Mars Rover Spirit Unearths Surprise Evidence of Wetter Past Options

[Guest_AlexBlackwell_*]

Mars Rover Spirit Unearths Surprise Evidence of Wetter Past
NASA/JPL
May 21, 2007

[TheChemist]

We've found the hiding place of Paso Robles

This might be bigger than it seems. I wonder what the implications will be for the interpretation of orbiter TES data now that there is ground-truth for amorphous silica.
Would the exploration of Columbia Hills have taken a different course if this discovery was made earlier ?

[imipak]

This might be bigger than it seems. I wonder what the implications will be for the interpretation of orbiter TES data now that there is ground-truth for amorphous silica.
Would the exploration of Columbia Hills have taken a different course if this discovery was made earlier ?

Oh yes... they'd have dragged a wheel all the way from the top of Husband Hill to Home Plate

The silica finding's yet another convincing demonstration (as if all the other multi-coloured salt deposits weren't enough) of the usefulness of doing 'scuff' operations (as opposed to brushing/RAT) to see what's below the surface - *and* another example of the serendipity that only rovers can really deliver, IMHO. ("What do we want? Dozens more MERs! When do we want them? When budgetary constraints, DSN bandwidth and management resources permit!" )_chug!_( )

[Pavel]

What do we want? Dozens more MERs!

Actually, it's surprising that there is so little overlap between the rovers' discoveries. Other than olivine found by both rovers early into the mission, all other unusual materials or features were found by only one robot. Silica and salt are only in Gusev, blueberries are only in Meridiani. Volcanic bombs are in Gusev, festoons are in Meridiani. Layered bedrock is radically different, and even sand doesn't seem to be the same.
This means that more MERs are likely to discover more unique features if they are sent to new places on Mars. And even if they find something similar to Gusev or Meridiani, that would be exciting too.
MSL and Phoenix may be better equipped, but it's clear that it's not enough to cover unique places on Mars. MERs are proven, there are specialists with years of MER experience, and there is Mars-tested MER software.
I understand that NASA is supposed to innovate non-stop, but for the sake of science, sending more MERs would be the right thing to do IMHO.