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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#1
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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 24 2012, 06:19 PM
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#2
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
Well -- if it is a dust coating, the dust is preferentially coating just the upper unit above the visible contact, which is definitely eroding more quickly than the dark-toned basaltic rock below the contact. This dark-toned rock is dust coated in some places, but even where dust-coated the dark-toned unit looks darker than this light-toned upper unit.
The upper unit also shows a fairly consistent coloring, with slight hints of a light gray showing through, indicating a dust coating over all surfaces, while the darker-toned unit shows dust coatings only in those places where wind erosion has not stripped it off. In particular, the dark-toned surfaces just below the contact have generally not been dust coated, while the light-toned unit above the contact is either dust coated or actually is composed of material of a light reddish color. There are also very distinct textural differences between the units above and below the contact, including but not limited to the greater wind erosion seen in the upper unit as compared to the lower unit. This definitely speaks to this being an actual contact between rocks of different composition. -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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