Mystery Rock 'Appears' in Front of Mars Rover

reply to post by Ross 54

Failure to do so tends to weaken the speculation that the rock was merely dislodged and rolled down slope.

Perhaps. If you assume that there has been an effort to look for the divot. However, where exactly it came from wasn't quite as interesting as analyzing the rock itself.

Most likely, they rationalized, Pinnacle Island fell into the scene from just uphill, where Oppy had completed a turn-in-place, a kind of pirouette, dragging its right front wheel across ground some sols before. "We don't think anything particularly exotic happened here," Squyres said, quickly noting they have two working theories. "We think the process of that wheel moving kind of flicked it, Tiddly-Winked it to the location where we now see it. This is the more likely scenario. The other theory is there's smokin' hole in the ground somewhere nearby and it's a piece of crater ejecta."

www.planetary.org...

funbox

*funBox tears into his cuttlefish*

funBox

Great close up.

Looks a lot like a piece of tinfoil. Then there is a dark area in the middle of it. Could be soil inside, with a seed.

Basically they could have dropped it for a few days in order to see if it would sprout in the Martian environment, then picked it back up for internal analysis.

Course the findings will not be released to the herds any time soon. ~$heopleNation

reply to post by SheopleNation


This is from Opportunity, not Curiosity.
This is no "internal analysis" ability Opportunity, although it does have some tools for external analysis.

The intention to look for the site the rock was supposedly dislodged from has been spoken about for quite some time. They even seemed to have a general idea where to look. When nothing more is heard about this, it begins to look as if they may have been unable to find the hole or 'divot'.

Soylent Green Is People
This is from Opportunity, not Curiosity.
This is no "internal analysis" ability Opportunity, although it does have some tools for external analysis.

Oh ok, well I stand corrected then. I was not aware of that fact. I hope that they do something like that with Curiosity, or any other planned future rovers because we need to find out if plants can grow on Mars. I suppose the extreme cold will be a problem. We most likely would need some sort of controlled environment. Interesting to think about though. ~$heopleNation

so what's the latest on this? it's all gone quiet. have they forgotten about their 'mystery' and moved on?

Quiet is right! It was on Jan. 23rd , three weeks ago, at the NASA press conference, that Dr. Steve Squyers said in reference to this dislodged rock business: "We're going to take a close look at that hypothesis just in the coming days."
It was proposed to move the rover a bit. It was suspected that one of the solar panels was blocking the camera's view of the hole the rock was supposed to have left behind when it was moved. Nothing more about the matter has been heard from NASA since. Perhaps they can't find the hole.

reply to post by Ross 54


you'd think they'd say something? i think they found the hole and just feel mighty embarrassed they made such a fuss about a rock that they are now hoping everyone will forget about it.
until they find another rock or whatever.

Posting so I can catch any updates since I only learned of this today. I'm sure they will come back with some information on this. It's a tremendous stroke of luck that can add to our knowledge about this planets past. Watch - in 10 years we will be mining it.

Dianec
Posting so I can catch any updates since I only learned of this today. I'm sure they will come back with some information on this. It's a tremendous stroke of luck that can add to our knowledge about this planets past. Watch - in 10 years we will be mining it.

as slaves?

reply to post by taoistguy


Probably. Spacesuit slave race. I know there are precious metals up there. More than we can conceptualizer even. I truly hope that isn't a motivation for being there. Truly.

Dianec
reply to post by taoistguy

 

Probably. Spacesuit slave race. I know there are precious metals up there. More than we can conceptualizer even. I truly hope that isn't a motivation for being there. Truly.

haha. well they're not doing it so we can have a dance studio or art gallery there.

reply to post by taoistguy


I tend to be an optimist. I thought they were there to search for evidence of life and to learn more about our solar system. But...if they find a golden mountain or a river of diamonds I'm sure it will be exploited.

reply to post by Dianec

You know diamonds aren't really that rare and that they have little intrinsic value? De Beers just keeps them off the market to keep the price up.

But, think about the cost of just sending that rover to Mars. Now, just for arguments sake, double it for the round trip (in reality the round trip would cost substantially more than two one ways). How much weight in diamonds do you think the rover could bring back? Let's be generous, let's say 10 pounds, that's a lot of diamonds. Now, your job is to calculate the cost of one of those one carat diamonds and compare to the cost of an Earthly one carat diamond.

Let us know how it works out.

reply to post by Phage


as soon as some treasure trove is discovered, rest assured the ferengi will be there with a harem of orion slaves. we wouldn't get a look in. :0

reply to post by taoistguy

Green ladies frighten me.

reply to post by Phage


I know, I know. I wasn't being completely serious. But I imagine if we begin to run dry they will eventually look elsewhere for precious metals. Thulium, platinum, stuff like that. Not as far as mars I'm sure. One day however - when you and I are long gone - they will have probably figured out a way to travel in space for a tenth of what it costs now - faster and cheaper. Look how far NASA has come in their short time.

reply to post by Dianec

I agree.
And if it doesn't happen the human race is pretty thoroughly screwed. Trying to talk my daughter into a science field so she can land on Mars for me. But, "Daaaaddd, math is haaaarrrrd."

reply to post by Phage


Math "is" hard! My worst subject. Trying to get my son to love it as he learns. She will get it since you have it. Mine - a longer shot but so far both musically and mathematically inclined (fingers crossed). One day - when a female is working for NASA with aspirations to travel to mars, and I can do little more than watch tv I'll think, "that must be Phage's daughter. Oh...the possibilities.

reply to post by Dianec


when she lands on mars she'll say, "so there are pyramids and statues on mars. wait till i tell dad, he'll be so pissed off."