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This article seems to be lamenting the lack of key discoveries by the
Spirit rover compared to the Opportunity rover: Mars Water Past Still Mysterious by Phil Berardelli Washington (UPI) Apr 16, 2004 http://www.spacedaily.com/news/mars-mers-04zzzv.html I wanted Spirit to at least drive to the far side rim of Bonneville to get a closer look at the dark material on the far side of Bonneville: Spirit, Sol 84 http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/process...2L234567M1.JPG Mini-TES observations from a distance showed it to have the same composition as dark material in the subsurface of Humphrey rock: MARS EXPLORATION ROVERS UPDATE Spirit Returns Color Panorama of Bonneville Crater Opportunity Finds 'Blueberries' Are Loaded with Hematite By A.J.S. Rayl 20 March 2004 http://www.planetary.org/news/2004/m..._04-03-20.html This mystery material was either a glassy silica or a weathered basalt. This is similar to the mystery material known to make up much of Mars northern hemisphere from TES measurements, which is believed to be either an andesite or a liquid water altered basalt. The rover might have been able to decide between these two possibilities. Rover scientists did not want to chance driving into the crater. But as you can see from the Sol 84 image, this dark material extends far enough up the sides the rover probably could have gotten a good look at this material without going down into the crater. However, later images of the Columbia hills show similar dark material partially up the sides of the hills and in the region between the hills and Spirit: Spirit, Sol 91 http://www.lyle.org/~markoff/process...5L234567M1.JPG So it might still be possible to determine the composition of this dark material. Additionally, Natalie Cabrol an expert on Gusev Crater where Spirit landed, has argued there may be frost mounds in Gusev: Title: Perennial frost mounds in Gusev crater (Mars) Authors: Cabrol, N. A.; Grin, E. A.; Pollard, W. H. Journal: Conference Paper, 28th Annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference, p. 193. Publication Date: 03/1997 http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/np...PI....28..193C Title: Possible Frost Mounds in an Ancient Martian Lake Bed Authors: Cabrol, Nathalie A.; Grin, Edmond A.; Pollard, Wayne H. Journal: Icarus, Volume 145, Issue Icarus, pp. 91-107. http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/np...car..145...91C In her examples taken from MOC images of Gusev, some of the proposed frost mounds have a sinuous shape not just a conical shape. Then these could match the shape of the Columbia Hills. The areas where the proposed frost mounds lie also include the Columbia Hills. c.f.: From: Robert Clark (rgregoryclark@yahoo.com) Subject: Mystery material in the Bonneville crater on Mars. Newsgroups: sci.astro, alt.sci.planetary, sci.geo.geology, sci.geo.mineralogy Date: 2004-03-20 05:50:12 PST http://groups.google.com/groups?th=4005c8b6bfcc019a Bob Clark |
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