MSL at Rocknest, First scoop samples - sols 57-101 |
MSL at Rocknest, First scoop samples - sols 57-101 |
Oct 3 2012, 12:30 AM
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Administrator Group: Admin Posts: 5172 Joined: 4-August 05 From: Pasadena, CA, USA, Earth Member No.: 454 |
Curiosity has put more than 400 meters on the odometer and tosol (sol 56) she bumped up to a sand drift that we now know (via Twitter) is named Rocknest and will be the site of the first sample grab. In last week's press briefing, John Grotzinger warned that we will be here for "what seems like a very long time," 2-3 weeks. They will have to run several samples through the SA-SPaH (Sample Acquisition, Processing and Handling subsystem, pronounced "Saw-spa") and in particular CHIMRA (Collection and Handling for In situ Martian Rock Analysis, pronounced "chimera") in order to "clean" it of any remaining Earthly contamination with good Mars dirt before they deliver the first sample to SAM or Chemin. So this seems like a good place to start a new thread.
As usual, discuss stuff that happened through sol 56 in the previous thread. -------------------- My website - My Patreon - @elakdawalla on Twitter - Please support unmannedspaceflight.com by donating here.
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Oct 20 2012, 05:32 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2228 Joined: 1-December 04 From: Marble Falls, Texas, USA Member No.: 116 |
To an extent we have been conditioned by Phoenix to equate polygon formation with ice. In the GSA paper excerpt they are identified as contraction features. These can be caused by dessication, thermal contraction or even chemical reactions and mineral phase changes (or combinations of the above) can have the same effect. I guess the point I am trying to make is that there are a lot of pieces of the jigsaw that have to be put together before we can even make a reasoned guess at what occurred in Gale. I'd have to agree with that. While I think the fractures seen in the rock from sol 56 do bear a strong resemblance to terrestrial mud cracks, there's no way to know that with confidence from a single drive-by image. The voids could easily be from some other type of shrinkage crack, ice crystal casts, or some sort of fractures.However, I find it intriguing to note that polygonal fractures/features at several scales have been observed in the sediments of Gale Crater. Large scale polygons (and boxwork) have been imaged from orbit, we have seen medium scale polygons on the distant foothills of Mt. Sharp in some long range mastcam images, and now we've seen several examples of small scale polygons in some near range mastcam images. It's tempting to speculate that this entire range of polygonal structure or fabric may be genetically related. -------------------- ...Tom
I'm not a Space Fan, I'm a Space Exploration Enthusiast. |
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