SCI/TECH: Mars Rover Slips While Leaving Crater, announcement of another 'Major' Discovery Tuesday

The Opportunity rover slipped down a sandy uphill slope as it tried to leave the crater it has explored since landing on Mars nearly two months ago, mission scientists said. Controllers plan to try a second way out.
NASA scheduled a Tuesday news conference in Washington to announce what it called another "major scientific finding" by the mission.

Yahoo News

We know the vehicle can do this sort of thing," project manager Richard Cook said. He added: "There are many, many variations on this that can be done before we get worried."

Opportunity has encountered previous problems with slippage inside the crater but never as severe as those that stymied it Sunday, Cook said.

Opportunity landed inside the 72-foot-diameter crater on Jan. 24.

Halfway around Mars, Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, has been exploring the rim of a far larger crater.

NASA launched the twin, $820 million mission to search Mars for evidence the planet once was a wetter place. Opportunity already has uncovered such evidence.

NASA scheduled a Tuesday news conference in Washington to announce what it called another "major scientific finding" by the mission.

Scientists are expected to provide more details about the watery conditions under which rocks found at Opportunity's landing site were formed.



NASA to Announce Another 'Major' Discovery by the Opportunity Mars Rover

NASA will announce a "major scientific finding" from its Mars rover mission on Tuesday, March 23 at 2 p.m. ET, the agency said in a statement.

The last time NASA promised something like this involving Mars, the result was the revelation that the Opportunity rover's landing site had once been soaked with water, providing the first evidence gleaned from the surface for past liquid water on Mars.

A spokesperson for NASA told SPACE.com that the big announcement Tuesday would again involve a discovery by the Opportunity rover and not its twin, Spirit.

The agency did not provide detail regarding the science involved, and the spokesperson would not elaborate.

Rover scientists have said they were eagerly pursuing whether the water that once existed at the rover landing site was groundwater or might have been a lake or ocean. In fact, as of late last week they did not agree on what the most recent evidence revealed.

Experts have said they might learn the answer to that question with further investigation, but that they were not certain the answer would become clear.

One of the scientists that will help present the findings is Dave Rubin, a sedimentologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

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[Edited on 22-3-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

[Edited on 22-3-2004 by Zion Mainframe]

Excerpted from MSNBC (www.msnbc.msn.com...):

So how does a major finding compare? One could argue that "major" outranks "significant," because NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is due to give opening remarks this time around.

No one at NASA is spilling the beans, but the fact that two sedimentologists are on the panel hints that the news has something to do with a close analysis of the geological layers exposed in the bedrock at Opportunity's landing site. The way those layers were deposited could show conclusively whether large bodies of water played a role in building the Mars we know today.

I think NASA just got addicted to the fame, remember how many hits they got when this all started. Everything seems like a "major announcement"

If the lander is on an old river bed they could have found a fosslised creature in a rock!

I think you can bet on there being no evidence of past life there - at least shown to us. We can't disturb our fragile society, now can we?

I am still trying to figure out how they send a radio signal fron the rover to the earth. To my understanding it takes a satellite dish 50 ft. in dia. to send a signal from russia to america which according to their figures is 46,000 miles, 23,000 up to the satellite and 23,000 mi. back to the earth. The satellites in the Clark Arc are said to be in orbit at 23,000 miles above the earth That means to send a signal from the moon, you would need a dish 500 ft in diameter. I have heard some people say that they linked satellites together in a chain as it were. The problem I have with this explaination is that all it would take is one error in one satellite and the whole system would become disconnected with no way of regaining control.

NASA will announce a "major scientific finding" from its Mars rover mission on Tuesday, March 23 at 2 p.m. ET, the agency said in a statement.


Could this be evidence of microbs in the soil? or maybe OIL!!!

maybe they found old settlements from the time mars was the same as earth.

Probably not. It looks like it will be an explanation of how the Rocks at the Opportunity landing site were formed.

www.abovetopsecret.com...

Incidentally, Opportunity made it out of Eagle crater yesterday:
www.abovetopsecret.com...

[Edited on 23-3-2004 by Kano]

If they found anything that proved that there either is life on Mars or was once life there, you can guarantee that they would suppress it until the Government had analysed all the data. And that could take years. Its probably something to do with the sediment. Possibly a dry riverbed or something like that.

I'm curious why you think you can 'guarantee' that such a discovery would be supressed?

Evidence of ancient life on Mars would be a massive discovery, and a huge boost for NASA itself, why supress it?

They found that mars had water...


Scientists announced earlier this month that the Opportunity rover found evidence of water long ago on Mars, but it was unclear whether the water was underground or on the surface. The new findings suggest there was a pool of saltwater at least two inches deep.

Originally posted by Lastday Prophet
I am still trying to figure out how they send a radio signal fron the rover to the earth. To my understanding it takes a satellite dish 50 ft. in dia. to send a signal from russia to america which according to their figures is 46,000 miles, 23,000 up to the satellite and 23,000 mi. back to the earth.

Well, for one thing, if you had done ANY research into the matter, you would know they don't use radiowaves at all. Radiowaves require a medium (i.e. air) through which to travel, this does not exist in space. Instead the rovers are communicated to via some type of laser, which is much faster and quite possible given that they can aim it directly at mars, no arc required as is need for communication on Earth.

Yeah i don't get why some of you think NASA would surpress info about other life. Even primative life or what have you. It would only bring NASA a hell of a lot more funding that they need. I think they'd want be the first ones to say that they've found signs of life on another planet. It would give them such a boost credibility and money. I really don't think they'd really want to hide it.