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Posted by jonathan on August 6, 2005, 7:20 am
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> http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html
>
> OPPORTUNITY UPDATE: Exploring Southward - sol 531-537, August 02, 2005:
>
> Opportunity continued its trek south toward "Erebus Crater,"
Lake Erebus, sorry for the correction.
http://mars.gh.wh.uni-dortmund.de/mer/opportunity/117/tn/1P138565350EFF2809P2297L5M1_L2L5L5L6L6.jpg.html
http://mars.gh.wh.uni-dortmund.de/mer/opportunity/121/tn/1P138925657EFF2809P2263L5M1_L2L5L5L6L6.jpg.html
This does not show an impact crater. It shows the laminated layer of rocks that
cover Meridiani subsiding into endurance. And covering almost half way down to
the floor. Erebus will no doubt be similar. Endurance and Erebus were
ice-covered hot springs.
And these are not simple wind blown sand dunes either. But the original
floor of Meridiani sea These ripples were not deposited by wind, but
scoured out by water. Then partially deformed later by wind.
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/536/1P175772179EFF57KRP2443R2M1.HTML
The laminations in the dunes demonstrate that this is a very young
region of Mars.
These laminated dunes are not rocks are they? They are still
in the form of clay-like soil. They never had a chance to
turn to rocks by burial. These laminations never had a chance
to be fully weathered away down to the ...laminated...bedrock
just below.
I'm trying to remember seeing anything at Meridiani that is
not finely and uniformly laminated. I'm trying to imagine how
these laminated dunes lie at such an odd angle.
Geology fails to explain anything found at Meridiani.
Life continues to explain everything found at Meridiani.
http://www.nps.gov/yell/slidefile/thermalfeatures/thermophiles/Images/05250.jpg
Look familiar?
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/207/1P146558920EFF35B8P2561L5M1.JPG
"Lamination as a tool for distinguishing microbial and metazoan
biosystems from inert structures"
Conclusion:
"Lamination often indicates the presence of microbial or microbially
dominated biosystems. Furthermore, laminated structures are an
important borderline to distinguish micro and macroorganisms, although
such a distinction is relative. Both the presence and absence of
lamination are lawful phenomena based on the fundamental physical and
biological/biogeochemical principles."
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/lpi/scholz.pdf
Jonathan
s
making 61
> meters (200 feet) of progress over two sols of driving. The rover is
> approaching greater quantities of outcrop as it heads south, and the
> team is excited at the possibility of using the robotic arm before
> reaching Erebus.
>
> This week, restricted sols allowed the team to drive only every other
> sol. Next week, however, there will be a shift back to an early
> planning
> cycle that will allow driving every sol if desired.
>
> Sol-by-sol summaries:
>
> Sol 531 (July 22, 2005): Opportunity pointed its navigation camera
> rearward to shoot images for a seven-frame by one-frame mosaic. The
> miniature thermal emission spectrometer systematically observed the
> foreground. The panoramic camera took thumbnail images of the sky.
>
> Sol 532: This sol's remote-sensing work included a pre-sunset
> observation.
>
> Sol 533: The rover completed a successful drive of 34 meters (112
> feet),
> including an attitude update.
>
> Sol 534: Opportunity looked rearward with its navigation camera from
> the
> new location and made observations with its miniature thermal emission
> spectrometer.
>
> Sol 535: The rover used the miniature thermal emission spectrometer for
> a large set of observations, jokingly referred to at the "Uberraster"
> because of its size.
>
> Sol 536: Opportunity drove 27 meters (89 feet), with approximately 10
> percent slip. The drive duration was two hours, with a final heading of
> 155 degrees.
>
> Sol 537 (July 28, 2005): Planned work for this sol included another
> large raster by the miniature thermal emission spectrometer.
>
> Opportunity's total odometry after the sol 536 drive is 5,617 meters
> (3.49 miles).
>
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