More and more "Flow Channels" are being found at Endurance:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opp...9P2262R2M1.JPG

Note the Rover's impression in the soil to the left of this Flow Channel:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opp...1P2535L7M1.JPG

Close up on the impression in the soil next to the Flow Channel. Note the missing bit of soil:

http://www.lyle.org/mars/imagery/1M1...6M2M1.JPG.html

Here we see where the missing bit of soil went. It sticks to the rover's instruments and is photographed:

http://www.lyle.org/mars/imagery/1F1...7L0M1.JPG.html

Interesting stuff going on here.

MicroKid

The patterns start to look like Braille, almost as if they ought to be readable somehow.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Oh and now why you'd have go say something like that. You know all the woo2 are going start reading Braille messages in the photos. The rabbit was bad enough. #-o

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One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
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Okay, I've changed my mind. I've now decided that it looks as if Mr. Bunny was really, really busy, all over Meridiani, if you know what I mean.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Does JPL have a scatologist on the Project Team? :-? :wink:

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At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

Soil stuck to the spectrometer!!! Do you realize what this means? It is the first part of a sample-return mission!

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http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats...033/prj:6/.png

Another shot of the flow channel and the missing sticky soil patch.

Interesting the probe depressed the nearby cone shaped rock and apparently cracked it in half at a spot adjacent to where the missing soil patch once lived:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opp...1P2535L6M1.JPG

Now what does it take to make a patch of soil stick to the rover's probe? Dry, irradiated soil with no organic matter, exposed to very low atmospheric pressure and temperature, outgassing any liquids? Sure sounds like it should stick so well, especially in a thin strip.

I'm sure you will enjoy this very impressive flow channel as you have my others:

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opp...9P2266R2M1.JPG

MicroKid

Lots of things are sticky without being wet. The conditions you describe are perfect for the buidup of static charge.
I'm still just seeing holes in the sand around rocks, and little dustpile irregularities. Where's the deposits of evaporites around your flow holes? Or is it distilled water coming out of them? That doesn't seem very likely.

I agree that static build up could be a reason for the stick.

Has this happend before though? Is the effect localised to this bit of soil?

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http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats...630/prj:6/.png

It's happened before. Here's a Sol-54 image of a Mossbauer Spectromoter impression that pretty clearly shows a small triangle of soil lifted from it.

I am reminded of the tale about the Pathfinder rover's accumulating clumps of soil or dust over days -- and then suddenly an image would reveal the soil had disappeared. They eventually figured out that it was happening because some part of the rover would brush a rock and get it grounded, neutralizing the static charge, eliminating the adhesion.

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Looking through John N. Wilford's "We Reach The Moon" Apollo 11 transcript I came across this item:

Aldrin was attempting to get a core sample & remarked that the material in the tube was "quite well packed, a good bit darker and the way it adhered to the core tube gave me the distinct impression of being moist."

RBG

Hi RBG,

Except this time the soil was not compressed inside a pipe, just a disk impressed into the soil near a flow channel and a thin & wide bit comes cleanly away.

Have you seen the Broken Water Pipe photo? Zoom in on this one and see the rock layer at it's head, the almost vertical walls, right angle wall to floor intersection, the detail on the floor and the delta as the flow widens out.

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opp...9P2266R2M1.JPG

I sure hope the Rover didn't break a water pipe as the plumber's call out fee could be a bit steep. ;-)

MicroKid

Yes, to me that is an amazing photograph.

But, all one should be able to say about it is that "It sure looks like..."

Which is what I think you are saying.

(To me, the sand dunes at the bottom of Endurance look exactly like a melting & scalloped old snowfield.)

No one can say at this point "It is..." anything without systematically discounting the 274 other possibilies for it looking as it does.

Btw, I took Aldrin's observation to be regarding soil seen on the outside of the core sampler. Maybe I misunderstood. Certainly the core sampler was designed to compact soil inside it and thus any interior soil that actually could be observed would look as expected.

RBG