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Stu

Member

From: Kendal, Cumbria, England

Registered: 2001-09-04

Posts: 318

Website

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

BTW. Why is everybody so annoyed with the sundial? If you want to take scientifically meaningful pictures, you have to do some serious calibration. It's not like the MER's can put a Kodak colour-calibration card on the ground, step back, and take a snapshot... So this is the way to do it... *every single* picture i take for my documentation (of restoration jobs) contains such a card. Without it, they're useless. You have to have a standard to compare to what you're documenting.

Good point, well made 

It's just that as an amateur rock-hound and frustrated martian explorer every time I see a pic of that sundial I can't help thinking "that's a picture that could have been of more rocks, or dust drifts, or bedrock..."

And boy, that Ayers Rock-coloured ridge visible over the edge of Opportunity's horizon is REALLY calling to me... !!!

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Stuart Atkinson

Skywatching Blog: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/Cumbrian-Sky[/url]

Astronomical poetry, including mars rover poems: [url]http://journals.aol.com/stuartatk/TheVerse[/url]

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

Referring to the picture of East Crater, with its striking white rim, Rxke mentioned the obvious depression not far outside Opportunity's crater. He went on to say he thought he could just make out a dark spot in the landing site photo which might be that depression.
    To me, the depression looks quite large and deep and yet it's almost undetectable in the landing site shot. But the first bounce of the airbag and the effect of the retro rockets has left an obvious 'scar' about 100 metres across (according to the scale given)!

    The airbag and rocket exhaust must have had a remarkable effect on this evidently fragile surface; an effect seemingly disproportional to any we might have expected(?).

    One of the purported lines of evidence of the 'Apollo Was A Fake' brigade was the minimal effect of the descent stage rocket motor on the lunar regolith immediately under the rocket. (This has since been comprehensively explained by NASA - not that the conspiracy lunatics took any notice of course! ) By comparison, the three MER retro rockets are relatively small and dropped the airbagged lander from an altitude of some 15 to 20 metres above the Meridiani surface.

    How did the airbag manage to deform or scar such a broad region of the martian surface? It doesn't seem likely the rockets could have contributed much to the surprisingly large mark.

    When you put this anomaly together with the unusual and unexpected 'magic carpet' effect of the airbag retraction, which looked like mud, and the peculiar way the small pebbles and spherules disappeared under the surface when pressed upon by the spectrometer, and the way the surface haematite vanished everywhere the airbags touched, you start to get the impression the Meridiani surface is more than a little bizarre!
                                              ???

    And yes, Stu, I have been getting a strange feeling that the cogs may be turning behind the scenes at JPL!
    It seems they've been getting a heap of data for some weeks now but keeping pretty quiet about it just lately. Maybe the official line is true, that there is still much work to be done before any conclusions can be reached. But maybe they've already reached an exciting conclusion which they're finding hard to digest and would rather keep it hush-hush until it's irrefutable.
    Who knows ... guess we'll have to wait and see!    :;):

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The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner

cassioli

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2004-02-23

Posts: 218

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

This really looks like wet terrain, don't you think?

[http://www.keithlaney.com/OCI/R10.jpg](zoom)

And "bluberries" looks a lot more interesting in "true color" rather than b/n: they appear  to be a completely different material compared to surrounding terrain. I really would like to know something about their origin!

cassioli

Member

From: Italy

Registered: 2004-02-23

Posts: 218

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

What could happen if it will be discovered that some of these little spherules are made of precious minerals?...

It looks like we don't have just rusty terrain on Mars... :9

Luca

GraemeSkinner

Member

From: Eden Hall, Cumbria

Registered: 2004-02-20

Posts: 563

Website

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

http://www.keithlaney.com/OCI/O6.jpg]Another composite from Keith's site, I find the difference between the relatively smooth dust/soil in the rock outcropping and the coarse surface surround it interesting, be good to see a few more colour images as they certainly give you a different feel than the greyscales.

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There was a young lady named Bright.
Whose speed was far faster than light;
She set out one day
in a relative way
And returned on the previous night.
--Arthur Buller--

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

To me, the depression looks quite large and deep and yet it's almost undetectable in the landing site shot. But the first bounce of the airbag and the effect of the retro rockets has left an obvious 'scar' about 100 metres across (according to the scale given)!

i think that's because the depression is old, and covered with the same dustlayer like everything else, equalising the overall tone in colour... The retrorockets 'upset' that upper-layer of dust, and if you see S&O pictures, only *millimeters* below the upper layer, the surface is quite a bit lighter in hue...

That's why i would like to see some good, colour-calibrated pics of the first surface 'disturbances' made by Opp. to be re-photographed, before it leaves the crater... To see if that lighter, freshly-exposed layer gets darker, if at all, and if it does, how quick. See how 'reactive' freshly exposed soil is... Could tell us a lot...
If Opp dug a trench, did measurements... And some time after revisits the trench, and it turns out the composition of the fresh hole has changed, that'd point to an 'active' subsurface agent (water) or reaction with the atmosphere...

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

Keith rules!
Sure hope Keith gets his hands dirty on that 'coffee table sized patch of ground that shows an amazing variety of colours...'

(Edit:) turns out the coffee-table is the one cassioli posted, nevermind me saying stupid things)

WARNING BTW: Start posting in Spirit&Opportunity*4*
After more than 300 posts in a thread it can become corrupted...

Admins, lock this thread, please?

Adrian

Moderator

From: London, United Kingdom

Registered: 2001-09-04

Posts: 642

Website

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

Thread locked - see 'Spirit & Opportunity *4*'

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Editor of [url=http://www.newmars.com]New Mars[/url]

SpaceNut

Administrator

From: New Hampshire

Registered: 2004-07-22

Posts: 29,433

Re: Spirit & Opportunity *3* - ...continued from previous threads

Bump for shifting