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Thursday, December 31, 2015

Russia Lauds Elon Musk's Cheap Rockets

Russia lauds Elon Musk's cheap space rockets

2015-12-31 08:53 - Alexei Anishchuk
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New York - Elon Musk’s success in launching reusable space rockets means Russia must make its own projects cheaper as the cash-strapped country struggles to retain its share of the market, the country’s defence industry chief said.
“The main goal today is to make space cheap,” Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who is in charge of defence, told Rossiya 24 TV in an interview on Wednesday in Moscow. “Competitors are stepping on our toes. Look at what billionaire Musk is doing with his projects. This is very interesting, well done, and we treat this work with respect.”
Rogozin’s comments follow the first successful liftoff and landing of a reusable spacecraft this month by Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. The South African-born mogul says the technology will dramatically cut the cost of space launches.
At the same time, Russia’s space industry has been hit by systemic under-financing and a brain drain after the collapse of the Soviet Union, while also suffering a series of botched space launches in recent years. Russia is one of the global leaders in the multibillion-dollar civilian space business.
Read more about:elon musk  |  space

Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Curiosity's Ten Bes tImages Of Mars For 2015

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Curiosity’s 10 best images of Mars in 2015

As of December, 2015, Curiosity has acquired over 292,000 images from Mars’ surface. 
Here are our picks for the top 10 images by the rover in 2015.
Strata rocks and dark sand in an area that has been named
Strata rocks and dark sand in an area that has been named ‘Kimberley.’ The strata in the foreground dip towards the base of Mount Sharp, indicating flow of water toward a basin that existed before the larger bulk of the mountain formed. The images obtained by NASA’s Curiosity rover in October, 2015, led scientists conclude there were ancient lakes on this area. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Since its August 5-6, 2012 landing on Mars – an event known to space scientists as seven minutes of terror – NASA’s Curiosity rover has been studying the surface of Mars. Its job now is to determine whether the Gale Crater area, the area in which it landed, ever had the right conditions to support microbial life. As of December, 2015 – using its 17 cameras – Curiosity has acquired over 292,000 images from the surface of Mars. The images on this page are our picks of some of the best images captured by the rover in 2015.
Curiosity has seen a lot of layered rocks on the surface of Mars, like these amazing rocks captured on July, 2015. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Curiosity has seen a lot of layered rocks on the surface of Mars, like these amazing rocks captured in July, 2015.Read more about this image. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
The rover mission’s official name is the Mars Science Laboratory. The rover itself is 9 feet (about 3 meters) long and 7 feet (about 2.7 meters) wide, and weighs about 2,000 pounds (900 kg).
 It is not Arizona or Utah...this is planet Mars as seen by Curiosity on September, 2015.  This image shows regions that include a long ridge teeming with hematite, an iron oxide. Just beyond is an undulating plain rich in clay minerals. And just beyond that are a multitude of rounded buttes, all high in sulfate minerals. The changing mineralogy in these layers of Mount Sharp suggests a changing environment in early Mars, though all involve exposure to water billions of years ago. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
It’s not Arizona or Utah … this is planet Mars as seen by Curiosity on September, 2015. This image shows regions that include a long ridge teeming with hematite, an iron oxide. Just beyond is an undulating plain rich in clay minerals. And just beyond that are a multitude of rounded buttes, all high in sulfate minerals. The changing mineralogy in these layers of Mount Sharp suggests a changing environment in early Mars, though all involve exposure to water billions of years ago. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Sunset in Mars' Gale Crater. NASA's Curiosity Mars rover captured the sun setting on April 15, 2015 from the rover's location in Gale Crater. The color has been calibrated and white-balanced to remove camera artifacts. Mastcam sees color very similarly to what human eyes see, although it is actually a little less sensitive to blue than people are. Dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to sun's part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Sunset on Mars. The Curiosity rover captured the sun setting on April 15, 2015 from the Gale Crater. The color has been calibrated and white-balanced to remove camera artifacts. The rover’s ‘Mastcam’ sees color very similarly to what human eyes see, although it is actually a little less sensitive to blue than people are. Dust in the Martian atmosphere has fine particles that permit blue light to penetrate the atmosphere more efficiently than longer-wavelength colors. That causes the blue colors in the mixed light coming from the sun to stay closer to sun’s part of the sky, compared to the wider scattering of yellow and red colors. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Two orbiters that were already studying Mars when Curiosity arrived. They are the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Odyssey. These two act as satellites, relaying pictures and data from the rover back to Earth.
