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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 15.12.04 12:43l 117 Lines 5732 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Press release, 13th December
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Sent: 041215/1010Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:53680 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
NEWS RELEASE: 2004-287
December 13, 2004
Mars Rovers Spot Water-Clue Mineral, Frost, Clouds
Scientists have identified a water-signature mineral called goethite in
bedrock that the NASA's Mars rover Spirit examined in the "Columbia
Hills," one of the mission's surest indicators yet for a wet history on
Spirit's side of Mars.
"Goethite, like the jarosite that Opportunity found on the other side of
Mars, is strong evidence for water activity," said Dr. Goestar
Klingelhoefer of the University of Mainz, Germany, lead scientist for
the iron-mineral analyzer on each rover, the Mössbauer spectrometer.
Goethite forms only in the presence of water, whether in liquid, ice or
gaseous form. Hematite, a mineral that had previously been identified in
Columbia Hills bedrock, usually, but not always, forms in the presence
of water.
The rovers' main purpose is to look for geological evidence of whether
their landing regions were ever wet and possibly hospitable to life. The
successful results so far -- with extended missions still underway --
advance a NASA goal of continuing Mars exploration by robots and,
eventually, by humans, said Doug McCuistion, Mars Exploration Program
Director at NASA Headquarters.
Klingelhoefer presented the new results from a rock in the "West Spur"
of Mars' "Husband Hill" at a meeting of the American Geophysical Union
in San Francisco this week.
Spirit has now driven past the West Spur to ascend Husband Hill itself.
One remaining question is whether water was only underground or ever
pooled above the surface, as it did at Opportunity's site. "As we climb
Husband Hill and characterize the rock record, we'll be looking for
additional evidence that the materials were modified by ground water and
searching for textural, mineralogical and chemical evidence that the
rocks were formed in or modified by surface water," said Dr. Ray
Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis, deputy principal
investigator for the rover instruments.
The amount of worrisome friction in Spirit's right front wheel has been
decreasing. Meanwhile, rover wranglers at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., continue to minimize use of that wheel
by often letting it drag while the other five wheels drive. "Babying
that wheel seems to be helping," said JPL's Jim Erickson, rover project
manager. Both rovers continue working in good health about eight months
after their primary three-month missions. "Looks as though Spirit and
Opportunity will still be with us when we celebrate the landing
anniversaries in January," Erickson said.
Opportunity has completed six months of inspecting the inside of
"Endurance Crater" and is ready to resume exploration of the broad
plains of the Meridiani region. It has recently seen frost and clouds
marking the seasonal changes on Mars. At this week's conference, rover
science-team member Dr. Michael Wolff of the Brookfield, Wisconsin
branch of the Boulder, Colorado-based Space Science Institute is
reporting those and other atmospheric observations. "We're seeing some
spectacular clouds," Wolff said. "They are a dramatic reminder that you
have weather on Mars. Some days are cloudy. Some are clear."
A portion of Mars' water vapor is moving from the north pole toward the
south pole during the current northern-summer and southern-winter
period. The transient increase in atmospheric water at Meridiani, just
south of the equator, plus low temperatures near the surface, contribute
to appearance of the clouds and frost, Wolff said. Frost shows up some
mornings on the rover itself. The possibility that it has a clumping
effect on the accumulated dust on solar panels is under consideration as
a factor in unexpected boosts of electric output from the panels.
As its last major endeavor inside Endurance Crater, Opportunity made a
close inspection of rock layers exposed in a part of the crater wall
called "Burns Cliff." Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca,
N.Y., principal investigator for the rover instruments, said, "In the
lower portion of the cliff, the layers show very strong indications that
they were last transported by wind, not by water like some layers higher
up. The combination suggests that this was not a deep-water environment
but more of a salt flat, alternately wet and dry."
JPL has managed the Mars Exploration Rover project since it began in
2000. Images and additional information about the rovers and their
discoveries are available on the Internet at:
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/universe/solarsystem/mer_main.html
Information about NASA and agency programs is available on the Web at:
http://www.nasa.gov
==========================
See accompanying 7+ image, Burns.jpg
Researchers used a special imaging technique with the panoramic camera
on NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity to get as detailed a look
as possible at a target region near eastern foot of "Burns Cliff." The
intervening terrain was too difficult for driving the rover closer.
-=###=-
73, Alan
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