[X] My Assistant

[Guest_paulanderson_*]

An interesting note re the original "rotini" - in this update today from Space.com, it mentions that the same kind of shape has not yet been duplicated by the RAT or any other instruments in the months of ratting done since then:

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/myst...day_050214.html

Quotes:

"Early in its mission at Meridiani Planum, the Opportunity Mars rover shot back a Microscopic Imager photo that included a feature shaped like a Rotini pasta. At the time, its profile sparked discussion both inside and outside of the NASA Mars Rover Exploration team."

"I am surprised I do not hear any more commotion about the good old ‘rotini’ shape from Meridiani in the early part of the mission," Gorevan said. "We have not yet been able to duplicate that shape with the RAT or any Mössbauer Spectrometer or Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer contact mechanisms." But Gorevan hastened to add: "That’s infinitely far from saying it is of biologic origin, but it is proving resistant to duplication."

The other recent lichen-like area also mentioned is thought to probably be a rat brush mark, although that isn't 100% known yet either. I forget which rock this was on again - ?

[slinted]

No, the 'lichen' rock refered to in the space.com story was Alligator, the target brushed by Spirit on sol 386. The feature they refer to is almost certainly a product of the dust being piled up by the RAT brushing process.

Spirit sol 386 MI