Back At Larry's Lookout |
Back At Larry's Lookout |
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May 18 2005, 06:29 PM
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#1
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Guests |
Some pretty complex driving by the look of it:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/fo...E0P1214R0M1.JPG Now this is odd: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/na...E0P0617R0M1.JPG It looks like some of the rocks have slid down the dune |
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May 20 2005, 08:03 AM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
Yeah. I missed her lecture, too. Had to work late. It will be repeated on Friday, but it is not clear whether that will be broadcasted or webcasted again.
The sediment in this location is piled up quite steeply and is probablly very close to, if not greater than the expected angle of repose, which is about 35 degrees for normal sediments on earth. I'm not certain if that angle would be different on Mars, but this slope is clearly very steep. http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/mars/ask/soil/Di...Mars_soils_.txt If it is an over-steepened slope, somewhat stabilized by weak cementation of the grains by precipitated salts or a slight amount of moisture, the slump was probably just waiting to happen. We may have simply been lucky to have noticed it. But, as Edward has pointed out, we really haven't seen anything that looks like old slumps/slides. As simple as it is, this really is an interesting feature. The fact that it is visible in images taken quite a few sols ago from a distance makes it difficult to imagine it could have been caused by Sprit's activity/ratting. (Tman spotted it as far back as the sol 438 navcams.) I can imagine it could have been caused by a gust of wind, a loud sound, or a slight seismic vibration. On Sol 489 a series of pancams were taken of this area. Here is a portion of it that shows the upper part of the slope failure. -------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
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