Diverse composition of mineral veins at the
Diverse composition of mineral veins at the ‘Garden City’ site investigated by Curiosity suggests multiple episodes of groundwater activity. The prominent mineral veins vary in thickness and brightness, and include: 1) thin, dark-toned fracture filling material; 2) thick, dark-toned vein material in large fractures; 3) light-toned vein material, which was deposited last. Researchers used the Mastcam and other instruments on Curiosity in March and April 2015 to study the structure and composition of mineral veins at Garden City, for information about fluids that deposited minerals in fractured rock there. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Because color images use much more data or bandwidth to be transmitted to our planet, a lot of black and white images are sent to the orbiting spacecraft that occasionally passes over the rover’s location for a short time. However, some color images are eventually sent.
Dunes on Route up Mountain. This is an area lining the northwestern edge of Mount Sharp. The scene combines multiple images taken with the Mast Camera on NASA's Curiosity Mars rover on Sept. 25, 2015. Dunes are larger than wind-blown ripples of sand or dust that Curiosity and other rovers have visited previously. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
This is an area lining the northwestern edge of Mount Sharp. The scene combines multiple images taken with the Mast Camera on NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover on Sept. 25, 2015. Dunes are larger than wind-blown ripples of sand or dust that Curiosity and other rovers have visited previously. You can see the dark dunes by clicking again after opening this panorama. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Giant antennas at California (USA), Australia and Spain compose the Deep Space Network that receives pictures and data from the Mars spacecraft as well as from other interplanetary spacecraft.
A Selfie on Mars. Curiosity extended its robotic arm and used the camera on the arm's end to capture this self portrait on October 6,2015. The image was taken at the
A selfie on Mars. Curiosity extended its robotic arm and used the camera on the arm’s end to capture this self portrait on October 6, 2015. The image was taken at the ‘Big Sky’ site, where its drill collected the mission’s fifth taste of Mount Sharp. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Dark rocks on route to Mountains. Diverse terrain is visible on this image taken on Mount Sharp on April 10, 2015. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Dark rocks on route to mountains. Diverse terrain is visible on this image taken on Mount Sharp on April 10, 2015. The color has been approximately white-balanced to resemble how the scene would appear under daytime lighting conditions on Earth. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Damage on the aluminum wheels is evident after 7 miles (11.3 km) on the odometer of the Curiosity rover. Mars' terrain and diverse rocks led to more wheel damage than was expected. However scientists think the 20 inches (51 cm) wheels may permit the rover to continue its mission. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Damage on the aluminum wheels is evident after 7 miles (11.3 km) on the odometer of the Curiosity rover. Mars’ terrain and diverse rocks led to more wheel damage than was expected. However scientists think the 20 inches (51 cm) wheels may permit the rover to continue its mission. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A Solar Eclipse from Mars. Curiosity captured Phobos, one of the two small martian moons passing in front of the Sun in July, 2015. Although Phobos is only about 14 miles (22.5 km) in diameter, it orbits Mars at just 6,000 km ( 3,728 miles) which is relatively close. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A Solar Eclipse from Mars. Curiosity captured Phobos, one of the two small martian moons passing in front of the Sun in July, 2015. Although Phobos is only about 14 miles (22.5 km) in diameter, it orbits Mars at just 6,000 km ( 3,728 miles) which is relatively close. Image via NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
Where is Curiosity right now? The rover is located in an area of Mount Sharp that has been namedNamib dune. The rover is analyzing the composition and grain size of a ripple.

