Sat, Jan 10, 2004
Evidence Of Carbonate Suggests Prehistoric Washes
Hey, Houston. Guess
what? There may be water in them thar hills. Just as NASA's
scientists recover from this week's exciting Mars landing, some new
information is causing a renewed buzz within the space agency. It
seems NASA's Spirit spacecraft has detected carbonate particles,
which may indicate water once flowed on the barren, red planet some
time ago. The instrument that made the discovery is an infrared
camera designed to sense the composition of material from afar by
measuring heat emissions.
While Mars mission scientist Phil Christensen says the presence
of the mineral might mean the material may be a remnant of rocks
that formed in water from dissolved carbonate particles, he warns
that doesn't necessarily mean the spacecraft is sitting on an
ancient lake bed.
So, while the initial results are promising, the golf-cart sized
six-wheeled robotic explorer will have to examine nearby rocks once
it eventually leaves its temporary home on the Spirit lander.
However, that roving expedition may be delayed a few days thanks
to a problem caused by the airbags used to cushion its landing.
NASA scientists say the bags cannot be fully retracted and will
continue to block its path down Spirit's front ramp.
To get around this problem, engineers have decided to rotate the
lander one-third of a turn to the right and roll it off a secondary
ramp on the lander's side. This movement is scheduled for next
week, so we'll all have to sit tight, along with the rover, until
then.
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