"Scientist think its a white rock, others not so sure"....
Who are these "Others" and why should i even care if they are not so sure...
If I've learned anything from my years on the internet it's that anything involving a conspiracy/cover-up/alien can be exposed through splicing youtube clips.
If I've learned anything from my years on the internet it's that anything involving a conspiracy/cover-up/alien can be exposed through splicing youtube clips.
Oh man, I remember the one from the Russian Forest....that was classic.....
Conversely, my opinion of this white rock-like landscape anomaly, which is just as valuable as any 'scientist's' opinion is:
It seems perfectly plausible to me......"Danger, Danger!!!"
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This Post Has Been Distilled for the Eradication of Seemingly Incurable Sadness.
The World Ends when you're dead. Until then, you've got more punishment in store. - Flames Fans
If you thought this season would have a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention.
Last Thursday, June 5, Phoenix delivered a scoopful of clumpy Martian topsoil to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyer (TEGA), which was to be the first instrument to conduct analysis on the sample. The lander carried the delivery out with such finesse and precision, the achievement all but ended the checkout and characterization phase and initiated the mission's research agenda. All it had to do was dump it into the TEGA funnel on Friday, and it did that with swiftness and enough accuracy to place a pile of Martian topsoil on the instruments sifting screen. Then, Mars tossed one of its mysterious curve balls.
"On Saturday we found out that we had a very large amount of soil that had been delivered to the screen, which is the opening into the funnel that leads the dirt into the oven itself," explained William Boynton, of the University of Arizona, TEGA lead scientist. Inside the oven, the sample's mineral make-up was to be sniffed and baked out. "Although we had an awful lot of dirt on that screen, virtually none of it made it down into the oven," he said.
This newfound realization about the clumpy, and indurated or hardened, soil properties, sent the TEGA team back into a huddle and today Phoenix was commanded to test a revised method for delivering samples from the stubborn clumps to its instruments.
Basically, the new approach calls for the lander to sprinkle or "dribble," as Boynton puts it, the sample onto and into the instruments instead of dumping the whole scoopful. To accomplish that, Phoenix will hold its scoop at an angle above the delivery target and sprinkle out a small amount of the sample by vibrating the scoop, running a motorized rasp on the bottom of it.
I wonder if the jets used in the landing may have changed the composition of the dirt in way to make it clumpy.
It could be due to just a very tiny amount of absorbed moisture, perhaps even from the spacecraft's landing rockets, or the glue might be some kind of salts or even electrostatic forces or a combination of all of those, he said. The team is continuing to debate and discuss the possibilities.
The Mars Phoenix just issued a highly official Twitter saying that some white, shiny stuff it was staring at has sublimated. In other words, it's definitely ice.
Millions of miles... Counless dollars, and we get foiled by sticky dirt.....
I love watching these missions...
I know what you mean. We either gotta improve robotics, or find some way to get people there. It's so frustrating to see all this stuff you want to look at, dig through, etc. but the craft can't 'go there' or 'do that'. You get black and white photos of god knows what, and half working analysis' that could indicate certain facts, but also may not...
It could be due to just a very tiny amount of absorbed moisture, perhaps even from the spacecraft's landing rockets, or the glue might be some kind of salts or even electrostatic forces or a combination of all of those, he said. The team is continuing to debate and discuss the possibilities.
OoOoO I could be a rocket scientist!!!
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