Cidersomerset
31st October 2012, 16:15
Curiosity completes its first analysis of Martian soil - and finds it's a lot like Hawaii (but without the surfing)
First analysis of Martian soil finds striking similarities to Mount Kea in Hawaii Team
found half of weathered soil made up of non-crystalline materials, like volcanic glass
ByMark PriggPUBLISHED:10:52, 31 October 2012| UPDATED:14:41, 31 October 2012
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-0-15C64B90000005DC-496_634x477.jpg
This image of Mauna Kea in Hawaii shows an area of volcanic soils that contain
minerals similar to those identified in the 'Rocknest' region on Mars by NASA's
Curiosity rover
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-2225657-15C7588B000005DC-10_634x425.jpg
Mars or Hawaii? A surfer in Hawaii, where researchers say rock formations are
extremely similar to those on the Red Planet.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-0-15C64B7E000005DC-953_634x315.jpg
Curiosity's view from Mars: Left is an unmodified view, while the image at right has
been white-balanced to show what the same area would look like under the lighting
conditions on Earth. In the first chemical analysis of of minerals on another planet,
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity found soil that bears a striking resemblance to
weathered, volcanic sand in Hawaii, scientists have revealed.The rover uses an
X-ray imager to reveal the atomic structures of crystals in the Martian soil, the first
time the technology, known as X-ray diffraction, has been used to analyze soil
beyond Earth.
'This was a 22-year journey and a magical moment for me,' NASA's David Blake,
lead scientist for the rover's mineralogical instrument, told reporters during a
conference call.Curiosity found the Martian sand grains have crystals similar to
basaltic soils found in volcanic regions on Earth, like Hawaii.
Scientists plan to use the information about Mars' minerals to figure out if the
planet most like Earth in the solar system could have supported and preserved
microbial life.
'The mineralogy of Mars' soil has been a source of conjecture until now,' said
Curiosity scientist David Vaniman of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson,
Arizona.
'This interest isn't just academic,' he added.
'Soils on planets' surfaces are a reflection of surface exposure processes and
history, with information on present and past climates.'Specifically, scientists want
to understand what conditions existed to allow the particular minerals to form.
The first Martian soil scoop is mineralogically similar to basaltic materials and
comprised primarily of feldspar, pyroxene and olivine.About half the soil is non-
crystalline materials, like volcanic glass, that form from the breakdown of rocks.
Several processes can account for this weathering, including interaction with water
or oxygen, similar to how rust forms on iron-metal surfaces.Brute force, such as
sandstorms or meteorite impacts, also could account for the soil's weathered
components, said chemist Douglas Ming of NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston.
The Curiosity rover landed inside a giant impact crater near the Martian equator in
August for a two-year, $2.5-billion mission, NASA's first astrobiology expedition
since the 1970s-era Viking probes.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-0-15C64B84000005DC-764_634x652.jpg
This graphic shows results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the Chemistry and
Mineralogy (CheMin) experiment on NASA's Curiosity roverThe rover is scouting a
site where three types of rock intersect. Next year, scientists plan to drive it over to
a three-mile (5-km) mound of sediment, named Mount Sharp, rising from the floor
of the crater.'We're hopeful that once we get into the truly ancient materials on
Mount Sharp, we will find minerals that suggest there was a habitable environment
of some kind there. 'We haven't had that happen yet, but we have a lot of time
left,' Blake said.While X-ray diffraction has been around for a century, using the
technology on Mars required years of work to scale down refrigerator-sized
equipment into something that would fit into the space of a shoe box. The
miniaturized, low-power instrument is used in the mining, oil and gas industries and
is being evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to screen for
counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2225657/Curiosity-Mars-lot-like-Hawaii.html#ixzz2AtSghmO2
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
====================================================
BBC News page 31 oct 2012..
Curiosity Mars rover finds soil similar to Hawaii's Curiosity's chief scientist said the
most important thing about the mobile laboratory is that it eats dirt Continue
reading the Nasa's Curiosity rover has found soil on Mars to be similar to Hawaii's
after sifting and scanning its first sample on the Red Planet. The robot's CheMin
instrument shook out fine particles of soil and fired X-rays at them to determine
their composition.These sandy samples should give clues about Mars' recent
geological history.As had been theorised, much of the sample is made of
weathered "basaltic" materials of volcanic origin, like that seen on the islands of Hawaii.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63823000/jpg/_63823840_63823839.jpg
Curiosity's chief scientist said the most important thing about the mobile laboratory
is that it eats dirtThe sample seems to contain dust carried from afar by Mars'
global-scale storms, as well as coarser sand of more local provenance.The £2.6bn
mission put Curiosity on the floor of Gale Crater, a huge depression on Mars'
equator, on 6 August. It has since trundled more than 480m (1,590ft) to the east
toward a spot called Glenelg, a place that satellite images indicate is an interesting
junction between three different geological terrains.But it has been paused by the
Curiosity team at a region dubbed "Rocknest" to get its first taste of Martian soil.
