Rovers on Mars

The biggest one, though, would be a confirmed encounter with an other world being.

Just one living microbe will do it for me.

The first photo, rocks in the middle distance. That is the kind of fracture pattern you get in New England when stratified rock fractures and then is invaded by water that freezes and then melts. That may or may not be an appropriate analogy but it sure looks interesting.

For a fascinating explaination of what this second rover is looking for, (in layman's terms) read January 2004 National Geographic. This will come very clear for anyone who doesn't understand. This is so exciting!

acquiunk, patterned mosaic ground like that is a freeze thaw sign, i didnt wanna get all academic here but there are a gazillion clues in the pix. Remember, around the mosaics the ground has been lifted and pulled away due to an impact probably, then the patterning has probably been impressed upon it by eons of frost polygons.

I wished they had a photo of the incoming view before the rover touched down , but heym this is exciting enough for us rocknockers

They had some from the spirit landing but didn't release them for a couple of days. Not as sexy I guess.

Entry

Descent

Landing

One of the most impressive things in the first image is the bedrock which is firmly fixed to the Mars structure unlike sands, rocks, or boulders which have been somewhat common things through a few landers until the landing of Opportunity..


It is said that Opportunity is inside a 20-meter diameter crater.

All that smoothness impresses me.

I'll bet we learn more from that than any other thing.

The smooth soil and the firm bedrock will tell much about Mars.

... even the indication of a previously existing microbe would still be incredible

But then of course would come the billion dollar question: Is it made of DNA?

But even the lack of evidence of life on Mars could still provide information, depending on the planetary conditions in effect over time. Since life on Earth developed almost as soon as the rocks had cooled, we might expect the same to occur on (other worlds) Mars *if* conditions were similar. If conditions were similar, but no life ever developed, then we would have to re-evaluate our estimates of the fundamental viability of life under certain conditions, or re-evaluate the conditions themselves.

The Geology of Mars on one thing, and certainly a very interesting thing, but it will amount to nothing more than static in the symphony if biology is discovered on Mars.

After I submitted "living microbe" I realized how momentous it would be just to find a dead one.

It occurred to me (this is Sunday night and I've too much time on my hands) that we know what Mars looks like, and with the chemical and physical analysis some sense of what it tastes and feels like. But we have no idea what it sounds like (as far as I am aware) What would it take to convince NASA to rig one of these probes with a mice?

I think this image from nyt is more clear.

rosborne. The current thinking is that the conditions for life on Mars are in the past. The planetary greenhouse that supports life has been swept away because of the shutdown of mars internal dynamics like a molten core and vulcanism . This is why the geologists qre some of the first scientists playing in the dirt. Their branch of the science is focused on spotting relic information of past con ditons as well as tectonics. I think well get to a mission with purely biological inquiries but in its turn.

A couple of years ago, NASA sent a probe to Mars with a microphone on it to "listen" to Mars. Unfortunately, that mission was lost when landing sequences were miscoded with meter/feet measurements. I can't remember the details, or the name of the probe, but it was a big disappointment. I seem to recall that it happened a year or so after Sojourner landed.

I hope they try it again sometime, though I would guess that the wind on a barren planet would sound much the same as the wind in a desert.

Hi Farmerman, I didn't mean to imply any disrespect for geology. I suspect that at this point in history, geology and chemistry are the only tools which will be of much use on Mars. However, if a record of ancient biology is revealed through geologic or chemical investigation, then it will be the biology (even dead biology) which will carry the most scientific "weight". I can't imagine anything more revealing and informative to us than the discovery of extra terrestrial life on Mars. Such knowledge would be incredibly exciting (especially with Eurpoa and Titan still waiting for us), and profoundly humbling.

Best Regards,

According to this mornings news it appears that Spirit's problem is software (a file sharing problem). NASA is hoping to have it back in operation perhaps within a week.

spirit got hacked, oy

rosborne, I agree, id be excited also if we discover that theres a germ of life that is merely carbon based. Hell, what if its silica based? would that serve to rewrite our bibles/

Consider this. For the first two weeks Spirit is an exemplary prob. Then 48 hours before it's sibling arrives it:

refuses to go to bed
when told to it give NASA a raspberry ( random 0 and 1"s) phtttttt
it then refuse to talk to NASA
when it finally talks, it sulks
just hours before it's sibling land it is finally forced to bed ( and it beeps
back)
when NASA checks it the next day it's room (files) is a mess.

Do we have a "little problem" here?