s first ever Mars probe ‘MOM’ successfully fired its main engine
  • Dec. 1)
  • to begin her nearly yearlong momentous voyage to the Red Planet.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Indian space engineers initiated the 440 Newton liquid fueled engine firing precisely as planned at 00:49 hrs (IST) on Sunday, Dec. 1, 2013 during a critical nail-biting burn lasting some 22 minutes
  • MOM is nicknamed ‘Mangalyaan’ – which in Hindi means ‘Mars craft
Mars Base

One-Way, Manned Mission To Mars Just Got Closer To Reality | Popular Science - 0 views

www.popsci.com/...n-mars-just-got-closer-reality

scibyte113 MarsOne

shared by Mars Base on 12 Dec 13 - No Cached
  • Mars One announced
  • Lockheed Martin and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. were awarded contracts to study and develop concepts for a Mars lander and a data link satellite,
  • for a 2018 exploratory mission
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The mission's timetable has been pushed back by two years. The satellite was originally supposed to launch in 2016, with humans arriving by 2023. Now, Mars One is aiming for a 2025 colonization date. 
Mars Base

Curiosity Captures First Ever Asteroid Images from Mars Surface - 0 views

www.universetoday.com/...eroid-images-from-mars-surface

scibyte128 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 25 Apr 14 - No Cached
  • surface of the Red Planet during night sky imaging.
  • The Curiosity rover has captured the first images of asteroids even taken by a Human probe from the
  • two asteroids caught in the same night time pointing on the Red Planet. Namely, asteroids Ceres and Vesta.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • snapped by Curiosity’s high resolution Mastcam camera earlier this week on Sunday, April 20, 2014
  • whilst she was scanning about during daylight for her next drilling target at “The Kimberley” waypoint she pulled into at the start of this month.
  • Ceres and Vesta appear as streaks since the Mastcam image was taken as a 12 second time exposure.
  • “This imaging was part of an experiment checking the opacity of the atmosphere at night in Curiosity’s location on Mars, where water-ice clouds and hazes develop during this season,” said camera team member Mark Lemmon
  • “The two Martian moons were the main targets that night, but we chose a time when one of the moons was near Ceres and Vesta in the sky.”
  • Ceres, the largest asteroid, is about 590 miles (950 kilometers) in diameter. Vesta is the third-largest object in the main belt and measures about 350 miles (563 kilometers) wide.
  • the tinier of Mars’ moons, Deimos, was also caught in that same image.
  • Mars largest moon Phobos as well as massive planets Jupiter and Saturn were also visible that same Martian evening, albeit in a different pointing.
  • The two asteroids and three stars would be visible to someone of normal eyesight standing on Mars.
Mars Base

Astronauts Could Survive Mars Radiation, Curiosity Rover Finds | Space.com - 0 views

www.space.com/osity-astronaut-radiation.html

scibyte72 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 21 Nov 12 - No Cached
  • Radiation levels at the Martian surface appear to be roughly similar to those experienced by astronauts in low-Earth orbit
  • add more support
  • that astronauts can indeed function on the Red Planet for limited stretches of time.
  • ...10 more annotations...
  • findings demonstrate that Mars' atmosphere, though just 1 percent as thick as that of Earth, does provide a significant amount of shielding
  • lacks a magnetic field, which gives our planet another layer of protection.)
  • Radiation at the Martian surface is about half as high as the levels Curiosity experienced during its nine-month cruise through deep space
  • findings are preliminary, as Curiosity is just three months into a planned two-year prime mission
  • team have not yet put hard numbers on the Martian radiation levels
  • hoping to release that at the
  • American Geophysical Union's huge conference in San Francisco
  • from Dec. 3-7. "
  • One key to understanding the big picture will be documenting the effects of big solar storms, which can blast huge clouds of charged particles into space
  • Curiosity flew through one such cloud on its way to Mars but has yet to experience one on the surface
Mars Base

NASA aims to send another rover to Mars in 2020 - 0 views

phys.org/...2-12-nasa-aims-rover-mars.html

scibyte74 mars

shared by Mars Base on 05 Dec 12 - No Cached
  • announced plans to launch another mega-rover to the red planet in 2020 that will be modeled after
  • Curiosity
  • To keep costs down, engineers will borrow Curiosity's blueprints, recycle spare parts where possible and use proven technology including the novel landing gear
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • comes as NASA reboots its Mars exploration program during tough fiscal times
  • many other details still need to be worked out, including where the rover will land and the types of tools it will carry to the surface
  • the science goals remain fuzzy
  • at the very least should kickstart a campaign to return Martian soil and rocks to Earth
  • a team of experts will debate whether the new rover should have the ability to drill into rocks and store pieces for a future pickup
  • under orders by the White House to send astronauts to circle Mars in the 2030s followed by a landing
  • Curiosity
  • ran over schedule and over budget
  • the engineering hurdles have been fixed and he expected the new rover to cost less than Curiosity
  • One independent estimate put the mission at $1.5 billion, though NASA is working on its own figure
  • Next year, NASA plans to launch an orbiter to study the atmosphere
  • After NASA pulled out of a partnership with the Europeans in 2016 and 2018, it announced plans to fly a relatively low-cost robotic lander in 2016 to probe the interior
  • since said it will contribute to the European missions, but in a minor role
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Images - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...images

