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more on Mars Once 'Drenched with Water,' NASA Says
From: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 07:37:20 -0700
Delivered-To: dfarber+ () ux13 sp cs cmu edu Date: Wed, 03 Mar 2004 09:10:18 -0500 From: Tice DeYoung <tdeyoung () hq nasa gov> Subject: Re: [IP] : Mars Once 'Drenched with Water,' NASA Says X-Sender: tdeyoung () mail hq nasa gov To: dave () farber net fir IP, if you want it. Dave, Here is more details on the NASA announcement. Tice Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 13:04:51 -0800 To: lunar-update () altair com From: Larry Kellogg <lkellogg () mail arc nasa gov>Subject: [lunar-update] OPPORTUNITY ROVER FINDS STRONG EVIDENCE MERIDIANI PLANUM WAS WET
X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-new at altair.com Sender: owner-lunar-update () altair com X-Junkmail-Status: score=6/60, host=arc-relay1.arc.nasa.gov X-Junkmail-Whitelist: YES (by domain whitelist at arc-relay1.arc.nasa.gov)Here is a follow up to the suggestion that the Mars Rover folks were going to make and announcement about findings, today.
They did, and say that results indicate Mars was wet at one time. Now was there any slime there? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Larry Kellogg http://www.larryrussellkellogg.net/mars.html http://www.larryrussellkellogg.net/index.html http://www.larryrussellkellogg.net/links.html ------------------------------------------------------------------ Date: Tue, 2 Mar 2004 14:00:28 -0500 (EST) From: NASANews () hq nasa gov Subject: OPPORTUNITY ROVER FINDS STRONG EVIDENCE MERIDIANI PLANUM WAS WET snip ------------------------------------------------------------------ Donald Savage Headquarters, Washington March 2, 2004 (Phone: 202/358-1547) Guy Webster Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. (Phone: 818/354-5011) RELEASE: 04-077 OPPORTUNITY ROVER FINDS STRONG EVIDENCE MERIDIANI PLANUM WAS WET Scientists have concluded the part of Mars NASA's Opportunity rover is exploring was soaking wet in the past. Evidence the rover found in a rock outcrop led scientists to the conclusion. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the presence of sulfates, and the rocks' physical appearance, such as niches where crystals grew, helped make the case for a watery history. "Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its twin, Spirit. "We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion," he said. Dr. James Garvin, lead scientist for Mars and lunar exploration at NASA Headquarters, Washington, said, "NASA launched the Mars Exploration Rover mission specifically to check whether at least one part of Mars ever had a persistently wet environment that could possibly have been hospitable to life. Today we have strong evidence for an exciting answer: Yes." Opportunity has more work ahead. It will try to determine whether, besides being exposed to water after they formed, the rocks may have originally been laid down by minerals precipitating out of solution at the bottom of a salty lake or sea. The first views Opportunity sent of its landing site in Mars' Meridiani Planum region five weeks ago delighted researchers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., because of the good fortune to have the spacecraft arrive next to an exposed slice of bedrock on the inner slope of a small crater. The robotic field geologist has spent most of the past three weeks surveying the whole outcrop, and then turning back for close-up inspection of selected portions. The rover found a very high concentration of sulfur in the outcrop with its alpha particle X-ray spectrometer, which identifies chemical elements in a sample. "The chemical form of this sulfur appears to be in magnesium, iron or other sulfate salts," said Dr. Benton Clark of Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver. "Elements that can form chloride or even bromide salts have also been detected." At the same location, the rover's Moessbauer spectrometer, which identifies iron-bearing minerals, detected a hydrated iron sulfate mineral called jarosite. Germany provided both these instruments. Opportunity's miniature thermal emission spectrometer has also provided evidence for sulfates. On Earth, rocks with as much salt as this Mars rock either have formed in water or, after formation, have been highly altered by long exposures to water. Jarosite may point to the rock's wet history having been in an acidic lake or an acidic hot springs environment. The water evidence from the rocks' physical appearance comes in at least three categories, said Dr. John Grotzinger, sedimentary geologist from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge: indentations called "vugs," spherules and crossbedding. Pictures from the rover's panoramic camera and microscopic imager reveal the target rock, dubbed "El Capitan," is thoroughly pocked with indentations about a centimeter (0.4 inch) long and one-fourth or less that wide, with apparently random orientations. This distinctive texture is familiar to geologists as the sites where crystals of salt minerals form within rocks that sit in briny water. When the crystals later disappear, either by erosion or by dissolving in less-salty water, the voids left behind are called vugs, and in this case they conform to the geometry of possible former evaporite minerals. Round particles the size of BBs are embedded in the outcrop. From shape alone, these spherules might be formed from volcanic eruptions, from lofting of molten droplets by a meteor impact, or from accumulation of minerals coming out of solution inside a porous, water-soaked rock. Opportunity's observations that the spherules are not concentrated at particular layers in the outcrop weigh against a volcanic or impact origin, but do not completely rule out those origins. Layers in the rock that lie at an angle to the main layers, a pattern called crossbedding, can result from the action of wind or water. Preliminary views by Opportunity hint the crossbedding bears hallmarks of water action, such as the small scale of the crossbedding and possible concave patterns formed by sinuous crestlines of underwater ridges. The images obtained to date are not adequate for a definitive answer. So scientists plan to maneuver Opportunity closer to the features for a better look. "We have tantalizing clues, and we're planning to evaluate this possibility in the near future," Grotzinger said. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington. For information about NASA and the Mars mission on the Internet, visit: http://www.nasa.gov Images and additional information about the project are also available on the Internet at: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and http://athena.cornell.edu -end- * * * NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo () hq nasa gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command GO NASA. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail message to domo () hq nasa gov, leave the subject blank, and type only "unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message. ============================================= http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?p=news&g=events/sc/120303mars&i=index&e=1&tmpl=sl&ns=&l=&m=&c=Professor Steve Squyres (L), Mars Exporation Rover Principal Investigator, speaks at a NASA (news - web sites ) press conference along with other scientists in Washington, March 2, 2004 as they announce the discovery that water once flowed over the landscape on Mars. NASA officials have concluded that the part of Mars that NASA's Opportunity Rover is exploring was soaking wet in the past. REUTERS/Jason Reed
<> ============================================= http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/mars_rovers Rover Finds Mars Was Wet Enough for Life [AP] 50 minutes ago ============================================= Science/Astronomy: * Water Once Filled Mars Opportunity Rover Landing Site http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/opportunity_news_040302.htmlNASA scientists have found enough evidence of water on Mars to believe that the area around the Opportunity rover was once awash with the wet resource.
snip =============================================For information about NASA and the Mars mission on the Internet, visit http://www.nasa.gov . Images and additional information about the project are also available at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and http://athena.cornell.edu .
============================================================== WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK ============================================================== If you know of someone that would like to look up with you, and join the lunar-update list, have them send an e-mail to majordomo () altair com. In the body of their message, put: subscribe lunar-update or just have them drop me a line and I will add them. mailto:larry.kellogg () sbcglobal net Larry http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/ - - This list was forwarded using Majordomo at Altair Engineering, Inc. To unsubscribe from this list, please send e-mail to majordomo () altair com. In the body of your message, put: unsubscribe lunar-update ------------------------------------- You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com To manage your subscription, go to http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/
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- more on Mars Once 'Drenched with Water,' NASA Says Dave Farber (Mar 03)