This first analysis served to "cleanse the palate" of the rover's sample collection
systems, which may have brought contaminants from Earth that would skew its
chemical view of the Red Planet.But with that out of the way, Curiosity
accomplished another first: the first-ever use of a technique called X-ray diffraction
on another planet.X-ray diffraction is a well-established approach on Earth, in which
X-rays are shot into samples that are made up of crystalline materials.
The precise ways in which the X-rays bounce off the crystals gives clear information
as to their chemical makeup, and good hints as to their structure.The CheMin
experiment first sieves down a soil sample, separating out the components smaller
than 150 micrometres - about the width of two human hairs.It then gives this sifted
soil a shake while firing X-rays at it, examining just how they propagate.The team
says the sample contains "significant amounts" of the minerals feldspar, olivine and pyroxene.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63824000/jpg/_63824209_63823847.jpg
Soil samples are first sieved to sequester particles of less than 150 micrometres in
size."So far, the materials Curiosity has analysed are consistent with our initial
ideas of the deposits in Gale Crater, recording a transition through time from a wet
to dry environment," said David Bish, co-investigator on the CheMin experiment.
In the weeks since its arrival on Mars, the rover has already put its ChemCam and
APXS instruments to work examining larger rocks, including a never-before-seen
specimen reported earlier in October.
"The ancient rocks, such as the conglomerates, suggest flowing water, while the
minerals in the younger soil are consistent with limited interaction with water," said
Dr Bish. The next step was to deliver soil samples into another ground-breaking
experiment within the rover – Sam, or the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument.
Sam will look for the presence of organic, or carbon-containing, molecules that
should give hints about the prospects for life on the Red Planet both now and in the
distant past.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62045000/jpg/_62045548_mars_science_lab_624in.jpg
(A) Curiosity will trundle around its landing site looking for interesting rock features
to study. Its top speed is about 4cm/s
(B) This mission has 17 cameras. They will identify particular targets, and a laser
will zap those rocks to probe their chemistry
(C) If the signal is significant, Curiosity will swing over instruments on its arm for
close-up investigation. These include a microscope
(D) Samples drilled from rock, or scooped from the soil, can be delivered to two hi-
tech analysis labs inside the rover body
(E) The results are sent to Earth through antennas on the rover deck. Return
commands tell the rover where it should drive next
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20151789
http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/k_n/mars1.jpg
Soil analysis by the Mars rover, Curiosity, has shown that Martian soil is similar to
that of Earth's Hawaii.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those who want to get into the spirit play vid while you are reading
article..LOL...Steve...
LrkrQXuDq24
It could be trundling around Hawaii for all we know !!
First analysis of Martian soil finds striking similarities to Mount Kea in Hawaii Team
found half of weathered soil made up of non-crystalline materials, like volcanic glass
ByMark PriggPUBLISHED:10:52, 31 October 2012| UPDATED:14:41, 31 October 2012
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-0-15C64B90000005DC-496_634x477.jpg
This image of Mauna Kea in Hawaii shows an area of volcanic soils that contain
minerals similar to those identified in the 'Rocknest' region on Mars by NASA's
Curiosity rover
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-2225657-15C7588B000005DC-10_634x425.jpg
Mars or Hawaii? A surfer in Hawaii, where researchers say rock formations are
extremely similar to those on the Red Planet.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-0-15C64B7E000005DC-953_634x315.jpg
Curiosity's view from Mars: Left is an unmodified view, while the image at right has
been white-balanced to show what the same area would look like under the lighting
conditions on Earth. In the first chemical analysis of of minerals on another planet,
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity found soil that bears a striking resemblance to
weathered, volcanic sand in Hawaii, scientists have revealed.The rover uses an
X-ray imager to reveal the atomic structures of crystals in the Martian soil, the first
time the technology, known as X-ray diffraction, has been used to analyze soil
beyond Earth.
'This was a 22-year journey and a magical moment for me,' NASA's David Blake,
lead scientist for the rover's mineralogical instrument, told reporters during a
conference call.Curiosity found the Martian sand grains have crystals similar to
basaltic soils found in volcanic regions on Earth, like Hawaii.
Scientists plan to use the information about Mars' minerals to figure out if the
planet most like Earth in the solar system could have supported and preserved
microbial life.
'The mineralogy of Mars' soil has been a source of conjecture until now,' said
Curiosity scientist David Vaniman of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson,
Arizona.
'This interest isn't just academic,' he added.
'Soils on planets' surfaces are a reflection of surface exposure processes and
history, with information on present and past climates.'Specifically, scientists want
to understand what conditions existed to allow the particular minerals to form.
The first Martian soil scoop is mineralogically similar to basaltic materials and
comprised primarily of feldspar, pyroxene and olivine.About half the soil is non-
crystalline materials, like volcanic glass, that form from the breakdown of rocks.
Several processes can account for this weathering, including interaction with water
or oxygen, similar to how rust forms on iron-metal surfaces.Brute force, such as
sandstorms or meteorite impacts, also could account for the soil's weathered
components, said chemist Douglas Ming of NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston.