scibyte94 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 21 May 13 - No Cached
  • This pair of images from the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on NASA's Mars rover Curiosity shows the rock target "Cumberland" before and after Curiosity drilled into it to collect a sample for analysis
  • The "before" image was taken during the 275th Martian day, or sol, of Curiosity's work on Mars (May 15, 2013).
  • Curiosity drilled into Cumberland on Sol 279 (May 19, 2013) and took the second image later that same sol.
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Data From NASA Rover's Voyage To Mars Aids Planning - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte96 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 03 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) is the first instrument to measure the radiation environment during a Mars cruise mission from inside a spacecraft that is similar to potential human exploration spacecraft
  • The findings,
  • indicate radiation exposure for human explorers could exceed NASA's career limit for astronauts if current propulsion systems are used.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Two forms of radiation pose potential health risks to astronauts in deep space. One is galactic cosmic rays (GCRs), particles caused by supernova explosions and other high-energy events outside the solar system. The other is solar energetic particles (SEPs) associated with solar flares and coronal mass ejections from the sun
  • NASA has established a three percent increased risk of fatal cancer as an acceptable career limit for its astronauts currently operating in low-Earth orbit
  • The RAD data showed
  • Only about three percent of the radiation dose was associated with solar particles because of a relatively quiet solar cycle and the shielding provided by the spacecraft
  • In terms of accumulated dose, it's like getting a whole-body CT scan once every five or six days
  • Current spacecraft shield much more effectively against SEPs than GCRs. To protect against the comparatively low energy of typical SEPs, astronauts might need to move into havens with extra shielding on a spacecraft or on the Martian surface, or employ other countermeasures
  • GCRs tend to be highly energetic, highly penetrating particles that are not stopped by the modest shielding provided by a typical spacecraft.
  • RAD data collected during Curiosity's science mission will continue to inform plans to protect astronauts as NASA designs future missions to Mars in the coming decades.
Mars Base

NASA Wants To Send Your Haiku To Mars | Popular Science - 0 views

www.popsci.com/...asa-wants-send-your-haiku-mars

scibyte93 MarsHaiku

shared by Mars Base on 03 May 13 - No Cached
  • Any Earthling can submit a haiku about Mars by July 1—the DVD will include the name of each person who sends a poem, but only the three most popular haikus will eventually orbit the red planet.
  • NASA launches the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft in November, it wants to pack onboard a DVD containing three poetic messages
  • Starting July 15, an online public vote will open to select the three top haikus.
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • NASA's MAVEN mission will be the first mission devoted to studying the Martian upper atmosphere
  • gather information that should help scientists figure out what happened to the atmosphere and water that once existed on Mars
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Curiosity Maneuver Prepares for Drilling - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte70 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 01 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • placed its drill onto a series of four locations on a Martian rock and pressed down on it with the rover's arm, in preparation for using the drill in coming days.
  • carried out this "pre-load" testing on Mars
  • (Jan. 27
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • ctions for what would result from the commanded motions.
  • next step is an overnight pre-load test, to gain assurance that the large temperature change from day to night at the rover's location does not add excessively to stress on the arm while it is pressing on the drill
  • air temperature plunges from about 32 degrees Fahrenheit (zero degrees Celsius) in the afternoon to minus 85 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 65 degrees Celsius) overnight
  • Over this temperature swing, this large rover's arm, chassis and mobility system grow and shrink by about a tenth of an inch (about 2.4 millimeters), a little more than the thickness of a U.S. quarter-dollar coin
  • Remaining preparatory steps will take at least the rest of this week
  • Some of these steps are hardware checks. Others will evaluate characteristics of the rock material at the selected drilling site on a patch of flat, veined rock called "John Klein
  • We are proceeding with caution in the approach to Curiosity's first drilling. This is challenging. It will be the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mar
  • "drill-on-rock checkout" will use the hammering action of Curiosity's drill briefly, without rotation of the drill bit, for assurance that the back-and-forth percussion mechanism and associated control system are properly tuned for hitting a rock
  • the surface of the rock while penetrating less than eight-tenths of an inch (2 centimeters).
  • "mini-drill" is designed to produce a small ring of tailings -- powder resulting from drilling
  • will not go deep enough to push rock powder into the drill's sample-gathering chamber
  • The rover team's activities this week are affected by the difference between Mars time and Earth time
  • To compensate for this, the team develops commands based on rover activities from two sols earlier
  • the mini-drill activity cannot occur sooner than two sols after the drill-on-rock checkout.
  • Martian sol lasts about 40 minutes longer than a 24-hour Earth day.
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: NASA Curiosity Rover Collects First Martian Bedrock Sample - 0 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte81 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 11 Feb 13 - No Cached
  • Rock powder generated during drilling travels up flutes on the bit
  • The bit assembly has chambers to hold the powder until it can be transferred to the sample-handling mechanisms of the rover's Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis (CHIMRA) device
  • Before the rock powder is analyzed, some will be used to scour traces of material that may have been deposited onto the hardware while the rover was still on Earth, despite thorough cleaning before launch
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • take the powder we acquired and swish it around to scrub the internal surfaces of the drill bit assembly
  • use the arm to transfer the powder out of the drill into the scoop, which will be our first chance to see the acquired sample
  • To get to the point of making this hole in a rock on Mars, we made eight drills and bored more than 1,200 holes in 20 types of rock on Earth
  • Inside the sample-handling device, the powder will be vibrated once or twice over a sieve that screens out any particles larger than six-thousandths of an inch (150 microns) across
  • portions of the sieved sample will fall through ports on the rover deck into the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument and the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument
  • "John Klein" in memory of a Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011
  • The fresh hole, about 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep in a patch of fine-grained sedimentary bedrock, can be seen in images and other data Curiosity beamed to Earth Saturday.
Mars Base

