Mars Rover Solves Doughnut Riddle
 
Feb. 14, 2014:  What if a rock that looked like a jelly doughnut suddenly
appeared on Mars? That's just what happened in front of Mars rover Opportunity
last month. Researchers have since determined that the "doughnut" is a piece
of a larger rock broken and moved by the rover's wheels in early January.
 
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap140129.html
 
These two images from Mars rover Opportunity show a rock resembling a jelly
donut appearing in January 2014. More
 
Only about 1.5 inches wide (4 centimeters), the white-rimmed, red-centered
rock--now called "Pinnacle Island"--caused a stir last month when it appeared
in an image the rover took Jan. 8 at a location where it was not present four
days earlier. More recent images show the original piece of rock struck by the
rover's wheel, slightly uphill from where Pinnacle Island came to rest.
 
"Once we moved Opportunity a short distance, after inspecting Pinnacle Island,
we could see directly uphill an overturned rock that has the same unusual
appearance," said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray Arvidson of
Washington University in St. Louis. "We drove over it. We can see the track.
That's where Pinnacle Island came from."
 
Examination of Pinnacle Island revealed high levels of elements such as
manganese and sulfur, suggesting these water-soluble ingredients were
concentrated in the rock by the action of water. "This may have happened just
beneath the surface relatively recently," Arvidson said, "or it may have
happened deeper below ground longer ago and then, by serendipity, erosion
stripped away material above it and made it accessible to our wheels."
 
Now that the rover is finished inspecting this rock, the team plans to drive
Opportunity south and uphill to investigate exposed rock layers on the slope.
 
http://tinyurl.com/k6ky6my
 
This image from Opportunity's panoramic camera (Pancam) shows where a rock
called "Pinnacle Island" had been before it appeared in front of the rover in
early January 2014.
 
Opportunity is approaching a boulder-studded ridge informally named the
McClure-Beverlin Escarpment, in honor of engineers Jack Beverlin and Bill
McClure. Beverlin and McClure were the first recipients of the NASA Medal of
Exceptional Bravery for their actions on Feb. 14, 1969 to save NASA's second
successful Mars mission, Mariner 6, when the launch vehicle began to crumple
on the launch pad from loss of pressure.
 
"Our team working on Opportunity's continuing mission of exploration and
discovery realizes how indebted we are to the work of people who made the
early missions to Mars possible, and in particular to the heroics of Bill
McClure and Jack Beverlin," said rover team member James Rice of the Planetary
Science Institute, Tucson, Ariz. "We felt this was really a fitting tribute to
these brave men, especially with the 45th anniversary of their actions coming
today."
 
Opportunity's work on the north-facing slope below the escarpment will give
the vehicle an energy advantage by tilting its solar panels toward the winter
sun. Feb. 14 is the winter solstice in Mars' southern hemisphere, where
Opportunity has been working since it landed in January 2004.
 
"We are now past the minimum solar-energy point of this Martian winter," said
Opportunity Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL) in Pasadena, Calif.  "We now can expect to have more energy available
each week. What's more, recent winds removed some dust from the rover's solar
array. So we have higher performance from the array than the previous two
winters."
 
For more information about NASA's Mars rovers, visit nasa.gov/rovers
 
Credits:
Production editor: Dr. Tony Phillips | Credit: Science@NASA
 
 
Regards,
 
Roger

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