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Space-X Design Team Gives Some Preliminary Data On The Mars Colonial Transporter

http://www.geekwire.com/2015/speculation-mounts-over-elon-musks-plans-for-spacexs-mars-colonial-transporter/

Spending Bill To Accelerate NASA Habitation Module Work

Spending Bill To Accelerate NASA Habitation Module Work

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WASHINGTON — An omnibus spending bill passed by Congress this month directs NASA to accelerate work on a habitation module that could be used for future deep space missions, although how NASA will implement that direction is unclear.
The report accompanying the fiscal year 2016 omnibus appropriations bill instructs NASA to spend at least $55 million on a “habitation augmentation module” to support the agency’s exploration efforts. The money would come from the Advanced Exploration Systems program, part of the Exploration Research and Development line item in the budget that received $350 million in the bill.
“NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program no later than 2018,” the report states. It also requires NASA to provide Congress with a report within 180 days of the bill’s enactment on the status of the program and how it has spent the funds provided.
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The agency hasn’t described how it will use that funding. Speaking at a Space Transportation Association luncheon here Dec. 16, Sam Scimemi, International Space Station director at NASA Headquarters, said he was not immediately aware of any specific plans for that funding.
Over the last several months, NASA has increasingly emphasized development of a habitation module that could be tested in cislunar space in the 2020s. That module could then be used for human missions to Mars that NASA hopes to carry out some time in the 2030s.
Scimemi said he envisions testing out the habitation module and other key technologies in a year-long “shakedown cruise” in cislunar space by the late 2020s, demonstrating that they are able to support a long-duration human Mars mission. “That is our big objective for cislunar space for human spaceflight,” he said.
NASA has resisted providing details about how it will develop that habitation module, or even its requirements. “It’s much too early for that,” Scimemi said. “As soon as I put a picture up there, somebody is going to assume what the configuration is.”
The agency has instead funded several industry studies of habitation module concepts. Under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP, program, NASA awarded study contracts in March to Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK to study habitat designs. It also awarded contracts to Dynetics, Hamilton Sundstrand and Orbital Technologies Corp. for specific module technologies, such as life support systems.
William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, and Jason Crusan, director of the agency's advanced exploration systems division, view the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module at Bigelow’s facility in Las Vegas on March 12. Image Credit: NASA/ Stephanie Schierholz
NASA officials view the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module at Bigelow’s facility in Las Vegas in March. The module is scheduled for launch to the ISS in early 2016.
Image Credit: NASA/ Stephanie Schierholz
The NextSTEP contracts, valued at up to $1 million each and lasting for one year, will inform NASA’s plans for later habitat development work. “We plan to leverage the output of those studies to shape our plan and then go to a next round,” Scimemi said, adding that NASA hadn’t settled on the details of that next phase.
The funding provided in the omnibus bill, as well as the direction to complete a prototype module by 2018, could force NASA to speed up those plans. Some in industry, including those working on NextSTEP studies, welcomed the new emphasis on a habitation module provided by Congress.
“We’re thrilled that Congress took the lead,” said Mike Gold, director of D.C. operations and business growth for Bigelow Aerospace, in a Dec. 16 interview. “It is the missing piece of the human space exploration puzzle.”
Gold emphasized language in the omnibus report that not only requires NASA to provide Congress with a report on its habitation module work within 180 days, but also describe the “appropriate management structure” for the program. That language, Gold said, is a sign that Congress wants NASA to move more quickly on this project.
Besides its NextSTEP study contract, Bigelow Aerospace has also developed a prototype expandable module that will be installed on the International Space Station in early 2016. Those efforts, Gold said, could provide NASA with the information it needs to allow it to meet the 2018 deadline set by Congress for developing a prototype module.
One of the decisions facing NASA will be who will build the habitation module. Companies like Bigelow are interested in providing the module for NASA, leveraging technologies that could be also used commercially, such as for space stations that could succeed the International Space Station.
Scimemi, though, suggested that NASA might decide to build the habitation module internally. Asked at the luncheon who could build the module, he said, “I want to build it.”
- See more at: http://spacenews.com/spending-bill-to-accelerate-nasa-habitation-module-work/#sthash.7Sx8tG3V.dpuf

