The Curiosity On Mars Thread.

littlemac1980

btw here's the image from the second occasion (first article I linked) :

littlemac1980

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

It's clearly a periscope being used by a heretofore unknown subterranean Martian civilization. Curiosity trundling over their rooftops has been keeping them awake at night and now they're getting angry.

Pretty much precisely the same conclusion I reached

bogwalrus

What if it was an alien exploratory rover and they are thinking exactly what we are. "What's that shiny thing over there?"

Is the robot able to wave and say nice peaceful things if it does come in contact with other intelligent life? It doesn't look like terminator does it?

Maximus Alexander

bogwalrus wrote: »

It doesn't look like terminator does it?

It basically looks like a robotic insect the size of an SUV, and it's weaponised with a rock-melting laser. It doesn't really scream "we come in peace".

thecommander

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

It doesn't really scream "we come in peace".

In space, no one can hear you scream.

Maximus Alexander

thecommander wrote: »

In space, no one can hear you scream.

Aye, but it's not in space. :P

Capt'n Midnight

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

It basically looks like a robotic insect the size of an SUV, and it's weaponised with a rock-melting laser. It doesn't really scream "we come in peace".

you forgot Nuclear Powered

shedweller

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

Aye, but it's not in space. :P

We're all in space i'll have you know!

Mountainsandh

littlemac1980 wrote: »

Yes I was thinking that as well - the images were taken only a day apart - you can actually compare the mountains behind and it become clear that the light may even be coming from the same location on both days. That surely would have to rule out the cosmic ray/leaking light theory though - if it could be shown to originate from a certain physical location which remains constant despite Curiosity's movement.

However, given the obvious distance the light is away - it seems rather improbable that the RHS nav cam picked it up and a few seconds later the LHS cam missed it - yet it was spotted from two different positions one day apart.

I hadn't paid attention to the fact images were from 2 days. It is puzzling all right.

It is sort of telling that the light doesn't seem to light up its surroundings very much.

It's very very rocky terrain, any chance Curiosity is headed that way ? Where is it in relation to the current route ?

Could it be ... ?

shanered

Yeah i wonder if theyre going over to investigate it one way or the other.
Could it bevlike a lava spewing spring perhaps..

shedweller

shanered wrote: »

Yeah i wonder if theyre going over to investigate it one way or the other.
Could it bevlike a lava spewing spring perhaps..

Has anybody come up with a distance to that thing? If it is a thing! If its a vent of some sort it could be a goldmine of information. Could also feck up cameras and sensors. Worth it though!

Maximus Alexander

shanered wrote: »

Yeah i wonder if theyre going over to investigate it one way or the other.
Could it bevlike a lava spewing spring perhaps..

While Mars might not be volcanically dead, the most recent evidence of volcanic activity was 10s of millions of years ago, so it seems unlikely.

Mountainsandh

Could it be a gas that would ignite in contact with martian atmosphere ? Like our Will'o the wisps ? (don't know the scientific name)

Shedweller that raises an interesting question : if it was a vent, what should Curiosity do ? Get closer all right, but then what ? Would you spend time getting closer over those rocks, but then not be able to get too close for fear you'd ruin Curiosity ? They don't seem to think it's a vent anyway, with this talk of light leaks, so phew, in a way.

littlemac1980

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Could it be a gas that would ignite in contact with martian atmosphere ? Like our Will'o the wisps ? (don't know the scientific name)

Shedweller that raises an interesting question : if it was a vent, what should Curiosity do ? Get closer all right, but then what ? Would you spend time getting closer over those rocks, but then not be able to get too close for fear you'd ruin Curiosity ? They don't seem to think it's a vent anyway, with this talk of light leaks, so phew, in a way.

I've noticed that many of the RAW images posted over the last couple days appear to be scanning that ridge area that the anomaly occurred in.

Now it may just be coincidence and it may be the case those images are intended for some other reason - but if they are scanning the area - it at least suggests to me that though NASA have played it down and have put out some theories as to why it may be of no significance at all, they are still at least unsure, and open to the possibility that it may be of scientific significance.

