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New Mars Express And Huygens Results, ESA conference - November 30, 2005
Guest_paulanderson_*
post Nov 22 2005, 06:15 PM
Post #1





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http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMA96ULWFE_index_0.html

Relating to Mars Express:

"At the same time, ESA’s Mars Express mission is continuing its investigations of Mars, painting a new picture of the 'red planet'. This includes the first ever probing below the surface of Mars, new geological clues with implications for the climate, newly-discovered surface and atmospheric features and, above all, traces of the presence of water on this world."
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Guest_BruceMoomaw_*
post Dec 2 2005, 08:01 AM
Post #2





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I thought I remembered some earlier brief mentions of Mars Express finding phyllosilicates. Yep -- there are two abstracts mentioning it from the Septemeber DPS meeting, one of which has a bit more information.
http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/v37n3/dps2005/575.htm :

"The hyperspectral imager OMEGA aboard Mars Express found hydrated minerals in the region of Mawrth Vallis, Mars, by the detection of the 1.9 μm hydration absorption band, caused by the H2O molecule inside the mineral structure. For these hydrated minerals, the combination bands due to the Fe-OH bond at 2.3 μm and the Al-OH bond at 2.2 μm reveal the presence of clay minerals: ferric smectites and montmorillonites (Poulet et al., this conference). HRSC images indicate that the clays correspond to bright outcrops on the plateaus each side of Mawrth Vallis. These plateaus are part of highly cratered Noachian terrain (> 3.7 Gy). On these bright clay rich outcrops, MOC images show light-toned layered deposits, as seen by Malin and Edgett (Science, 2000). The intense wind erosion of these outcrops implies that clays are not only surfacial, but that the bright sedimentary rock itself is made of clays. The observation of such a large amount of clays in this region implies extensive alteration of igneous rocks by water, and the subsequent deposition of clays."

Moreover, it also turns out from the GSA meeting that MER-A has found one rock possibly containing phyllosilicates in the Columbia Hills.
http://gsa.confex.com/gsa/2005AM/finalprog...tract_95505.htm :

