Tue, Feb 17, 2004
NASA's Spirit Rover Examines Unusual
Rock
NASA's Spirit rover
stopped to examine an unusual, flaky rock on the surface of Mars
Sunday as scientists prepared to send it on a trek that would more
than double its one-day distance record. The Mars Explorer team
hopes the rover will travel about 82 feet by Tuesday morning
and make the same distance again during the afternoon.
Spirit's longest previous trek was 70 feet in a day, the record
for any robot on the Martian surface. Before setting out on
Monday's trek, Spirit is examining the flaky rock, dubbed
"Mimi."
Mission manager Jim Erickson said scientists would like to know
why Mimi is flaky but its neighboring rocks are not. He said
flakiness may indicate layering, an indication that a rock was
formed over time instead of all at once, as might be the case with
rock produced by a volcanic eruption. Examining a rock's layers can
give scientists hints about the geologic history of the region
where it was found. Mimi is just one stop along the way as Spirit
moves toward a crater called "Bonneville," about 800 feet from its
landing place. It is expected to take about 18 days to get there,
Erickson said.
On the other side of the planet, the twin rover Opportunity was
in position to dig a trench Monday in "Hematite Slope," an area
named for an iron-bearing mineral that typically forms in water.
The trench would allow scientists to study soil beneath the
surface. Opportunity concentrated on examining the surface soil at
the spot Sunday for comparison.
"Anytime you get anything other than a homogenous structure it's
always interesting to the geologists," Erickson said. "It tells you
that the area's been active and things have changed over time."
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