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Mars Opportunity Rover Finds Evidence of Water

Posted on: Friday, 30 January 2004, 06:00 CST

By ANDREW BRIDGES

PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -- NASA's Mars rover Opportunity spied hints Friday of a mineral that typically forms in water - a finding that could mean the dry and dusty Red Planet was once wetter and more hospitable to life. That is the very question Opportunity and its twin, Spirit, were sent to answer.

The preliminary discovery came hours before Opportunity was to roll its six wheels onto the martian surface for the first time. Engineers planned to command the rover to roll the 10 feet off its lander and onto Mars at 3:12 a.m. EST Saturday. Confirmation was expected three hours later.

NASA said the $820 million double-barreled mission should begin in earnest by Sunday, once Opportunity is on the ground and Spirit, on the other side of the planet, is cured of the software problems that have crippled it for more than a week.

"The fat lady has finally gotten onto the stage, but the time of her aria has not yet arrived," project manager Pete Theisinger said at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The rovers face continuing perils, including bitter cold and rough terrain.

NASA scientists want Opportunity to find on the pebbly ground a mineral called gray hematite. The iron-rich mineral typically - but not always - forms in liquid water.

Scientists said the preliminary evidence suggests Opportunity has already spied the mineral in the ruddy soil around it by using its mini-thermal emissions spectrometer, an instrument that measures infrared radiation.

Confirmation should take a few days, while scientists check and double-check their data, said Ray Arvidson of Washington University, the deputy main scientist for the mission.

A NASA satellite called Mars Global Surveyor previously spotted hematite at Opportunity's landing site. Scientists believe the mineral covers as much as 20 percent of the surface at Meridiani Planum, an area hundreds of miles across.

As for the ailing Spirit rover, NASA deleted 1,700 files from its flash memory Friday and then rebooted the rover.

"I am pleased to report it appears to be working just fine," said Glenn Reeves, chief engineer for the rover's flight software. He said NASA should be able to declare Spirit "fully recovered" by Sunday.

Cornell University astronomer Steve Squyres, the mission's main scientist, said very little science will have been lost because of the setback.

NASA previously warned that each rover would probably lose one of every three days of work to unforeseen circumstances.

While on the mend, Spirit already has resumed its science work, snapping the first-ever microscopic image taken on Mars of the surface of a rock. Spirit should begin drilling into the rock, dubbed Adirondack, sometime in the next four days.

Initial measurements reveal the rock is an olivine-rich basalt. The volcanic rock is the most common type on the surface of Earth and does not require water to form. That disappointed scientists.

"It is not the kind of smoking-gun evidence we're looking for," Arvidson said.

Scientists want Opportunity to strike out for an outcropping several yards to its left. High-resolution images have revealed the presence of fine layers in the bedrock. The layers could have been laid down by water, wind or the buildup of volcanic ash.

About the Mars Exploration Rover Mission

NASA's twin robot geologists, the Mars Exploration Rovers, launched toward Mars on June 10 and July 7, 2003, in search of answers about the history of water on Mars. Spirit landed on January 3, and Opportunity is scheduled to land on January 24, 2004.

The Mars Exploration Rover mission is part of NASA's Mars Exploration Program, a long-term effort of robotic exploration of the red planet.

Primary among the mission's scientific goals is to search for and characterize a wide range of rocks and soils that hold clues to past water activity on Mars. The spacecraft are targeted to sites on opposite sides of Mars that appear to have been affected by liquid water in the past.

The landing sites are at Gusev Crater, a possible former lake in a giant impact crater, and Meridiani Planum, where mineral deposits (hematite) suggest Mars had a wet past.

After the airbag-protected landing craft settle onto the surface and open, the rovers will roll out to take panoramic images.

These will give scientists the information they need to select promising geological targets that will tell part of the story of water in Mars' past. Then, the rovers will drive to those locations to perform on-site scientific investigations over the course of their 90-day mission.

These are the first images sent back from the panoramic camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit since the rover experienced communications problems on the 18th sol, or martian day, of its mission. The rock on the left has been named "Cake," and the white rock on the right has been named "Blanco." Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

This close-up look at the martian rock dubbed Adirondack was captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's microscopic imager before Spirit stopped communicating with Earth on the 18th martian day, or sol, of its mission. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/US Geological Survey

This overhead look at the martian rock dubbed Adirondack was captured by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera. It shows the approximate region where the rover's microscopic imager began its first close-up inspection. Image Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

These are the primary science instruments to be carried by the rovers:

-- Panoramic Camera (Pancam): for determining the mineralogy, texture, and structure of the local terrain.

-- Miniature Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES): for identifying promising rocks and soils for closer examination and for determining the processes that formed Martian rocks. The instrument will also look skyward to provide temperature profiles of the Martian atmosphere.

-- Mössbauer Spectrometer (MB): for close-up investigations of the mineralogy of iron-bearing rocks and soils.

-- Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS): for close-up analysis of the abundances of elements that make up rocks and soils.

-- Magnets: for collecting magnetic dust particles. The Mössbauer Spectrometer and the Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer will analyze the particles collected and help determine the ratio of magnetic particles to non-magnetic particles. They will also analyze the composition of magnetic minerals in airborne dust and rocks that have been ground by the Rock Abrasion Tool.

-- Microscopic Imager (MI): for obtaining close-up, high-resolution images of rocks and soils.

-- Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT): for removing dusty and weathered rock surfaces and exposing fresh material for examination by instruments onboard.

A goal for the rover is to drive up to 40 meters (about 44 yards) in a single day, for a total of up to one 1 kilometer (about three-quarters of a mile).

Moving from place to place, the rovers will perform on-site geological investigations. Each rover is sort of the mechanical equivalent of a geologist walking the surface of Mars. The mast-mounted cameras are mounted 1.5 meters(5 feet) high and will provide 360-degree, stereoscopic, humanlike views of the terrain.

The robotic arm will be capable of movement in much the same way as a human arm with an elbow and wrist, and will place instruments directly up against rock and soil targets of interest.

In the mechanical "fist" of the arm is a microscopic camera that will serve the same purpose as a geologist's handheld magnifying lens. The Rock Abrasion Tool serves the purpose of a geologist's rock hammer to expose the insides of rocks.

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