To me, the structure, shape and shading of the second image appears very similar to what one might expect if a vent of gas of some sort occurred - particularly with the sun where it was.

I've already given my reasons as to why I don't believe the Cosmic Ray theory holds up, and I've further given my reasons as to why I believe a shiny rock causing it is very improbable.

I'm not saying it is a Vent - that's also highly unlikely - but I believe that in the absence of a solid explanation that whatever it is it's not something of importance - I think that NASA should certainly endeavour to explain it fully.

If it turns out to be a Vent of some sort then despite the risks - I believe the Mission Plan should be amended significantly to allow it be properly investigated - If it was identified as a vent then getting a closer look would go a long way to deciding how best to approach such an investigation.

shedweller

A couple of brain cells just bumped into each other here and i wondered if it was frozen CO2 going through sublimation. Dry ice, as y'all know from your science classes goes from solid to gas. If it was held back under pressure as it did this then, eh, pressure would build up. It'll eventually break out but it just might put on a little show for us as it does so. Never heard of it happening though and definitely not on Mars.

Thoughts?

And if it is a co2 vent theres a poor chance it'll be active by the time Curiosity gets there. Weeks away maybe? Thats a long detour from the Prime Directive!

Adamantium

shedweller

Haha! Maybe Curiosity could use its laser on it. Pew pew!
Wait a minute....oh yeah, CHEMCAM!!

Mountainsandh

I missed another Ustream live Curiosity Cam today. Haven't checked what it was yet, I'll leave that till tomorrow.

edit : after I typed that I couldn't help having a quick peek. :rolleyes:

Bit off topic but it was on

NASA Tech Benefits Earth
7 p.m. PT (10 p.m. ET, 0200 UTC), Thursday, April 10, 2014

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is known for missions that greatly impact our understanding of the solar system and the universe. But the ground breaking research and development done at JPL has also had many impacts on everyday life on earth.

For anyone interested.

Shedweller, just figured how I'm getting emails, I signed up for Ustream Curiosity Cam channel via Facebook, but now that things are quieter re Curiosity I suppose it's become a more general link to Nasa live stream.

Capt'n Midnight

Mountainsandh wrote: »

Could it be a gas that would ignite in contact with martian atmosphere ? Like our Will'o the wisps ? (don't know the scientific name)

Considering the atmosphere is 95.6% CO2 you'd need something really special to burn in it.

shedweller wrote: »

A couple of brain cells just bumped into each other here and i wondered if it was frozen CO2 going through sublimation. Dry ice, as y'all know from your science classes goes from solid to gas. If it was held back under pressure as it did this then, eh, pressure would build up.

light could simply be reflection off ice crystals or snow ...

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2006/08/060807-mars-snow.html

Maximus Alexander wrote: »

While Mars might not be volcanically dead, the most recent evidence of volcanic activity was 10s of millions of years ago, so it seems unlikely.

magma volcano's probably not but don't forget Earth has mud volcanoes , Io has sulphur , Triton has nitrogen , Titan has methane.

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Mars_Express/Glacial_volcanic_and_fluvial_activity_on_Mars_latest_images

The glacier that caused this valley was fed by water from the Echus Chasma region, which was driven out from underneath the surface by volcanic activity. Water was released by heating from volcanic activity in the channel floor as relatively recently as 20 million years ago.

...
On the western side, lava produced between 200 million and 2.5 million years ago mobilised underground water and formed glaciers as recently as four million years ago.

Mountainsandh

It really does look like a dust devil !
I went looking at other pics after seeing your link, and this one, imo, looks very much like the intrusion on the Curiosity pics.



http://blog.ametsoc.org/media-tips/on-mars-the-dust-devils-in-the-details/

No idea if scale is right though.
That would explain why it doesn't light up the surroundings.

ZeroThreat

Just a question : I noticed there's a really bright full moon tonight. Sky where I am (Dublin) seems to be clear at the moment, and theres a bright 'start' at about the 12-1 o'clock of the moon, is this the planet Mars?

