Projects: Space Information
The Planetary Report
Volume XXIV, Number 1, January/February 2004
Credit: Background: JPL/NASA; left: NASA/JPL/Arizona State University; center:
John Betts Fine Minerals; bottom: Kees Veenenbos |
On the Cover
We study rocks to discover clues about a planet's geologic and climatic history.
On Earth, gray hematite (center) is commonly formed in liquid water. When
scientists detected gray hematite on Mars, they pondered whether it, too,
formed in water-could it be evidence of a warmer, wetter past?
Gray hematite has been identified in three locations on Mars-Valles Marineris
(background), Meridiani Planum (left), and Aram crater (bottom).
From The Editor
Space is unforgiving." Lou Friedman, Planetary Society executive director,
reminded us of that when we received word that Nozomi, the Japanese mission
to Mars, would fly past its target world and fail to achieve its mission.
Instead of exploring the Red Planet's upper atmosphere, Nozomi will continue
into an orbit about the Sun. Mission leaders are hopeful they will be able
to squeeze another sort of science out of the spacecraft.
As I write this, four other spacecraft are closing on Mars. At The Planetary
Society, we've lived through the losses of Mars Observer, Mars Climate Orbiter,
and Mars Polar Lander. We had an instrument, the Mars Microphone, on the last
mission in 1999 fall victim to the Great Galactic Ghoul, the Monster of Mars,
or whatever imaginary beast people use to personify the extreme difficulty
of exploring other worlds.
But it is just that difficulty-demanding the utmost effort of which we are
capable -that makes planetary exploration so extraordinarily rewarding when
we succeed. Mars Express, Beagle 2, Spirit, and Opportunity are still carrying
our hope to Mars, and though there may well be more failures to come, it is
still an extraordinarily worthwhile endeavor.
We won't stop. We can't. Humanity must explore.
— Charlene M. Anderson
Features
The MarsDial: A Sundial for the Red Planet
Bill Nye is an enthusiastic guy. He's a nut about sundials. He's also on
the Board of Directors of The Planetary Society. So when, a few years ago,
Bill saw the opportunity to place a sundial on the rovers landing on Mars
in 2004, his enthusiasm carried along Jim Bell of Cornell University, a
member of the rover science team; and Woody Sullivan of the University of
Washington, a fellow sundial nut; and, of course, The Planetary Society.
Thanks to Bill's legendary energy and imagination, Spirit and Opportunity
carry calibration targets for their cameras that are doing double duty as
MarsDials. People around the world will be able, through the Internet, to
determine the time on Mars by looking at images of the MarsDials and so
share in the excitement of discovery.
Mars Rocks! Deciphering Minerals on Mars
When investigating the potential for life on a planet that is essentially
bone dry-like Mars-researchers must seek every possible clue as to the past
and present existence of water, the compound necessary for life. One place
to look is in the rocks. Landforms, such as sedimentary beds or river channels,
tell an incomplete story. We need to know the composition of the rocks themselves
to help finish it. For example, hematite, which on Earth forms most readily
in the presence of water, has been identified on Mars, but we don't know
how it formed there. The rover Opportunity has been targeted to learn if
liquid water played a role. Both Spirit and Opportunity will be looking
for evaporites, rocks that form when water evaporates, leaving its mineral
signature behind. Melissa Lane, a member of the Mars Odyssey science team,
clues us in on what the rocks on Mars may tell us about their history.
Departments
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