Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

louis · 2012-10-14 07:10:49

mars-images wrote:

Looks like someone tried to roll a joint.
Curiosity sol 64
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zkaa … w-fY/1.jpg

Looks like something you find on the seashore on Earth...

mars-images · 2012-10-15 00:45:46

Who knows they claim Mars had standing water in that area for millions of years. Here on earth sea creatures were swimming in the sea for over 3.8 billion years, the atmosphere on the surface of earth was too toxic for any land creature until 700 million years ago...

louis · 2012-10-17 11:26:37

louis wrote:

mars-images wrote:
Looks like someone tried to roll a joint.
Curiosity sol 64
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-zkaa … w-fY/1.jpg
Looks like something you find on the seashore on Earth...

I see that NASA are saying their experts "think" it is a piece of debris from the spacecraft. That made ME think!

Why aren't they absolutely sure it's a piece of debris? Surely they know every square millimetre of that machine.

Is there any chance it could be organic? Wind blown from some distant warm water pool?

falkor · 2012-10-17 16:11:07

nah and quite honestly seeing these images is far more interesting with the thought that MARS ONE could get off the ground in our life time

mars-images · 2012-10-19 00:36:27

"Is there any chance it could be organic? Windblown from some distant warm water pool?"

Dunes anybody.

Who knows some water based life form not use to the martian atmosphere would boil and explode then dry out once it comes in contact with the surfaces if dug up from a pressurized subsurface, a good example is how it was portrayed in Total Recall? Here on earth ice worms that live on top of mountain glaciers that have antifreeze inside them live in ice up to 3 feet below its surface, the worms melt and die from the warmth of people's hands when they hold them without gloves, their used to much lower temperatures. It's a very-long shot but it can happen. It kind of looks like a shredded skin from a snake or a worm, now that would be a site to see some snakes slithering around the rover.

On another note, it is good that they are going to zap the bright object they just found, on 10/13/2012 of this blog I suggested to do the same thing, see the last several images. We will have a control test that they can calibrate their laser spectro to if they know what type of material the bright plastic worm-like object was and zap that too.

Last edited by mars-images (2012-10-19 01:05:03)

mars-images · 2012-10-27 01:52:44

New images of rocks from the forgotten Rover, Opportunity, at Endeavour Crater.

Last edited by mars-images (2012-10-27 01:56:39)

mars-images · 2012-10-30 01:28:25

Rocks at Curiosity Rocknest sol 80-82, I sharpen and add contrast to JPL's Images from Curiosity

Last edited by mars-images (2012-10-30 01:29:50)

Rxke · 2012-10-30 02:02:30

Sweet stuff! You can almost feel the texture of it just by looking at it.

mars-images · 2012-10-31 12:57:24

Rxke

Thanks that is why I sharpened and added more contrast to the dull looking JPL images.

Here is something we may see more often, look at the circled item it looks like a dust particle on the lens, several images have the small dark spot at the same location.

0084MH0103001003E1_DXXX.jpg5.jpg

Here is an enlarged look at the dust particle.

0084MH0103001003E1_DXXX.jpg2.jpg5.jpg

It will be interesting to see how long it stays on the lens, since the vibration from the movement of the rover should dislodge it.

mars-images · 2012-11-01 01:44:09

Is Curiosity wheels going to hold up to get to Mount Sharp that's the 2.5 billion dollar question after looking at the dings in the wheels here:

sol 84

Rxke · 2012-11-01 02:12:18

Wow! That looks pretty used up already.... Hope this is by design... And was expected...

mars-images · 2012-11-02 16:36:06

Rxke I agree.

Curiosity wheels are made out of aluminum, it looks like the wheels weren't worked hardened and shotpeened during processing. Curiosity weighs 899 kg (1,980 lb) on earth but on Mars it weight is 342 kg (752.4 lb) still a lot of weight that is applied to the aluminum wheels. If those wheels aren't processed the right way which is easily checked by a Rockwell hardness tester and eddy current then they may be much softer wheels than NASA ordered.

Ron Bennett

mars-images · 2012-11-04 00:34:16

There is a posiblility that the ding marks were done during landing as someone else pointed out on a different blog, but as I told them:

I thought of that too, that is why I looked at the wheels before it moved. On sol 3 they took images of the wheels before it moved, there were no ding marks or any other marks on the wheels, however with that being said the bottom of the wheels was not visible at the time they took images of the wheels. These ding marks are on most all of the wheels on all the visible surfaces so although it is possible that the damage was done on the bottom of the wheels at landing time when it first fell from the sky, it is more probable that the ding marks were made during its short drive.

