Mars Curiosity Rover - Mission Progress

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Profile Johnney Guinness
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Message 1294839 - Posted: 13 Oct 2012, 16:17:49 UTC - in response to Message 1294793.  
Last modified: 13 Oct 2012, 16:20:36 UTC

Curiosity is a long range mission, thanks to its nuclear power. Did you see it has no solar panels?
Tullio

Yea, it can keep going for many decades. It has one of these -
Radioisotope thermoelectric generator;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_generator

Its the ultimate Duracell battery :)

John.
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Message 1296402 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 0:01:23 UTC

The big thing about the pebbles seen by Curiosity is that the rounded erosion on the pebbles suggests that water flowed for a long time...


Keep searchin',
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Message 1296428 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 1:01:56 UTC - in response to Message 1296402.  
Last modified: 18 Oct 2012, 1:04:56 UTC

The big thing about the pebbles seen by Curiosity is that the rounded erosion on the pebbles suggests that water flowed for a long time...


Keep searchin',
Martin

Hmmmmm..... i'm suspicious of that theory Martin.
Sand is very abrasive. Mars has lots of sand, and we have pictures of those mini dust devil type tornado's that blow around up there. I have seen the effects of sand blasting stone walls, builders use sand blasting machines, and it erodes away solid stone and leaves it with rounded edges. Any of the pictures i have seen from Mars could be accounted for by dust devil's sand blasting the stones.

Maybe water flowed there at some stage. But i think its unlikely.

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Message 1296584 - Posted: 18 Oct 2012, 16:18:16 UTC - in response to Message 1296428.  

The big thing about the pebbles seen by Curiosity is that the rounded erosion on the pebbles suggests that water flowed for a long time...


Keep searchin',
Martin

Hmmmmm..... i'm suspicious of that theory Martin.
Sand is very abrasive. Mars has lots of sand, and we have pictures of those mini dust devil type tornado's that blow around up there. I have seen the effects of sand blasting stone walls, builders use sand blasting machines, and it erodes away solid stone and leaves it with rounded edges. Any of the pictures i have seen from Mars could be accounted for by dust devil's sand blasting the stones.

Maybe water flowed there at some stage. But i think its unlikely.

John.

too look at the face of wind blown sand erosion we only have to look at the sphinx. Softer stone is worn away quicker. You see a layer cake effect as well as sharp edges to the smaller stone. We dont see this in the current photos from mars.


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Message 1297183 - Posted: 20 Oct 2012, 13:53:36 UTC

Heck with them round thangs. What's up with them Shiny things?

They say the shiny things are Martian, not debris from explorations.

There's Gold in them thar craters.

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Message 1297189 - Posted: 20 Oct 2012, 14:12:19 UTC

Yes, the tiny, shiny objects found at the bottom of a trench dug out by Curiosity's sample scooper are stirring up interest. They're apparently not fragments from the rover, as was the case with a shiny piece of plastic found a couple of weeks ago. They plan to use the X-ray diffraction instrument to learn what the the mysterious objects are made of. In the photo with the article linked below, the fragment pictured looks a bit like a tiny gold nugget to me. http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/10/um-whats-that-bright-shiny-thing-curiosity-just-found-on-mars/263874
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Message 1297249 - Posted: 20 Oct 2012, 17:28:30 UTC

If that's soil all around that shiny object, then this soil gives the
impression that it's bonded together by moisture?

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Message 1298262 - Posted: 23 Oct 2012, 23:37:08 UTC - in response to Message 1297249.  

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Message 1298625 - Posted: 25 Oct 2012, 14:26:45 UTC

I believe you'll find that methane is rare on relatively warm planets near the Sun. Methane is typically a gas on Earth and Mars, and easily destroyed by relatively strong ultraviolet rays from the Sun. At the distance of Saturn and Titan, it is commonly a liquid or solid, more stable forms, and is subject to only a small fraction of the ultraviolet light found at Earth.
As the lighter isotopes of methane are produced by living things, their predominance in Mars' atmosphere would indicate the current presence of life there. If found only sequestered in solid media, they would point to life only in the past.
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Message 1298803 - Posted: 26 Oct 2012, 0:22:00 UTC

Is it possible the shiny piece is a part of USSR's MARS 2 Lander or USSR's MARS 6 soft lander that was lost in the '70's during landing? I dont believe either of these have been located.
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Message 1298959 - Posted: 26 Oct 2012, 14:34:56 UTC
Last modified: 26 Oct 2012, 14:36:24 UTC

Mars 2 crashed at approximately 45 degrees South latitude, 30 degrees West longitude. Mars 6 crashed at about 23.9 degrees South, 19.4 West. Curiosity landed at 137.4 degrees East, 4.5 degrees South. The shiny objects (there are at least several of them) do not seem to be from either of the Russian landers. Its been pretty well established that whatever the objects are, they are native to Mars. They were found at the bottom of a trench dug by Curiosity, in what appeared to be previously undisturbed soil.
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Message 1299226 - Posted: 27 Oct 2012, 4:48:35 UTC

NASA JPL News.

Curiosity Rover Report (Oct. 26, 2012): Working with Curiosity's ChemCam Laser
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDgv14Qtl1c

Curiosity uses its ChemCam laser to explore a tiny cluster of rocks nicknamed "Stonehenge."

John.
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Message 1299371 - Posted: 27 Oct 2012, 13:33:26 UTC - in response to Message 1299309.  

Many thanks John. All this is much more interesting isn't it!


Yea, The Mars Curiosity Rover mission is real science. Its fascinating to follow it.

John.
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Message 1300613 - Posted: 31 Oct 2012, 1:01:15 UTC - in response to Message 1299309.  

interesting if true??

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has discovered that Martian soil is an awfully lot like Hawaiian sand.
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Message 1301476 - Posted: 2 Nov 2012, 23:26:29 UTC - in response to Message 1300744.  

No methane on Mars.


Where's Mars' Methane? Curiosity Draws a Blank


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Message 1301501 - Posted: 3 Nov 2012, 0:46:33 UTC - in response to Message 1301476.  

No methane on Mars.


Where's Mars' Methane? Curiosity Draws a Blank


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Oh well, looks like we may have to turn our attention then to fossil hunting.


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Message 1301680 - Posted: 3 Nov 2012, 14:23:26 UTC

Very early days, still, for Curiosity. As the article mentions, there are several explanations for the non-detection of methane which do not rule out current life there. Among these: seasonal variability of methane production, a proportion of methane below the current threshold of detection, chemical reactions on Mars that could very quickly destroy methane, and issues around the functioning of Curiosity's methane detecting instrument.
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Message 1308223 - Posted: 21 Nov 2012, 2:01:45 UTC

Just read where NASA will have a big announcement early in December regarding a discovery that Curiosity has made. They are holding off until the data has been verified.
Bob DeWoody

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Message 1308255 - Posted: 21 Nov 2012, 6:18:14 UTC - in response to Message 1308223.  
Last modified: 21 Nov 2012, 6:19:33 UTC

Speculation Centers on Organic Molecules. So they think??
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Message 1308276 - Posted: 21 Nov 2012, 7:54:00 UTC

OK, if Mars has it's own biosphere no matter how tenuous do we still send humans there? I know this isn't the United Federation of Planets and there is nothing written that would prevent us from going there but would the discovery of any form of life be good enough reason to stay away?
Bob DeWoody

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Message boards : Science (non-SETI) : Mars Curiosity Rover - Mission Progress


 
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