Sol 90+, Extended mission Options

[01101001]

JPL Phoenix Mission News: Analysis Begins on Deepest Soil Sample (September 1)

About the Stone Soup sample to MECA WCL and the clouds.

[CosmicRocker]

Here is a 4Kx4K version of the same image.

Many thanks, jekbradbury. That's glorious.

[jmknapp]

Has the robotic arm delivered enough samples from enough locations to the various instruments to define the extent of the perchlorate ions, and if indeed there are any perchlorate concentration gradients?

Presumably the current MECA sample from Stone Soup will show if the perchlorate concentrates at deeper levels. Yum, soup from strong oxidizer concentrate.

Has any estimate of the concentration of perchlorate in the previous samples been offered?

[Ant103]

Stone soup at Sol 96 :


And TEGA view with oven#1 partially open (one of the door is not deploy).

[hortonheardawho]

Sol 98 cloud movie

LB ( Uv ) and RB ( green ) frames were registered and used to create a synthetic color image. No attempt has been made to white balance the images.

[Tman]

Nice animation Horton!

Hardly to say whether the 3D effect works in cross eyes. Too little topology:

http://www.greuti.ch/phoenix/sol98stereoclouds.gif

[01101001]

TECP: It's dry. Really really dry.

JPL Phoenix Mission News: Spiky Probe on NASA Mars Lander Raises Vapor Quandary (September 4)

A fork-like conductivity probe has sensed humidity rising and falling beside NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander, but when stuck into the ground, its measurements so far indicate soil that is thoroughly and perplexingly dry.

"If you have water vapor in the air, every surface exposed to that air will have water molecules adhere to it that are somewhat mobile, even at temperatures well below freezing," said Aaron Zent of NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., lead scientist for Phoenix's thermal and electroconductivity probe.
[...]
Preliminary results from the latest insertion of the probe's four needles into the ground, on Wednesday and Thursday, match results from the three similar insertions in the three months since landing.

"All the measurements we've made so far are consistent with extremely dry soil," Zent said. "There are no indications of thin films of moisture, and this is puzzling."

More there.

[Stu]

Phoenix sure is busy up there...



(Sol 99 view of Dodo-Goldilocks trench... mess... post-sample...)

[gallen_53]

TECP: It's dry. Really really dry.

JPL Phoenix Mission News: Spiky Probe on NASA Mars Lander Raises Vapor Quandary (September 4)

We know that one of the most common minerals on the surface of Mars is olivine. Olivine rapidly decomposes in the presence of liquid water. Extreme dryness of the regolith is consistent with the presence of olivine.

[marsbug]

Gallen 53 could you expand on that for me? What I mean is; what is it about the decomposition of olivine that causes dryness? Or do you mean that the presence of olivine is a sign of extreme dryness?

I'm curious that no thin films form at all when the water vapour, presumably coming from the ice beneath, is rising through the soil. It suggests there is something in the soil repelling the water, either a compound or an electrostatic charge...?

[Gray]

I didn't know that olivine was common in the Martian soils. But then, I didn't know much of anything about their composition. Could you point me towards a reference that describes their mineralogy?
Thanks.

[gallen_53]

Gallen 53 could you expand on that for me? What I mean is; what is it about the decomposition of olivine that causes dryness? Or do you mean that the presence of olivine is a sign of extreme dryness?

Olivine is an indicator of extreme dryness. Olivine will rapidly decompose (in geological time) in the presence of liquid water. The Martian surface is very old but there is also lots of olivine. Therefore the Martian surface has been very dry for a long time.

I didn't know that olivine was common in the Martian soils. But then, I didn't know much of anything about their composition. Could you point me towards a reference that describes their mineralogy?

Google is your friend :-) .

http://www.psrd.hawaii.edu/Nov03/olivine.html

http://www.astrobio.net/news/index.php?nam...p;theme=Printer

www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2004/pdf/1043.pdf

http://www.marstoday.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=17025

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olivine

[marsbug]

Thanks!

[slinted]

Not that there wasn't already confirmation, but Spirit actually put her wheels (and instruments) on olivine rich sands back at the El Dorado dune field (see: Recent Results from the Spirit Rover at Gusev Crater, LPSC 2006).

[Stu]

Animation of the Sun rolling just beneath (I think..?) the horizon on the morning of Sol 101...

(Too big to post here so I hope you don't mind taking a wander over to my Gallery )

Also, here's a colourisation of a Sol 100 microscope view...



... which is offered purely as an aesthetically-pleasing image; it's been played about with, tweaked and tortured in Photoshop until it begged for mercy, so I'm not suggesting it's colours are accurate, or even that it's remotely useful. I just think it's beautiful!