Here is what the wheels looked like on sol 3 before it moved, see below:

53.jpg.5.jpg

55.jpg5.jpg

50.jpg.5.jpg

52.jpg.5.jpg

51.jpg.5.jpg

mars-images · 2012-11-08 02:24:41

Here is something strange at Opportunity site, the rock looks like someone shined a black light on it, I had to remove a lot of the saturation to process it.

sol 3117

1P404893897EFFBWS0P2422L2M1.5.jpg

Original false color image

1P404893897EFFBWS0P2422L2M1.7.jpg

mars-images · 2012-11-09 18:31:02

Something is interesting in the dunes???

Curiosity dug 6 trenches in the sand so far, what is so interesting there, is it this bright object we saw earlier???

sol 93

70-sol%25252093.jpg

On the other side of mars Opportunity is in Endeavour Crater.

sol 3119

Last edited by mars-images (2012-11-09 18:37:38)

louis · 2012-11-10 06:15:47

Isn't it amazing how little news is coming out of NASA re Curiosity's findings. It's almost as if they don't want people to be interested in Mars.

Either they have got the worst PR and press team on the planet or they want to keep results confidential.

mars-images · 2012-11-10 18:29:07

louis I think it is the later, they want to keep the information to themsleves so there results can be published in a major magazine like Nature. All the rover and lander teams did this, but Curiosity seems to be even more quit. Of course they do want their results to be credible to the sigma 5 level which is good science.

I hope they are trying to solve the perchlorate mystery which if heated will destroy organics, that is what NASA astrobiologist Chris McKay claimed skewed the Viking and Phoenix Lander results.

"In 2010 The discovery of the highly reactive chemical perchlorate in the phoenix Lander led NASA's Christopher McKay, an astrobiologist at the Ames Research Center, and Navarro-Gonzalez to test whether the perchlorate had skewed the Viking results that showed no sign of organic material on Mars

Perchlorate, which consists of chlorine and oxygen, actively absorbs electrons from surrounding compounds when heated. "It could sit there in the Martian soil with organics around it for billions of years and not break them down," McKay said. "But when you heat the soil to check for organics, the perchlorate destroys them rapidly."

Here's some more of Opportunities images inside Endeavour Crater:

sol 3119

mars-images · 2012-11-20 20:00:26

Curiosity team to announce new " "for the history books" announcement to be made within two weeks.

http://www.space.com/18565-mars-rover-c…stery.html

My guess is that they will finally confirm organics in the soil the next step is confirming extant (still in existence) life on Mars that they also found at the Viking and Phoenix Landers site. Viking Landers found organics, the Phoenix Lander discovered it but couldn't verify it because of perchorates in the soil skewed the results, it will be confirmed that what Chris McKay said in 2010.

"In 2010 The discovery of the highly reactive chemical perchlorate in the phoenix Lander led NASA's Christopher McKay, an astrobiologist at the Ames Research Center, and Navarro-Gonzalez to test whether the perchlorate had skewed the Viking results that showed no sign of organic material on Mars.

Perchlorate, which consists of chlorine and oxygen, actively absorbs electrons from surrounding compounds when heated. "It could sit there in the Martian soil with organics around it for billions of years and not break them down," McKay said. "But when you heat the soil to check for organics, the perchlorate destroys them rapidly."
For possibility of life found at the Mars Phoenix Landers site see

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUHZ-aMb … yE_KtGSTSw

Here are some new Opportunity images sol 3119

sol 3135

Last edited by mars-images (2012-11-22 02:56:12)

mars-images · 2012-11-25 02:03:33

Since we will not know what they are talking about at Curiosities site for another two weeks "for the history books," it leaves us some more room to speculate. What if they found an active warm geyser field, as speculative as that may seem they are surprised by the high temperature in the area at this time of year.

They already recorded temperature as high as 40 degrees Fahrenheit during the day, warmer than any time ever recorded on Mars but Curiosity landed at the end of winter time, it shouldn't be that warm yet? To back some of my logic up is these images just released of porous rocks with larger holes in them on sol 107. Yea they look like volcanic rocks maybe even pumice but the higher temprature readings may mean they are still active warm areas on Mars???

sol%252520107%2525202.jpg.7.jpg

sol%252520107%2525205.jpg.77.jpg

sol%252520107%2525202.jpg.77.jpg

sol%252520107%2525205.jpg.777.jpg

Last edited by mars-images (2012-11-26 01:08:08)

mars-images · 2012-11-29 03:00:00

Opportunity

1P406846958EL5M1.JPG.5.jpg

Last edited by mars-images (2012-11-29 03:17:43)

mars-images · 2012-11-29 03:16:11

NBC report on "one for the history books"

http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news … /#50002282

I posted this on a different post but I thought I will repost it here.

Imagine a world similar to earth early in its history where life was abundant on land, in the sea and underground, a world where an apocalyptical event much greater than the one that killed the dinosaurs off was about to hit the planet. Imagine the terror of Martian life forms looking up into the night sky when it happened. The planet shook from a large comet exploding after impact filling the night sky with 3 thousand degrees hot plasma, 8 million cubic miles of impacted debris and poisonous gas. A force over 1 million times greater than the power of the nuclear bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima Japan just shook the planet impacting at the Hellas Impact basin area as a result the crater floor is now about 7,152 m (23,465 ft) deep extending about 2,300 km (1,400 mi) east to west.

