[X] My Assistant

[ustrax]

I am looking for a map that includes meridiani and margaritifer sinus with longitude and latitude grids to see the correlation between Oppy and the good old Mars 6 probe but I'm not having any look so thought to leave the challenge here...
Here are the coordinates:

Opportunity:
1.98° N 5.94°W

Mars 6

23.90° S, 19.42° W

Yes...I dreamt about Oppy meeting the old Soviet probe...But they're too far for that...

[remcook]

so, what was the anomaly??

[ustrax]

so, what was the anomaly??

This:

'One of the experiments carried on the Mars 6 lander was a mass spectrometer designed to determine the gaseous composition of the Red Planet's atmosphere. Although the recorded mass spectrum data were not recovered, engineering data on the operation of the vacuum pump appeared to indicate unexpected quantities of noncondensable gases. Soviet scientists interpreted the data as an indication that the atmosphere might contain as much as 15 to 30 percent argon (contrasting with l percent in Earth's atmosphere). The Americans had been operating on the assumption that the thin Martian atmosphere contained less than 3 percent argon. A concentration approaching 15 to 30 percent would force some rethinking about Mars and about Klaus Biemann's mass spectrometer experiment. It would mean that the Martian atmosphere had been much denser in the past than the specialists had believed. That would have made the existence of liquid water possible, but it posed a question what had happened to those atmospheric gases? That was the puzzler. A great concentration of argon would also require some changes in the use of the gas chromatograph-mass spectrometer, since inert gases like argon tended to impede its operation. Obviously, the Soviet Mars missions had not answered many of the U.S. questions, but they had added another element of excitement to the first Viking landing. Everyone would watch closely the results of the entry science team's experiment to see just how much argon it detected as the A lander made its way to the surface.'

Doug...Maybe this thread should be moved to Past and Future?...

[tedstryk]

Soviet scientists interpreted the data as an indication that the atmosphere might contain as much as 15 to 30 percent argon

Right. This was because the voltage readings from the spectometer pump indicated it was sucking in far more "air" than it should, indicating that the atmosphere was thicker than occultation measurements had indicated. The best way to explain such a discrepency, it was reasoned, was that it was a inert gas, which would explain its absence in occultation data, and the most likely inert gas was argon. However, the actual explanation was a faulty voltage reading or a faulty pump. This was significant, because Viking would have failed in an atmosphere that much different that the one it was designed for, and was too far along in the design process to be changed. Thus, Mars-6 provided a real scare. But I still say it is amazing that it came as close to succeeding as possible considering that due to onboard failure, it hadn't heard from earth and had therefore been completely autonomous for five months prior to landing!


Had it landed, and the spectrometer data been downloaded properly, the confusion would probably have cleared up. Perhaps this should be a Mars-6 thread. in past and future.

Mars 6 will likely not only be covered in dust, but also in many tiny pieces.

But we do need a mission to go there to find this out for certain as well as
complete the scientific work that Mars 6 never got the chance to do.

A question: Was the landing area for Mars 6 chosen on purpose or were
the Soviets just trying to get it to land anywhere on the planet? If the former,
what made the region an appealing target?

I believe it was a pretty random site, based on trajectory, not appeal. I think it might be interesting to find it because we know the mass of the probe, we know what it was made of, we know its speed, and we know when it it. So if we could image the impact with MRO, it may actually be useful for studying surface properties. And, since unlike MGS MRO has color capability at high resolution, it might be able to come up with a positive ID. The problem is that it is a needle in a haystack.

[ustrax]

Perhaps this should be a Mars-6 thread. in past and future.
I believe it was a pretty random site, based on trajectory, not appeal. I think it might be interesting to find it because we know the mass of the probe, we know what it was made of, we know its speed, and we know when it it. So if we could image the impact with MRO, it may actually be useful for studying surface properties. And, since unlike MGS MRO has color capability at high resolution, it might be able to come up with a positive ID. The problem is that it is a needle in a haystack.

I agree with you on moving the thread.
I've been trying to figure out the landing site, Google Mars points out the place but with very poor resolution so I've followed Mr. Tesheiner's ( ) link:

http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/Projects/MDIM21/

And choosing the correct quadrant:

http://astrogeology.usgs.gov/mdim-bin/data...at=15S&lon=338E

I could see a little more detail on the place and if that is the correct location could it be plausible that Mars 6 smashed into the elevation right ahead, does this contradicts any official explanation for the crash if there is any?

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustr...dingsitem6b.jpg

Here, Google Mars images and the astrogeology cropped one:

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b14/ustr...ndingsitem6.jpg

Maybe you imagery guys can improve the original one...

Edited: Links corrected...