On Mars: Opportunity ok, Spirit stuck in Martian quicksand

William Atkins
Sunday, 24 May 2009 19:46

Science - Space

The news from planet Mars is that the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity is doing just fine, having found water signs in sand dunes. Halfway around the Martian world, MER Spirit is stuck up to its hubs in soft sand, and it isn’t looking too promising for the five-year old robotic explorer.


OPPORTUNITY

Opportunity continues to send back pictures of its exploration of Mars, specifically of the rim outside of Victoria crate.

Its latest images are purple-colored pebbles in thick layers of sedimentary rock that it just found, which were formed when water levels rose outside a crater—many millions of years ago.

The robot found sulfate salts, which remained after the water disappeared and the rocks were blown by the Martian wind, eventually forming sand dunes over the past many, many years.

The NASA article “Mars and Earth Activities Aim to Get Spirit Rolling Again” states that Opportunity “… came upon tiny purple-gray pebbles known as concretions barely a quarter-inch in size. The scientists have called the pebbles "blueberries." They are strewn across the red sands and are rich in the iron mineral hematite. Blueberries just like them exist on Earth and are known to be formed in water.”

And, “As the ground rose higher … Opportunity encountered fewer and fewer blueberries - another indication that water once lay deepest beneath the Martian surface a billion or more years ago."

"Because Opportunity found similar blueberries inside the crater where it landed in 2004, and also inside another crater, scientists reason that the water must have played a major role in shaping the surface throughout planet's Meridiani region where Opportunity has been exploring…."

Page two talks about sister rover Spirit.