Are we seeing its victims here?

https://picasaweb.google.com/1041440224 … kingRocks#

Mars%252520Sasquatch%252520Skelton.JPG

The above thought was followed with half joking images I showed people at space.com blog in 2004 about what looked like a grave yard of fossils at the Spirit rovers landing site, I even named the rocks. Spirit landed in a very low elevation that later was proven to be a dry lake bed. After looking at over 10,000 images from the MER rovers nothing looked like the fossilize looking rocks at the Spirit rovers landing site. Looking at the images too much I started thinking that maybe that they were fossils, this was before they verified water on Mars with other data that supports the possibility of life on Mars at sometime in its history.

Now at Curiosity Landing site lets revisit that thought, according to the Curiosity science team Curiosity landed in a dry river bed, are these fossilized rocks?

Dead Horse looking rock?

Curiosity%252520Pan%252520view%252520large.jpg3%252520dead%252520horse.jpg

???

Curiosity%252520Pan%252520view%252520large.jpg6.jpg

Curiosity%252520Pan%252520view%252520large.jpg1.jpg

Last edited by mars-images (2012-12-05 04:38:25)

mars-images · 2012-12-08 20:21:51

Meanwhile on the other side of the planet Opportunity has just parked in a clay area on the rim of Endeavor crater, clay areas on earth are full of life. Here are some of the latest images up to sol 3153:

"Geologic clay deposits are mostly composed of phyllosilicate minerals containing variable amounts of water trapped in the mineral structure. Clay minerals are typically formed over long periods of time by the gradual chemical weathering of rocks, usually silicate-bearing, by low concentrations of carbonic acid and other diluted solvents. These solvents, usually acidic, migrate through the weathering rock after leaching through upper weathered layers. In addition to the weathering process, some clay minerals are formed by hydrothermal activity.

Clay deposits are typically associated with very low energy depositional environments such as large lakes and marine basins."

mars-images · 2012-12-11 19:58:47

Here is something interesting at Opportunities site?

1P408357628EL7M1.JPG

Looking closer at the new image above there's a familiar looking rock found only in Endurance crater. The rock is the same kind of rock with "razorback" feature that the MER science team claimed showed recent activity relating to water flow in Endurance crater. Is there recent geyser activity at Endeavor crater, clays are also formed in geological active areas.

Drill here for water?

1P408357628EL7M1.JPG.5.jpg

This "razorback" feature was photographed by Mars Rover Opportunity at Endurance Crater, Mars in July 2004. (NASA/JPL)

The 'Razorback' Mystery

"The pointy features in this image may only be a few centimeters high and less than 1 centimeter (0.4 inches) wide, but they generate major scientific interest. Dubbed "Razorback," this chunk of rock sticks up at the edge of flat rocks in "Endurance Crater." Based on their understanding of processes on Earth, scientists believe these features may have formed when fluids migrated through fractures, depositing minerals. Fracture-filling minerals would have formed veins composed of a harder material that eroded more slowly than the rock slabs."

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/ … 0716a.html

Last edited by mars-images (2012-12-13 01:38:05)

mars-images · 2012-12-17 19:04:17

I hope all this image shows on mastcam sol 128 of Curiosity is just badly trimmed wires???

Broken%252520dreams.jpg

mars-images · 2012-12-19 03:38:07

Back at Opportunity, they spied the "razorback-like" rock I showed above and focused into taking some more close up images of it.

Sol 3164

New Mars Forums

Announcement

#26 2012-10-14 07:10:49

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#27 2012-10-15 00:45:46

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#28 2012-10-17 11:26:37

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#29 2012-10-17 16:11:07

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#30 2012-10-19 00:36:27

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#31 2012-10-27 01:52:44

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#32 2012-10-30 01:28:25

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#33 2012-10-30 02:02:30

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#34 2012-10-31 12:57:24

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#35 2012-11-01 01:44:09

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#36 2012-11-01 02:12:18

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#37 2012-11-02 16:36:06

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#38 2012-11-04 00:34:16

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#39 2012-11-08 02:24:41

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#40 2012-11-09 18:31:02

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#41 2012-11-10 06:15:47

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#42 2012-11-10 18:29:07

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#43 2012-11-20 20:00:26

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#44 2012-11-25 02:03:33

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#45 2012-11-29 03:00:00

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#46 2012-11-29 03:16:11

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#47 2012-12-08 20:21:51

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#48 2012-12-11 19:58:47

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#49 2012-12-17 19:04:17

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

#50 2012-12-19 03:38:07

Re: Color images of Mars from the Spirit and Opportunity rovers

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