The Curiosity rover landed inside a giant impact crater near the Martian equator in
August for a two-year, $2.5-billion mission, NASA's first astrobiology expedition
since the 1970s-era Viking probes.
http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/10/31/article-0-15C64B84000005DC-764_634x652.jpg
This graphic shows results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the Chemistry and
Mineralogy (CheMin) experiment on NASA's Curiosity roverThe rover is scouting a
site where three types of rock intersect. Next year, scientists plan to drive it over to
a three-mile (5-km) mound of sediment, named Mount Sharp, rising from the floor
of the crater.'We're hopeful that once we get into the truly ancient materials on
Mount Sharp, we will find minerals that suggest there was a habitable environment
of some kind there. 'We haven't had that happen yet, but we have a lot of time
left,' Blake said.While X-ray diffraction has been around for a century, using the
technology on Mars required years of work to scale down refrigerator-sized
equipment into something that would fit into the space of a shoe box. The
miniaturized, low-power instrument is used in the mining, oil and gas industries and
is being evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to screen for
counterfeit pharmaceuticals.
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2225657/Curiosity-Mars-lot-like-Hawaii.html#ixzz2AtSghmO2
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
====================================================
BBC News page 31 oct 2012..
Curiosity Mars rover finds soil similar to Hawaii's Curiosity's chief scientist said the
most important thing about the mobile laboratory is that it eats dirt Continue
reading the Nasa's Curiosity rover has found soil on Mars to be similar to Hawaii's
after sifting and scanning its first sample on the Red Planet. The robot's CheMin
instrument shook out fine particles of soil and fired X-rays at them to determine
their composition.These sandy samples should give clues about Mars' recent
geological history.As had been theorised, much of the sample is made of
weathered "basaltic" materials of volcanic origin, like that seen on the islands of Hawaii.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63823000/jpg/_63823840_63823839.jpg
Curiosity's chief scientist said the most important thing about the mobile laboratory
is that it eats dirtThe sample seems to contain dust carried from afar by Mars'
global-scale storms, as well as coarser sand of more local provenance.The £2.6bn
mission put Curiosity on the floor of Gale Crater, a huge depression on Mars'
equator, on 6 August. It has since trundled more than 480m (1,590ft) to the east
toward a spot called Glenelg, a place that satellite images indicate is an interesting
junction between three different geological terrains.But it has been paused by the
Curiosity team at a region dubbed "Rocknest" to get its first taste of Martian soil.
This first analysis served to "cleanse the palate" of the rover's sample collection
systems, which may have brought contaminants from Earth that would skew its
chemical view of the Red Planet.But with that out of the way, Curiosity
accomplished another first: the first-ever use of a technique called X-ray diffraction
on another planet.X-ray diffraction is a well-established approach on Earth, in which
X-rays are shot into samples that are made up of crystalline materials.
The precise ways in which the X-rays bounce off the crystals gives clear information
as to their chemical makeup, and good hints as to their structure.The CheMin
experiment first sieves down a soil sample, separating out the components smaller
than 150 micrometres - about the width of two human hairs.It then gives this sifted
soil a shake while firing X-rays at it, examining just how they propagate.The team
says the sample contains "significant amounts" of the minerals feldspar, olivine and pyroxene.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/63824000/jpg/_63824209_63823847.jpg
Soil samples are first sieved to sequester particles of less than 150 micrometres in
size."So far, the materials Curiosity has analysed are consistent with our initial
ideas of the deposits in Gale Crater, recording a transition through time from a wet
to dry environment," said David Bish, co-investigator on the CheMin experiment.
In the weeks since its arrival on Mars, the rover has already put its ChemCam and
APXS instruments to work examining larger rocks, including a never-before-seen
specimen reported earlier in October.
"The ancient rocks, such as the conglomerates, suggest flowing water, while the
minerals in the younger soil are consistent with limited interaction with water," said
Dr Bish. The next step was to deliver soil samples into another ground-breaking
experiment within the rover – Sam, or the Sample Analysis at Mars instrument.
Sam will look for the presence of organic, or carbon-containing, molecules that
should give hints about the prospects for life on the Red Planet both now and in the
distant past.
http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/62045000/jpg/_62045548_mars_science_lab_624in.jpg
(A) Curiosity will trundle around its landing site looking for interesting rock features
to study. Its top speed is about 4cm/s
(B) This mission has 17 cameras. They will identify particular targets, and a laser
will zap those rocks to probe their chemistry
(C) If the signal is significant, Curiosity will swing over instruments on its arm for
close-up investigation. These include a microscope
(D) Samples drilled from rock, or scooped from the soil, can be delivered to two hi-
tech analysis labs inside the rover body
(E) The results are sent to Earth through antennas on the rover deck. Return
commands tell the rover where it should drive next
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20151789
http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/k_n/mars1.jpg
Soil analysis by the Mars rover, Curiosity, has shown that Martian soil is similar to
that of Earth's Hawaii.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
For those who want to get into the spirit play vid while you are reading
article..LOL...Steve...
LrkrQXuDq24
It could be trundling around Hawaii for all we know !!