[meteorite-list] Mars Rock Touched By NASA Curiosity Rover Offers Surprises

From: Michael Mulgrew <mikestang_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 11 Oct 2012 14:11:21 -0700
Message-ID: <CAMseTy1O1XWo0qu0s5g09KLE_5YLO1_pVUotQPjhfgD9zCZ=0Q_at_mail.gmail.com>

How cool would it be for Curiosity to analyze a meteorite on the
surface of Mars? Go, NASA, go!

Michael in so. Cal.


> On Thu, Oct 11, 2012 at 1:15 PM, Ron Baalke <baalke at zagami.jpl.nasa.gov> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Oct. 11, 2012
>>
>> Dwayne Brown
>> Headquarters, Washington
>> 202-358-1726
>> dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov
>>
>> Guy Webster / D.C. Agle
>> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
>> 818-354-5011
>> guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov
>> agle at jpl.nasa.gov
>>
>>
>> RELEASE: 12-359
>>
>> MARS ROCK TOUCHED BY NASA CURIOSITY ROVER OFFERS SURPRISES
>>
>> PASADENA, Calif. -- The first Martian rock NASA's Curiosity rover has
>> reached out to touch presents a more varied composition than expected
>> from previous missions. The rock also resembles some unusual rocks
>> from Earth's interior.
>>
>> The rover team used two instruments on Curiosity to study the chemical
>> makeup of the football-size rock called "Jake Matijevic." The results
>> support some surprising recent measurements and provide an example of
>> why identifying rocks' composition is such a major emphasis of the
>> mission. Rock compositions tell stories about unseen environments and
>> planetary processes.
>>
>> "This rock is a close match in chemical composition to an unusual but
>> well-known type of igneous rock found in many volcanic provinces on
>> Earth," said Edward Stolper of the California Institute of Technology
>> in Pasadena, Calif., who is a Curiosity co-investigator. "With only
>> one Martian rock of this type, it is difficult to know whether the
>> same processes were involved, but it is a reasonable place to start
>> thinking about its origin."
>>
>> On Earth, rocks with composition like the Jake rock typically come
>> from processes in the planet's mantle beneath the crust, from
>> crystallization of relatively water-rich magma at elevated pressure.
>>
>> Jake was the first rock analyzed by the rover's arm-mounted Alpha
>> Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument and about the thirtieth
>> rock examined by the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument. Two
>> penny-size spots on Jake were analyzed Sept. 22 by the rover's
>> improved and faster version of earlier APXS devices on all previous
>> Mars rovers, which have examined hundreds of rocks. That information
>> has provided scientists a library of comparisons for what Curiosity
>> sees.
>>
>> "Jake is kind of an odd Martian rock," said APXS Principal
>> Investigator Ralf Gellert of the University of Guelph in Ontario,
>> Canada. "It's high in elements consistent with the mineral feldspar,
>> and low in magnesium and iron."
>>
>> ChemCam found unique compositions at each of 14 target points on the
>> rock, hitting different mineral grains within it.
>>
>> "ChemCam had been seeing compositions suggestive of feldspar since
>> August, and we're getting closer to confirming that now with APXS
>> data, although there are additional tests to be done," said ChemCam
>> Principal Investigator Roger Wiens of Los Alamos National Laboratory
>> in New Mexico.
>>
>> Examination of Jake included the first comparison on Mars between APXS
>> results and results from checking the same rock with ChemCam, which
>> shoots laser pulses from the top of the rover's mast.
>>
>> The wealth of information from the two instruments checking chemical
>> elements in the same rock is just a preview. Curiosity also carries
>> analytical laboratories inside the rover to provide other composition
>> information about powder samples from rocks and soil. The mission is
>> progressing toward getting the first soil sample into those
>> analytical instruments during a "sol" or Martian day.
>>
>> "Yestersol, we used Curiosity's first perfectly scooped sample for
>> cleaning the interior surfaces of our 150-micron sample-processing
>> chambers. It's our version of a Martian carwash," said Chris
>> Roumeliotis, lead turret rover planner at NASA's Jet Propulsion
>> Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.
>>
>> Before proceeding, the team carefully studied the material for
>> scooping at a sandy patch called "Rocknest," where Curiosity is
>> spending about three weeks.
>>
>> "That first sample was perfect, just the right particle-size
>> distribution," said JPL's Luther Beegle, Curiosity sampling-system
>> scientist. "We had a lot of steps to be sure it was safe to go
>> through with the scooping and cleaning."
>>
>> Following the work at Rocknest, the rover team plans to drive
>> Curiosity about 100 yards eastward and select a rock in that area as
>> the first target for using the drill.
>>
>> During a two-year prime mission, researchers will use Curiosity's 10
>> instruments to assess whether the study area ever has offered
>> environmental conditions favorable for microbial life. JPL, a
>> division of Caltech, manages the project and built Curiosity. For
>> more about the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover mission,
>> visit:
>>
>> http://www.nasa.gov/msl
>>
>> You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at:
>>
>> http://www.facebook.com/marscuriosity
>>
>> and
>>
>> http://www.twitter.com/marscuriosity
>>
>> -end-
>>
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>
Received on Thu 11 Oct 2012 05:11:21 PM PDT