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#1 Re: Unmanned probes » Spirit & Opportunity *6* - continue on from thread "5" » 2004-06-12 16:21:18

Thanks for the photo link showing the MER, Stu.  It's hard for me to remember sometimes how very LARGE the rovers are, until there's some point of comparison. (Other than rocks!)  Although, when I recall how much science equipment is packed into them, they seem quite... dainty...

#2 Re: Unmanned probes » Spirit & Opportunity *5* - Let's start with new NASA conference! » 2004-03-23 14:36:59

The "microscope" camera gives 1024x1024 images representing 30x30 millimeters; this means 0.0293 mm per pixel , or 29.3 um (1 um  = 1/1.000.000 of 1 meter) per pixel.

I don't know the dimension of a cell; any idea?

Luca

With thanks to Wikipedia (or maybe I shouldn't say that and let everyone here think I can rattle this stuff off the top of my head!), with an approximate resolution of 29-30um we might actually be able to detect some types of microfossils, presuming there are some...

Bacteria, at around 0.5-5.0um, are beyond this tool's detection, as are the simplest prokaryotic cells, which are in the range of 1-10um. However, >eukaryotic< cells (fungi, for example, and more complex animals) could be well within this size range, between 10-100um.

So, there you go.  A definitive... maybe.   big_smile

#3 Re: Unmanned probes » Spirit & Opportunity *5* - Let's start with new NASA conference! » 2004-03-23 14:02:41

The microscope is not good enough, resolution something like 1MM/pixel... IIRC

It's more a "geologist's magnifying lens" than a real microscope...

About what I thought, thanks Rxke, which must be as frustrating for the the scientists, as for us. Still, this shortcoming could have the effect of making the sample-return mission more urgent.  (Yes, I'm all for sending humans - today, tomorrow... yesterday, in fact! - but let's be pragmatic.)

#4 Re: Unmanned probes » Spirit & Opportunity *5* - Let's start with new NASA conference! » 2004-03-23 13:44:01

Maybe microfossils could be seen; the microscopic camera is pretty good.

This is a good point. Does anyone know whether the tools on board are powerful enough to detect microfossils? I know we've seen some very fine-grained soil particles, but could we detect unicellular fossils, if they're there? I can certainly imagine that, before the mission was launched, it would have seemed wildly optimistic to create a camera with the microscopic capabilities for this sort of work... but now...

Can't you just picture NASA exobiologists hopping up and down in agonising curiosity?

--Bev

#5 Re: Unmanned probes » Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads » 2004-02-07 22:59:42

Hi everyone,

This was sent to me on the spaceref newsletter today. For anyone who hasn't seen this very funny animation, it might help you waste 30 seconds or so, while waiting for the next press conference/photo releases or whatever.

Gad, this made me laugh...
[http://images.spaceref.com/news/2004/rover.armspin.mov]http://images.spaceref.com/news/2004/rover.armspin.mov

Bev  big_smile

#6 Re: Unmanned probes » Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads » 2004-02-02 14:14:21

Just been drooling over the hi-res version of the Opportunity Mission Success Panorama... absolutely incredible detail in the rock "outcrop", layers like a gateau...

Thanks for posting the pic (and the link to it!), Stu.  Does anyone else see those "layers" looking very much eroded in the style of sedimentary rock?

I live in an area perched on an enormous outcrop of what's called "Sydney sandstone" that was deposited on the ocean bed over aeons and is only lightly compressed. Whenever it's exposed at the surface some strata begin to crumble fairly easily, disappearing faster than other layers, in just the way Stu's "gateau" looks to be doing.  If this Martian stone is what is looks like to me: sedimentary, rather than volcanic... it's a pretty strong argument for water.

Any geologists/areologists on the board with professional opinions?

We HAVE to get over there and check out the composition of that bedrock!

#7 Re: Unmanned probes » Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads » 2004-01-29 13:07:11

Now what on earth (er, Mars) do you suppose that leaf-like thing is? (Not to mention all that speckled stuff.)

=====
Stephen

Hi Stephen, hi everyone! (Been lurking for weeks; thought I should jump in with a suitably "scientific" post.)

Well *obviously* that "leaf-like thing" is a small fish, freeze-drying on the sand... and those "speckled things"? I'm betting on water-rounded pebbles.

Hee!

:laugh:

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