Monday, December 28, 2015

New Martian Spacesuit Goes Through Its Paces

New martian spacesuit put through its paces


Travis Nelson, a graduate researcher at the University of North Dakota, tests his ability to perform tasks while wwearing the NDX-1 spacesuit. [Credits: NASA/Dmitri Gerondidakis]Travis Nelson, a graduate researcher at the University of North Dakota, tests his ability to perform tasks                                Engineers from the University of North Dakota are evaluating their space suit design that would be worn by NASA astronauts on Mars.The suits will protect the person inside from cold, heat and radiation, supply air and water, and be flexible enough that astronauts can dig samples and do the other tasks required."'Suit' is really kind of a misnomer," said Pablo De Leon, the researcher leading this week's evaluations."Containing a human being into anything is very complex, so we have a spacesuit which is really a miniaturised spacecraft, and it has to be built in a way that is mobile, fairly comfortable and lets you work. It's really much more of a machine."The prototype De Leon and his team are analysing is called the NDX-1. It is being used for trying different technologies and is not necessarily the final product that will be worn on another world.The team are also using the opportunity to evaluate self-developed surface sampling tools that were based on Apollo-era designs.NASA’s Johnson Space Center designed and built two spacesuit prototypes, known as the Prototype Exploration Suite (PXS), for use in low- and zero-gravity, and the Z-2, which is testing mobility technology for surface exploration of Mars. NASA’s prototype suits focus on technology demonstrations for a planetary surface suit, improving suit fit and performance, and upgrades to the life support systems while minimizing the amount of equipment required to keep the suit operational.The NDX-1 uses lightweight materials and is designed to let astronauts drill into the surface to gather samples, excavate rocks and conduct explorations of the Red Planet."Our intention is to advance the state-of-the-art in spacesuit designs and engineering and try to provide solutions fortomorrow's explorers," De Leon said."We are just trying to help NASA and the contractors to get an easier task when they start to look at other designs. If it's a new joint that we contribute, or a way to close a suit or a new boot, then we will feel happy because we have played our part."After conducting tests throughout the American southwest and other desert areas, the researchers went to Florida to try it out in "Swamp Works", an enclosed area filled with fine, talcum powder textured soil similar to that found on the moon and materials known to be on Mars.“We’re glad to open our doors to the NDX-1 team,” said Jack Fox, chief of Kennedy’s science and technology projects division.“Swamp Works is a one-of-a-kind facility, and we’re happy to help the team advance this technology that could ultimately benefit NASA and future explorers.”

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

The Mars Society Applauds Space-X's Achievement With Recovering A Booster After Putting A Dragon Capsule In Orbit

MARS SOCIETY ANNOUNCEMENT
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Mars Society Applauds SpaceX on Historic Rocket Landing

The Mars Society, its staff and membership commend SpaceX, its founder, Elon Musk, and its team of scientists and engineers on the successful landing of the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral. SpaceX brought the rocket back to Earth for a soft touchdown, marking the first-ever rocket landing during an orbital launch. This major accomplishment proves launch vehicle re-usability, a pivotal event that will move humanity one step closer to exploring the solar system, and with it, the planet Mars.

“The SpaceX team had previously shown that they could develop new hardware in one-third the time at one-tenth the cost as the mainline aerospace companies. Now they have done something that the majors have never been able to do. And not just anything, but the single most important step towards inexpensive space launch - controlled recovery of the launch vehicle first stage. The competition had better wake up because they've just been 'Sputniked'. Chapeau!,” said Mars Society President Dr. Robert Zubrin.

 

NASA's Next Mission To Mars Delayed By Two Years Because Of Problem With French Instrument

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/casey-dreier/2015/1222-nasas-InSight-mars-mission-delayed.html?referrer=https://www.facebook.com/

Elon Musk Wants To Build A City On Mars

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/technology-science/science/billionaire-space-x-boss-elon-7055251

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

NASA Wants To Grow Potatoes On Mars

http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/21/nasa-led-team-wants-to-grow-potatoes-on-mars.html

Explore Mars, Inc. Praises Elon Musk For his Incredible Achievement With Landing The Booster

Explore Mars Applauds Major SpaceX Achievement in Launcher Reusability


Beverly, Massachusetts: December 22, 2015 – Last evening SpaceX demonstrated a major advancement in its quest for launch vehicle reusability.  After a successful second stage separation, SpaceX commanded the first stage of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle to make a controlled reentry into the Earth's atmosphere to attempt a landing at Cape Canaveral, Florida.  Despite the long odds for success, as evidenced by two previous attempts that both failed in the final approach, the first stage successfully soft-landed at its planned landing site shortly after 8:30 p.m. EST.  The second stage then successfully deployed its payload of 11 ORBCOMM satellites.