Mars Science Laboratory: Billion-Pixel View of Mars Comes From Curiosity Rover - 1 views

mars.jpl.nasa.gov/...index.cfm

scibyte99 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 22 Jun 13 - No Cached
  • The first NASA-produced view from the surface of Mars larger than one billion pixels stitches together nearly 900 exposures taken by cameras onboard Curiosity and shows details of the landscape along the rover's route
  • using 850 frames from the telephoto camera of Curiosity's Mast Camera instrument, supplemented with 21 frames from the Mastcam's wider-angle camera and 25 black-and-white frames -- mostly of the rover itself -- from the Navigation Camera
  • The images were taken on several different Mars days between Oct. 5 and Nov. 16, 2012.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • The new mosaic from NASA shows illumination effects from variations in the time of day for pieces of the mosaic. It also shows variations in the clarity of the atmosphere due to variable dustiness during the month while the images were acquired
Mars Base

NASA rover's first soil studies help fingerprint Martian minerals - 0 views

phys.org/...-soil-fingerprint-martian.html

scibyte70 Curiosity

shared by Mars Base on 31 Oct 12 - No Cached
  • results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) experiment on NASA's Curiosity rover
  • presence of crystalline feldspar, pyroxenes and olivine mixed with some amorphous (non-crystalline) material
  • similar to volcanic soils in Hawaii
  • ...18 more annotations...
  • NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has completed initial experiments showing the mineralogy of Martian soil is similar to weathered basaltic soils of volcanic origin in Hawaii
  • used its Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin)
  • quantitative results provide refined and in some cases new identifications of the minerals in this first X-ray diffraction analysis on Mars."
  • identification of minerals in rocks and soil is crucial for the mission's goal to assess past environmental conditions
  • mineral records the conditions under which it formed.
  • composition of a rock provides only ambiguous mineralogical information,
  • X-ray diffraction
  • minerals diamond and graphite, which have the same chemical composition, but strikingly different structures and properties.
  • CheMin uses X-ray diffraction,
  • reads minerals' internal structure by recording how their crystals distinctively interact with X-rays
  • provides more accurate identifications of minerals than any method previously used on Mars
  • The sample was processed through a sieve to exclude particles larger than 0.006 inch (150 micrometers), roughly the width of a human hair.
  • soil material CheMin has analyzed is more representative of modern processes on Mars
  • "We now know it is mineralogically similar to basaltic material
  • significant amounts of feldspar, pyroxene and olivine, which was not unexpected
  • Roughly half the soil is non-crystalline material, such as volcanic glass or products from weathering of the glass
  • ancient rocks, such as the conglomerates, suggest flowing water, while the minerals in the younger soil are consistent with limited interaction with water
  • "So far, the materials Curiosity has analyzed are consistent with our initial ideas of the deposits in Gale Crater recording a transition through time from a wet to dry environment
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