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Pyramid shaped rock found on Mars by NASA rover Curiosity
Topic Started: 22 Sep 2012, 01:10 AM (71 Views)
skibboy
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Pyramid shaped rock found on Mars by NASA rover Curiosity

by: Ian Horswill

September 21, 2012

Posted Image
The pyramid-shaped rock spotted on planet Mars by Nasa's rover Curiosity. Picture: Nasa

A PYRAMID has been found on the planet Mars.

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity found an unusual pyramid-shaped rock en route to an area known as Glenelg, where researchers expect to find a combination of three different types of geological terrain.

The rock is pictured about 2.5m in front of the rover and is about 25cm tall and 40cm wide.

It will be tested by the robot, which is has been on the move for the past six days travelling between 22 meters to 37 meters daily.

The pyramid-shaped rock, expected to be a lump of Martian basalt, has been named "Jake Matijevic" after the surface operations systems chief engineer for Mars Science Laboratory and the project's Curiosity rover tragically died just after the vehicle touched down on August 6.

The 64-year-old was a leading engineer for all of the previous NASA Mars rovers - Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity.

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In this 2011 artist's rendering provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of its arm, which extends about 2 meters. AP / NASA/JPL-Caltech

Mars science Laboratory project scientist John Grotzinger told The Independent that the pyramid-shaped rock is not uncommon and is probably a product of wind erosion.

"Our general consensus view is that these are pieces of impact ejecta from an impact somewhere else, maybe outside of Gale Crater [where the rover landed], that throws a rock on to the plains, and it just goes on to sit here for a long period of time," he said. "It weathers more slowly than the stuff that's around it. So, that means it's probably a harder rock," he told The Independent.

During Curiosity's two-year mission, researchers will use the rover's 10 science instruments to assess whether the selected field site inside Gale Crater has offered environmental conditions favorable for microbial life.

source: news.com.au
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skibboy
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September 25, 2012

Curiosity rover touches first Martian rock

By Mike Wall

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NASA's Curiosity rover performs "contact science" operations on a rock called "Jake Matijevic" in this photo, which was snapped Sept. 22, 2012. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

(SPACE.com) NASA's Mars rover Curiosity reached out and touched a Martian rock with its huge robotic arm for the first time, then took off on its longest Red Planet drive to date.

Curiosity spent the past several days investigating a strange pyramid-shaped stone named "Jake Matijevic," testing out some of the gear at the end of its 7-foot-long arm.

These tools include the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS), which measures elemental composition, and the Mars Hand Lens Imager close-up camera, or MAHLI.

The rover performed these initial "contact science" operations on Saturday and Sunday (Sept. 22 and 23), researchers said.

Photos snapped on those days show Curiosity's arm sidled up against "Jake Matijevic," with the arm's turret obscuring most of the 16-inch-tall rock.

"I did a science! 1st contact science on rock target Jake," the Curiosity team announced Saturday (Sept. 22) via the rover's Twitter feed @MarsCuriosity, which has more than 1.1 million followers. "Here's an action shot." [Curiosity Mars Rover: 11 Amazing Facts]

Curiosity also zapped "Jake Matijevic" with the laser on its ChemCam instrument, which reads rock composition from the vaporized bits.

Comparing the results should help cross-calibrate the two instruments, researchers said.

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This image combines photographs taken by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) at three different distances from the first Martian rock that NASA's Curiosity rover touched with its arm. (Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)

The ChemCam work wrapped up Monday (Sept. 24), at which point Curiosity embarked on a 138-foot drive -- the longest one-day jaunt for the rover since it landed inside Mars' Gale Crater on the night of Aug. 5.

Curiosity is making its way toward a site called Glenelg, which lies 1,300 feet from the rover's touchdown site.

Before Monday's drive, the mission team had said Curiosity was about halfway to Glenelg.

Scientists will likely soon begin looking for sandy areas to try out Curiosity's scooping system for the first time.

The arm will deposit bits of Martian soil into the analytical instruments on the rover's body, which are known as SAM (Sample Analysis at Mars) and CheMin (short for Chemistry & Mineralogy).

The first use of Curiosity's rock-boring drill, which also sits at the end of the rover's arm, will come sometime after that, researchers have said.

While team members are keen to see what Curiosity discovers at Glenelg, the $2.5 billion rover's main destination is the base of Mount Sharp.

This odd mountain rises 3.4 miles into the Red Planet sky from Gale Crater's center, and its foothills show signs of long-ago exposure to liquid water.

Those foothills lie about 6 miles away from Curiosity's landing site.

The rover -- whose main task is to determine if the Gale area could ever have supported microbial life -- may be ready to turn its wheels toward the interesting deposits near the end of the year, scientists have said.

The rock "Jake Matijevic" takes its name from Curiosity's surface operations systems chief engineer, who died Aug. 20 at the age of 64.

Matijevic, who was based at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., also worked on all three previous Mars rovers -- Sojourner, Spirit and Opportunity -- NASA officials said.

source: cbsnews.com
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