"This tremendous achievement by the SpaceX team points the way for dramatically lower launch costs," commented Explore Mars Executive Director Chris Carberry.  Added Carberry, "Lower launch costs will make human exploration of space, including missions to Mars, much more affordable.  The importance of this achievement for the future of Mars exploration is hard to overstate."
Watch the entire event of the successful historic Launch Reusability with Wait But Why's Tim Urban and the crew at SpaceX

Sunday, December 20, 2015

A Letter To "The Science Guy" And Planetary Society CEO Bill Nye

December 20,2015
Bill Nye
Chief Executive Officer
The Planetary Society
60 South Los Robles Avenue
Pasadena, California 91101
Dear Bill:
          In September of 1996 I hit bottom. I found myself living in a homeless shelter and earning $8.00 per hour at an exploitation job. I was approaching 48 years of age with little or no prospects in life.
          In the month of September, 1996 I joined the Planetary Society. Prudent and practical people would throw up their hands in despair! They would protest that paying your annual dues was an imprudent expenditure for a man in my circumstances.
         My circumstances in life have improved considerably. In September of 2016, I will have the honor of being a member for twenty years. I have always been very proud of what you have accomplished and new frontiers that you always open. I was honored to have developed a friendship (from afar most of the time) with Dr Louis D. Friedman.                                                                                                          2/…
         
Bill Nye                                           Page Two                           December 20, 2015
         Recently I took my wife and our daughter to see The Martian. Yesterday I went to see Star Wars The Force Awakens. Not only did I see a great film. I also saw several previews of high-budget science fiction films coming out in 2016. This morning I was reading The New York Times book section. I saw that the book The Martian had been on the best seller list for an astounding 28 weeks. This tells me that a lot of people all over the world are, as the old saying goes, “putting their  hard-earned money where their mouth is” and showing keen interest in space exploration.
     I have one sincere question for you. It comes from the heart. There is no sarcasm or critical thought in it.
“Why hasn’t all of this interest in space travel, etc. translated into a ground swell of support for both manned and unmanned space exploration?”
       Please put this one question to everyone in the office. And keep up the good work!
With kindest regards,

-Jack Waldbewohner
Cc; file


Friday, December 18, 2015

Rocks Rich in Silica Present Puzzles For Mars Rover Team

'Big Sky' and 'Greenhorn' Drilling Area on Mount Sharp
'Buckskin' Drill Hole and CheMin X-ray Diffraction
'Big Sky' and 'Greenhorn' Drill Holes and CheMin X-ray Diffraction
Silica in Opal at 'Buckskin' and 'Greenhorn' on Mount Sharp
Silicon and Titanium Correlation in Selected Rocks at Gale Crater, Mars
'Big Sky' and 'Greenhorn' Elemental Comparison
Alteration Effects at Gale and Gusev Craters
'Marias Pass,' Contact Zone of Two Martian Rock Units

