NASA Mars Rover Opportunity Reveals Geological Mystery - Polidicks

[IMG]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/687326main_pia16139-43_946-710.jpg[/IMG] [QUOTE]September 14, 2012 PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's long-lived rover Opportunity has returned an image of the Martian surface that is puzzling researchers. Spherical objects concentrated at an outcrop Opportunity reached last week differ in several ways from iron-rich spherules nicknamed "blueberries" the rover found at its landing site in early 2004 and at many other locations to date. Opportunity is investigating an outcrop called Kirkwood in the Cape York segment of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The spheres measure as much as one-eighth of an inch (3 millimeters) in diameter. The analysis is still preliminary, but it indicates that these spheres do not have the high iron content of Martian blueberries. "This is one of the most extraordinary pictures from the whole mission," said Opportunity's principal investigator, Steve Squyres of Cornell University in Ithaca, N.Y. "Kirkwood is chock full of a dense accumulation of these small spherical objects. Of course, we immediately thought of the blueberries, but this is something different. We never have seen such a dense accumulation of spherules in a rock outcrop on Mars." The Martian blueberries found elsewhere by Opportunity are concretions formed by action of mineral-laden water inside rocks, evidence of a wet environment on early Mars. Concretions result when minerals precipitate out of water to become hard masses inside sedimentary rocks. Many of the Kirkwood spheres are broken and eroded by the wind. Where wind has partially etched them away, a concentric structure is evident. Opportunity used the microscopic imagern its arm to look closely at Kirkwood. Researchers checked the spheres' composition by using an instrument called the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer on Opportunity's arm. "They seem to be crunchy on the outside, and softer in the middle," Squyres said. "They are different in concentration. They are different in structure. They are different in composition. They are different in distribution. So, we have a wonderful geological puzzle in front of us. We have multiple working hypotheses, and we have no favorite hypothesis at this time. It's going to take a while to work this out, so the thing to do now is keep an open mind and let the rocks do the talking." Just past Kirkwood lies another science target area for Opportunity. The location is an extensive pale-toned outcrop in an area of Cape York where observations from orbit have detected signs of clay minerals. That may be the rover's next study site after Kirkwood. Four years ago, Opportunity departed Victoria Crater, which it had investigated for two years, to reach different types of geological evidence at the rim of the much larger Endeavour Crater. The rover's energy levels are favorable for the investigations. Spring equinox comes this month to Mars' southern hemisphere, so the amount of sunshine for solar power will continue increasing for months. "The rover is in very good health considering its 8-1/2 years of hard work on the surface of Mars," said Mars Exploration Rover Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Energy production levels are comparable to what they were a full Martian year ago, and we are looking forward to productive spring and summer seasons of exploration." NASA launched the Mars rovers Spirit and Opportunity in the summer of 2003, and both completed their three-month prime missions in April 2004. They continued bonus, extended missions for years. Spirit finished communicating with Earth in March 2010. The rovers have made important discoveries about wet environments on ancient Mars that may have been favorable for supporting microbial life. [/QUOTE] [url]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2012-290[/url] Pretty interesting stuff going on on Mars. Also it's pretty amazing that Opportunity is still driving after eight years.

[quote]"They seem to be crunchy on the outside, and softer in the middle,"[/quote] mars confirmed for delicious

Man, I completely forgot about Opportunity since Curiosity landed.

If I just saw this shit come up on a screen while scanning Mars I would swear for a second that I was looking at fossilized coral or some sort of mollusk.

Obviously they're egg sacs.

Wow Opportunity is still operational? That's pretty incredible I had no idea.

Opportunity is jealous of Curiosity and is try to one up him.

Those look like human-like heads sticking out of the ground, they're tiny though so I'm guessing mini zombies

[QUOTE=Killer900;37670715]Wow Opportunity is still operational? That's pretty incredible I had no idea.[/QUOTE] I thought it was dead or something by now, but that lil rover is still roaming the martian surface.

[QUOTE=Amez;37670770]I thought it was dead or something by now, but that lil rover is still roaming the martian surface.[/QUOTE] Spirit is dead :(

[QUOTE=Blazyd;37670881]Spirit is dead :([/QUOTE] obligatory: [img]http://i.imgur.com/E530b.png[/img] :(

[QUOTE=Edthefirst;37670902]obligatory: [img]http://i.imgur.com/E530b.png[/img] :([/QUOTE] One day we shall bring a piece of history home with us. One day. [img]http://i.imgur.com/Nc8IV.jpg[/img]

wait whats the current status of the 2 old rovers? i know one can only drive backwards because it's front wheel broke, and one rover got stuck in dirt (don't know if they're the same rover)

[QUOTE=Mon;37670538]mars confirmed for delicious[/QUOTE] [img]http://cdn.head-fi.org/1/1f/1f9d5256_spoonfulofsugarjpg191.jpg[/img]

[QUOTE=Nutt007;37670524][IMG]http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/687326main_pia16139-43_946-710.jpg[/IMG][/QUOTE] Looks like ballsacks.

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;37671361]Looks like ballsacks.[/QUOTE] If you say so...

Still kickin'! Damn it took me a while to realize it was really about opportunity's discovery. But good to see after all these years it's still making progress! Amazing how two different rovers operate at same time in Mars and almost 10 years of technological progress between.

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;37671361]Looks like ballsacks.[/QUOTE] I'd see a doctor about that.

it'd be so fucking cool if opportunity and curiosity met up to analyze this with curiosity's lab kit

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;37671361]Looks like ballsacks.[/QUOTE] oh god what is wrong with you

[QUOTE=TerrorShield;37670687]Obviously they're egg sacs.[/QUOTE] they're made of rock rocks reproduce via eggs, confirmed they are mass reproducing to prepare an attack on earth, preemptive strike pls

It's really cool knowing that such an old rover is still operational. They even used it to help simulate Curiosity's landing.

The rocks are reproducing! Defend ourselves lads.

[QUOTE=Lord of Ears;37673467]it'd be so fucking cool if opportunity and curiosity met up to analyze this with curiosity's lab kit[/QUOTE] Wouldn't that take years to do?

[QUOTE=Lord of Ears;37673467]it'd be so fucking cool if opportunity and curiosity met up to analyze this with curiosity's lab kit[/QUOTE] If Wikipedia is to be believed, they're hundreds, if not thousands, of miles apart. Since its landing in 2003, Opportunity has gone about 32 miles. So there's no chance that they'll run across each other. :eng101:

[QUOTE=TerrorShield;37670687]Obviously they're egg sacs.[/QUOTE] nope its huts its where THEY live

Someday, some intergalactic space nomad will be wandering around on Mars and find all these weird dune buggy robots everywhere and be like "what the fuck"

[QUOTE=Daniel Smith;37671361]Looks like ballsacks.[/QUOTE] There's a saying in Estonian: "Mis keelel, see meelel". A rough translation would be: "What's at the tip of your tongue is what's on your mind."

[QUOTE=Upgrade123;37683590]Someday, some intergalactic space nomad will be wandering around on Mars and find all these weird dune buggy robots everywhere and be like "what the fuck"[/QUOTE] Then they reach the moon and all they see are some buggies, broken satellites and a white flag.

Popplers? They look like Popplers. [IMG]http://images.wikia.com/en.futurama/images/9/9f/Futurama_218_-_The_Problem_with_Popplers.jpg[/IMG]