Spirit was not commanded to enter the crater for fear of it being
trapped by the craters steep slopes.
However, it was noted on the Unmannedspaceflight.com site that the dark
sand in El Dorado resembles the dark material in Bonneville:
Non color calibrated image.
http://areo.info/mer/spirit/708/2P189220191EFFAL00P2267L5M1_L2L5L5L7L7.jpg (Note: in uncalibrated images this material appears blue, but without
calibration data all that can be said is that it is darker than the
surrounding terrain.)
Then we may have another chance for determinining the make up of this
dark material. I argue that this material may resolve one of the key
questions on the mineralogy of Mars: what is the make up of the wide
spread dark material seen on Mars, termed Surface Type 2 rock by Mars
Global Surveyor scientists.
As I discussed in the sci.astro post, two explanations have been
offered: one that it is andesitic rock, the other that it is liquid
water altered basalt. Both the andesitic and weathered basalt
explanations have important implications for the geologic past of Mars
- the andesitic, suggesting tectonic plates may have operated on Mars,
and the weathered basalt, suggesting liquid water oceans may have
occurred on Mars.
Bob Clark
Posted by on January 3, 2006, 5:05 pm
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The Martians call it Beffilus. They live underground
near the polar caps.
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