Curiosity Rover's Traverse, First 1,185 Sols on Mars
Curiosity's Path During Studies of High-Silica Rocks
Area with Silica-Rich Target Near 'Marias Pass'
Full-Circle View Near 'Marias Pass' on Mars
Details on Silica-Rich 'Elk' Target near 'Marias Pass'
Discolored Fracture Zones in Martian Sandstone
Detail of Discoloration Pattern Seen by Curiosity
This May 22, 2015, view from the Mast Camera (Mastcam) in NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the "Marias Pass" area where a lower and older geological unit of mudstone -- the pale zone in the center of the image -- lies in contact with an overlying geological unit of sandstone. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
› Full image and caption
In detective stories, as the plot thickens, an unexpected clue often delivers more questions than answers. In this case, the scene is a mountain on Mars. The clue: the chemical compound silica. Lots of silica. The sleuths: a savvy band of Earthbound researchers whose agent on Mars is NASA's laser-flashing, one-armed mobile laboratory, Curiosity.
NASA's Curiosity rover has found much higher concentrations of silica at some sites it has investigated in the past seven months than anywhere else it has visited since landing on Mars 40 months ago. Silica makes up nine-tenths of the composition of some of the rocks. It is a rock-forming chemical combining the elements silicon and oxygen, commonly seen on Earth as quartz, but also in many other minerals.
"These high-silica compositions are a puzzle. You can boost the concentration of silica either by leaching away other ingredients while leaving the silica behind, or by bringing in silica from somewhere else," said Albert Yen, a Curiosity science team member at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California. "Either of those processes involve water. If we can determine which happened, we'll learn more about other conditions in those ancient wet environments."
Water that is acidic would tend to carry other ingredients away and leave silica behind. Alkaline or neutral water could bring in dissolved silica that would be deposited from the solution. Apart from presenting a puzzle about the history of the region where Curiosity is working, the recent findings on Mount Sharp have intriguing threads linked to what an earlier NASA rover, Spirit, found halfway around Mars. There, signs of sulfuric acidity were observed, but Curiosity's science team is still considering both scenarios -- and others -- to explain the findings on Mount Sharp.
Adding to the puzzle, some silica at one rock Curiosity drilled, called "Buckskin," is in a mineral named tridymite, rare on Earth and never seen before on Mars. The usual origin of tridymite on Earth involves high temperatures in igneous or metamorphic rocks, but the finely layered sedimentary rocks examined by Curiosity have been interpreted as lakebed deposits. Furthermore, tridymite is found in volcanic deposits with high silica content. Rocks on Mars' surface generally have less silica, like basalts in Hawaii, though some silica-rich (silicic) rocks have been found by Mars rovers and orbiters. Magma, the molten source material of volcanoes, can evolve on Earth to become silicic. Tridymite found at Buckskin may be evidence for magmatic evolution on Mars.
Curiosity has been studying geological layers of Mount Sharp, going uphill, since 2014, after two years of productive work on the plains surrounding the mountain. The mission delivered evidence in its first year that lakes in the area billions of years ago offered favorable conditions for life, if microbes ever lived on Mars. As Curiosity reaches successively younger layers up Mount Sharp's slopes, the mission is investigating how ancient environmental conditions evolved from lakes, rivers and deltas to the harsh aridity of today's Mars.
Seven months ago, Curiosity approached "Marias Pass," where two geological layers are exposed in contact with each other. The rover's laser-firing instrument for examining compositions from a distance, Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam), detected bountiful silica in some targets the rover passed on its way to the contact zone. The rover's Dynamic Albedo of Neutrons instrument simultaneously detected that the rock composition was unique in this area.
"The high silica was a surprise -- so interesting that we backtracked to investigate it with more of Curiosity's instruments," said Jens Frydenvang of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Gathering clues about silica was a major emphasis in rover operations over a span of four months and a distance of about one-third of a mile (half a kilometer).
The investigations included many more readings from ChemCam, plus elemental composition measurements by the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) on the rover's arm and mineral identification of rock-powder samples by the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) instrument inside the rover.
Buckskin was the first of three rocks where drilled samples were collected during that period. The CheMin identification of tridymite prompted the team to look at possible explanations: "We could solve this by determining whether trydymite in the sediment comes from a volcanic source or has another origin," said Liz Rampe, of Aerodyne Industries at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston. "A lot of us are in our labs trying to see if there's a way to make tridymite without such a high temperature."
Beyond Marias Pass, ChemCam and APXS found a pattern of high silica in pale zones along fractures in the bedrock, linking the silica enrichment there to alteration by fluids that flowed through the fractures and permeated into bedrock. CheMin analyzed drilled material from a target called "Big Sky" in bedrock away from a fracture and from a fracture-zone target called "Greenhorn." Greenhorn indeed has much more silica, but not any in the form of tridymite. Much of it is in the form of noncrystalline opal, which can form in many types of environments, including soils, sediments, hot spring deposits and acid-leached rocks.
"What we're seeing on Mount Sharp is dramatically different from what we saw in the first two years of the mission," said Curiosity Project Scientist Ashwin Vasavada of JPL. "There's so much variability within relatively short distances. The silica is one indicator of how the chemistry changed. It's such a multifaceted and curious discovery, we're going to take a while figuring it out."
For more about Curiosity, which is examining sand dunes this month, visit:

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

Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
NASA Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo@nasa.gov 

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