@rosborne979,
It's mighty cute, whatever it is.
I think they're getting desperate. When the biggest news they can come up with is a tiny speck of a crystal embedded in a rock, or a slight curvature in a rocky edge which they describe suggestively as "serpentine", that's a bit pitiful.
@rosborne979,
I it is a esert rose -like dingus, it puts a braket on the length of time and the xtreme salinitythe water had reached as it began the crystallization."I dont think they were making any references to ocean basins and island arc tectonics when they mentioned "serpentine" (Unless whoever made the announcement was talking out o his rectum).
On earth, when we talk about "Serpentines" we note that most of these are indicative of some unique geology that provides us the the "dotted lines" between two colliding continental masses.
Curiosity is preparing for next weeks first drilling.
I just read a comment on facebook, a claim that a rodent can be seen in this photo.
@edgarblythe,
prolly because of the piece of cheese in the middle left
@edgarblythe,
I see a couple of birds...and a bleached skull...but no rodent.
Where is it?
I was hoping one of you could tell me.
@edgarblythe,
you do realize that we're all insane??
I can't believe you said that--that's just crazy!
notfakenews. That says it all.
Opportunity landed nine years ago today.
@edgarblythe,
I wonder where the Curiosity Rover will be in ten years? And will it have discovered evidence of life by that time?
@rosborne979,
If they do, I hope I'm still "above ground."
PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA's Curiosity rover has, for the first time, used a drill carried at the end of its robotic arm to bore into a flat, veiny rock on Mars and collect a sample from its interior. This is the first time any robot has drilled into a rock to collect a sample on Mars.
The fresh hole, about 0.63 inch (1.6 centimeters) wide and 2.5 inches (6.4 centimeters) deep in a patch of fine-grained sedimentary bedrock, can be seen in images and other data Curiosity beamed to Earth Saturday. The rock is believed to hold evidence about long-gone wet environments. In pursuit of that evidence, the rover will use its laboratory instruments to analyze rock powder collected by the drill.
"The most advanced planetary robot ever designed is now a fully operating analytical laboratory on Mars," said John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for the agency's Science Mission Directorate. "This is the biggest milestone accomplishment for the Curiosity team since the sky-crane landing last August, another proud day for America."
For the next several days, ground controllers will command the rover's arm to carry out a series of steps to process the sample, ultimately delivering portions to the instruments inside.
"We commanded the first full-depth drilling, and we believe we have collected sufficient material from the rock to meet our objectives of hardware cleaning and sample drop-off," said Avi Okon, drill cognizant engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
