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ZL2VAL > ROVERS 26.01.04 09:19l 101 Lines 4635 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
BID : 510446ZL2VAL
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Subj: Opportunity on the rocks
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Sent: 040126/0755Z @:ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC #:34143 [New Plymouth] FBB7.00g
From: ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
To : ROVERS@WW
NEWS RELEASE: 2004-037
January 25, 2004
Opportunity Sits In A Small Crater, Near A Bigger One
Outcrop near Opportunity
A small impact crater on Mars is the new home for NASA's Opportunity
rover, and a larger crater lies nearby. Scientists value such crater
locations as a way to see what's beneath the surface without needing to dig.
Encouraging developments continued for Opportunity's twin, Spirit, too.
Engineers have determined that Spirit's flash memory hardware is
functional, strengthening a theory that Spirit's main problem is in
software that controls file management of the memory. "I think we've got
a patient that's well on the way to recovery," said Mars Exploration
Rover Project Manager Pete Theisinger at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Opportunity returned the first pictures of its landing site early today,
about four hours after reaching Mars. The pictures indicate that the
spacecraft sits in a shallow crater about 20 meters (66 feet) across.
"We have scored a 300-million mile interplanetary hole in one," said Dr.
Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal
investigator for the science instruments on both rovers.
NASA selected Opportunity's general landing area within a region called
Meridiani Planum because of extensive deposits of a mineral called
crystalline hematite, which usually forms in the presence of liquid
water. Scientists had hoped for a specific landing site where they could
examine both the surface layer that's rich in hematite and an underlying
geological feature of light-colored layered rock. The small crater
appears to have exposures of both, with soil that could be the hematite
unit and an exposed outcropping of the lighter rock layer.
"If it got any better, I couldn't stand it," said Dr. Doug Ming, rover
science team member from NASA Johnson Space Center, Houston. With the
instruments on the rover and just the rocks and soil within the small
crater, Opportunity should be allow scientists to determine which of
several theories about the region's past environment is right, he said.
Those theories include that the hematite may have formed in a
long-lasting lake or in a volcanic environment.
An even bigger crater, which could provide access to deeper layers for
more clues to the past, lies nearby. Images taken by a camera on the
bottom of the lander during Opportunity's final descent show a crater
about 150 meters (about 500 feet) across likely to be within about one
kilometer or half mile of the landing site, said Dr. Andrew Johnson of
JPL. He is an engineer for the descent imaging system that calculated
the spacecraft's horizontal motion during its final seconds of flight.
The system determined that sideways motion was small, so Opportunity's
computer decided not to fire the lateral rockets carried specifically
for slowing that motion.
Squyres presented an outline for Opportunity's potential activities in
coming weeks and months. After driving off the lander, the rover will
first examine the soil right next to the lander, then drive to the
outcrop of layered-looking rocks and spend considerable time examining
it. Then the rover may climb out of the small crater, take a look
around, and head for the bigger crater.
But first, Opportunity will spend more than a week -- perhaps two --
getting ready to drive off the lander, if all goes well. Engineering
data from Opportunity returned in relays via NASA's Mars Odyssey orbiter
early this morning and at midday indicate the spacecraft is in excellent
health, said JPL's Arthur Amador, mission manager. The rover will try
its first direct-to-Earth communications this evening.
The main task for both rovers in coming months is to explore the areas
around their landing sites for evidence in rocks and soils about whether
those areas ever had environments that were watery and possibly suitable
for sustaining life.
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. Images and additional information about the project
are available from JPL at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov
and from Cornell University, Ithaca,
N.Y., at http://athena.cornell.edu
=========================
73 de Alan, (Sysop ZL2AB).
AX25:ZL2VAL@ZL2AB.#46.NZL.OC
APRS:!3903.34S/17406.45E]
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Message timed: 20:37 on 2004-Jan-26 (NZ local)
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Points to ponder
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Living on Earth is expensive but it does include a free trip around the sun
every year.
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