" 'Wooly Patch' is an outcrop having unique characteristics, investigated by the Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit, along the rover's traverse to the Columbia Hills. It is the softest rock abraded by the Rock Abrasion Tool at Gusev through sol 291. It shows hardened material at the edges of surface fractures, potentially involving cementation/deposition by fluid. It shows cataclastic texture in the interior matrix and extremely fine porous cuttings. The rock interior has distinct Vis-NIR spectra, and a distinct Mössbauer spectrum with a paucity of Fe2+ in olivine and an intense Fe2+(VI) spectral doublet with parameters slightly different from the pyroxene/glass component within plains basalts. Compositionally, targets on Wooly Patch form the endmembers in three chemical trends of Gusev rocks, and its major silicate-related cation ratios [TC/ICT and ICS/(ICS+ICL)] suggest a medium degree of polymerization (e.g., phyllosilicates). A modified normative calculation based on igneous mineralogy indicates an excess of Al2O3 and SiO2 in its composition. Mass-balance mixing-model calculations suggest phyllosilicates plus remnants of primary basaltic minerals to be the essential constituents that make up this outcrop. Phyllosilicate groups possessing similar cation ratios to those implied by the Wooly Patch analysis spots include the kaolinite, serpentine, chlorite, and septechlorite groups. The potential existence of kaolinite type Al-rich phyllosilicates within the Wooly Patch outcrop suggests a mildly acidic environment (pH from 4 to 6) in the past, and an open hydrologic system."
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Posts in this topic
- paulanderson   New Mars Express And Huygens Results   Nov 22 2005, 06:15 PM
- - RNeuhaus   Anyone will assist to the conference in Paris on N...   Nov 22 2005, 07:22 PM
- - paulanderson   Just a reminder that the press briefing is tomorro...   Nov 29 2005, 10:46 PM
- - SigurRosFan   http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Results_from_M...7ZTUL...   Nov 30 2005, 03:27 PM
- - Sunspot   PARIS -- The European Space Agency will unveil wid...   Nov 30 2005, 03:28 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   I think there's a good chance that they're...   Nov 30 2005, 03:30 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Dammit, I wrote that just before seeing SigurdRosF...   Nov 30 2005, 03:31 PM
- - Marz   "If we look at today's evidence, the era ...   Nov 30 2005, 03:34 PM
- - tty   Note that clay minerals also occur in Meridiani, p...   Nov 30 2005, 05:43 PM
- - dvandorn   Doubtful that the underlying deposits at Meridiani...   Nov 30 2005, 05:49 PM
- - AlexBlackwell   Radar Soundings of the Subsurface of Mars Picardi,...   Nov 30 2005, 06:00 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Nov 30 2005, 06:00 PM)...   Dec 8 2005, 06:50 PM
- - AlexBlackwell   The December 1, 2005, issue of Nature is now onlin...   Nov 30 2005, 06:15 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Nov 30 2005, 06:15 PM)...   Nov 30 2005, 06:46 PM
- - deglr6328   I have access to Nature.....Shall I do something n...   Nov 30 2005, 06:18 PM
|- - mike   I was going to defend Nature's charging to vie...   Nov 30 2005, 08:22 PM
|- - elakdawalla   QUOTE (mike @ Nov 30 2005, 12:22 PM)I was goi...   Nov 30 2005, 08:33 PM
||- - JonClarke   Publishing in Nature achieves several things. Firs...   Nov 30 2005, 09:53 PM
||- - mcaplinger   QUOTE (JonClarke @ Nov 30 2005, 01:53 PM)Most...   Nov 30 2005, 10:45 PM
|||- - JonClarke   QUOTE (mcaplinger @ Nov 30 2005, 10:45 PM)And...   Dec 1 2005, 08:01 AM
||- - helvick   QUOTE (JonClarke @ Nov 30 2005, 10:53 PM)...   Dec 1 2005, 10:31 PM
||- - JonClarke   QUOTE (helvick @ Dec 1 2005, 10:31 PM)+ much ...   Dec 2 2005, 01:07 AM
|- - helvick   QUOTE (mike @ Nov 30 2005, 09:22 PM)Why don...   Nov 30 2005, 08:46 PM
- - Phil Stooke   mcaplinger said: "I don't like it 'c...   Dec 1 2005, 03:57 AM
- - paulanderson   Getting back to today's results... As othe...   Dec 1 2005, 04:30 AM
- - RNeuhaus   About the title Radar reveals ice deep below Marti...   Dec 1 2005, 04:48 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   I thought I remembered some earlier brief mentions...   Dec 2 2005, 08:01 AM
- - paulanderson   Re my contention about making the critical distinc...   Dec 6 2005, 05:54 PM
|- - JonClarke   I agree, there is a tendency to draw far reaching ...   Dec 6 2005, 11:19 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Since the ESA -- to my amazement -- seems to be se...   Dec 7 2005, 07:37 AM
|- - gpurcell   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Dec 7 2005, 07:37 AM)Sin...   Dec 7 2005, 02:10 PM
||- - ljk4-1   If they want to put human colonies on Mars, perhap...   Dec 7 2005, 02:55 PM
||- - JonClarke   QUOTE (gpurcell @ Dec 7 2005, 02:10 PM)So tha...   Dec 8 2005, 01:24 AM
|- - JonClarke   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Dec 7 2005, 07:37 AM)Sin...   Dec 8 2005, 01:11 AM
|- - paulanderson   QUOTE (JonClarke @ Dec 7 2005, 05:11 PM)The p...   Dec 8 2005, 08:44 PM
|- - JonClarke   QUOTE (paulanderson @ Dec 8 2005, 08:44 PM)Wh...   Dec 9 2005, 03:21 AM
- - edstrick   Clearly, there needs to be close cooperation betwe...   Dec 7 2005, 08:26 AM
- - BruceMoomaw   Well, keep in mind that the central goal of Martia...   Dec 7 2005, 01:58 PM
|- - RNeuhaus   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Dec 7 2005, 08:58 AM)Wel...   Dec 7 2005, 02:58 PM
- - RNeuhaus   The above 4 mentioned sites of interest for ExoMar...   Dec 8 2005, 03:15 PM
|- - helvick   QUOTE (RNeuhaus @ Dec 8 2005, 04:15 PM)If MSL...   Dec 8 2005, 03:55 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (helvick @ Dec 8 2005, 03:55 PM)This pr...   Dec 8 2005, 09:32 PM
|- - helvick   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Dec 8 2005, 10:32 PM)I w...   Dec 9 2005, 12:50 AM
- - edstrick   "Becquerel is an interesting spot though, it ...   Dec 9 2005, 09:19 AM
|- - JonClarke   QUOTE (edstrick @ Dec 9 2005, 09:19 AM)...   Dec 11 2005, 02:57 AM
- - RNeuhaus   I have another concern on ExoMars telecommunicatio...   Dec 9 2005, 02:17 PM
- - djellison   Come '11, there will be MRO (almost certainly)...   Dec 9 2005, 02:38 PM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (djellison @ Dec 9 2005, 02:38 PM)I agr...   Dec 9 2005, 03:58 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   This gives more reason to think that, if MRO fails...   Dec 10 2005, 06:32 AM
|- - AlexBlackwell   QUOTE (BruceMoomaw @ Dec 10 2005, 06:32 AM)Th...   Dec 10 2005, 07:46 PM
|- - tedstryk   QUOTE (AlexBlackwell @ Dec 10 2005, 07:46 PM)...   Dec 14 2005, 04:26 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   Yes, poor McCleese must be feeling like Sisyphus a...   Dec 10 2005, 10:00 PM
- - BruceMoomaw   QUOTE (helvick @ Dec 8 2005, 03:55 PM)This pr...   Dec 11 2005, 02:36 AM
- - paulanderson   Another good clay article posted yesterday on Scie...   Dec 20 2005, 11:23 PM


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