Oscar Bravo

yep Mars is closest to the moon these couple of night. lovely bright moon to.

shedweller

Mars looked well this morning at about 06:00. The full moon was setting in the west and it was quite a sight to start the day!

MeteoritesEire

Asteroids as seen from Mars--- a Curiosity first


http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-126

Asteroids as Seen From Mars; A Curiosity Rover First
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
April 24, 2014

A new image from NASA's Curiosity Mars rover is the first ever from the
surface of Mars to show an asteroid, and it shows two: Ceres and Vesta.

These two -- the largest and third-largest bodies in the asteroid belt
between Mars and Jupiter -- are the destinations of NASA's Dawn mission.
Dawn orbited Vesta in 2011 and 2012, and is on its way to begin orbiting
Ceres next year. Ceres is a dwarf planet, as well as an asteroid.

Ceres and Vesta appear as short, faint streaks in a 12-second exposure
taken by Curiosity's Mast Camera (Mastcam) on April 20, 2014, PDT (April
21, UTC). An annotated version of the image, also including insets from
other observations the same night, is online at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA17937

"This imaging was part of an experiment checking the opacity of the
atmosphere at night in Curiosity's location on Mars, where water-ice
clouds and hazes develop during this season," said camera team member
Mark Lemmon of Texas A&M University, College Station. "The two Martian
moons were the main targets that night, but we chose a time when one of
the moons was near Ceres and Vesta in the sky."

Ceres and Vesta are much larger and farther from Earth's orbit than the
types of near-Earth asteroids under consideration for NASA's asteroid
initiative. That initiative includes two separate, but related
activities: the asteroid redirect mission and the grand challenge. NASA
is currently developing concepts for the redirect mission that will
employ a robotic spacecraft, driven by an advanced solar electric
propulsion system, to capture a small near-Earth asteroid or remove a
boulder from the surface of a larger asteroid. The spacecraft then will
attempt to redirect the object into a stable orbit around the moon.

Astronauts will travel aboard NASA's Orion spacecraft, launched on the
Space Launch System rocket, to rendezvous in lunar orbit with the
captured asteroid. Once there, they will collect samples to return to
Earth for study.

The grand challenge is a search for the best ideas for finding asteroids
that pose a potential threat to human populations, and to accelerate the
work NASA already is doing for planetary defense.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory Project is using Curiosity to assess
ancient habitable environments and major changes in Martian
environmental conditions. JPL, a division of the California Institute of
Technology in Pasadena, built the rover and manages the project for
NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. Malin Space Science
Systems, San Diego, built and operates the rover's Mastcam.

More information about the Dawn mission is available at these websites:
http://www.nasa.gov/dawn http://dawn.jpl.nasa.gov .

For more information about Curiosity, visit http://www.nasa.gov/msl and
http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/ . You can follow the mission on Facebook
at http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and on Twitter at:
http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

Guy Webster 818-354-6278
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
guy.webs...@jpl.nasa.gov

Mountainsandh

Hirise view of the potential target for drilling Windjana :


http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/details.php?id=PIA18085

The butte is called Mount Remarkable, what a brilliant name.

shedweller

Kind of funny seeing all the circles curiosity is making. It has to turn around before science gets done! At least the wheels are holding up.

shedweller

Whats MAHLI looking at?

Here's what:

Might there be some "lasers" used??!!:pac:

shedweller

Some drilling has taken place and Curiosity had the time to take this atmospheric shot after the work was done:


You can see where a bit of slumping happened the soil as the hole was drilled in the next picture:


And here's the hole:

They're going to decide over the next few days whether to drill deeper or not.

shanered

The drill-hole really isn't that deep by the looks of it, is it?

shedweller

shanered wrote: »

The drill-hole really isn't that deep by the looks of it, is it?

They gave a depth but i cant remember it off the top of my head. I think it's as deep as it's wide more or less.
Looks like a second hole was drilled beside the first.


Here's the drill looking good!


Not sure if that little wet looking ring is meant to be there where the shaft of the drill meets the tailings box. Could be a crack forming from vibrations??