Hipster with a drill on mars
Still, Curiosity hipster and, more likely, still a girl. Well, who else, putting a drill to the surface, immediately begins to photograph their achievements and himself, next to the result of such titanic works?
More than two weeks have passed since Curiosity arrived at a site called John Klein. This is the place that was declared the goal of drilling work almost a month ago. The first shootings were made back in December.
GigaPan
This place looks like a dried up puddle or on a wall with peeling paint, but close inspection showed that its structure is much more complicated.
GigaPan
')
In order to make a preliminary assessment of the surface structure, all the tools were involved.
The first step was a “rough treatment”. The rover is deprived of a geological hammer, but it has 340 kg of live weight and six aluminum wheels.
The damage that the wheels leave on the surface is not just a result of pressure. The rover stops in the place of interest and begins to rotate the wheels in different directions. The principle of this treatment best explains this instructional video:
After that, not just dents appear, but chipped even on hard rock.
( Anaglyph )
Breaking the surface layer, Curiosity has applied a new technique that has not been previously used - nighttime UV shooting. I have already written about it here, but I will still share the HDR image in UV rays:
Various geological rocks tend to glow under the influence of ultraviolet rays. Gypsum has a weak luminescence, and, apparently, its scientists hoped to see.
Then went through the traditional cycle of research APXS:
Photos on the desktop
In total, several targets have been identified where drilling is likely to be carried out.
Two of them brushed DRT
NASA carefully considered the characteristic surface detail of John Klein, which was called "veins as ridges." It is likely that this feature was formed in several stages. At first there was a cracked dry puddle, and then the cracks again filled with a new breed, most likely an omnipresent gypsum.
Approaching the site, Curiosity successfully stood in front of Mount Sharpe. Pre-shooting with navigation cameras showed that the atmosphere was already fairly clean of dust after the storm and you can return to large-scale landscapes.
( Large size and desktop )
While the mountain was shot only with the left mast camera. I'm still waiting for the shooting right. There is one site there that has long attracted attention.
It was shot with the right camera even earlier, at the initial stage of the journey, and this image opened up a lot of room for imagination.
It is easy to imagine that there is depicted some ancient forest fall, a giant layer of turf or something similar. But the length of these "branches" should be several tens of meters. Now the rover is about 300 meters closer and I want to see in more detail. Although, probably, soon he will drive even closer. But will not approach them.
This structure is located about 3 km from the rover, and on the way to it are dangerous black dunes, in which NASA does not dare to turn.
This place is closest to Curiosity, where ancient clay comes to the surface, which, potentially, may contain hydrocarbon traces of the former Martian life. A "forest" is most likely just clay drips, stretching under the million-annual rains. But, I repeat, the rover will not go there. Clays are waiting for him 8 kilometers from here and he will get to them well if by the end of 2013.
Finally, admiring the surroundings and choosing a convenient place, Curiosity took out the drill:
And he accomplished what many people secretly or openly hoped for: penetrated Mars.
The media immediately wrote "It began drilling." But what kind of drilling there, if the rotation of the drill was not, but it deepened by 4 millimeters? In total, two attempts were made:
The MAHLI camera took highly detailed macro images of the recesses:
( Yes, this is an oblong fossa from the drill, and not an oval tubercle. Sometimes perception plays funny jokes. )
It is curious that the structure of the soil resembles clay. If you're lucky, it turns out that this is really her, and you do not have to wait a whole year. But it may be another loose breed, so I do not want to encourage anyone.
And then ... Curiosity made a self portrait! Well, of course, what else should be done on Mars, when the whole Earth is looking forward to the beginning and results of drilling operations!
Full portrait on GigaPan
If you look closely, you can see the reflection of Sharpe Mountain in the mirror of ChemCam.
But the Martians and nasovskih photographers find there will not work. But it turns out to see his camera MAHLI
Foreseeing a new flow of questions, I answer.
So:
Most likely, the drilling work will begin from day to day, although NASA seems to have reported that test drilling of the stone that Curiosity has brought with it will be carried out.
It is guaranteed no organics, and its analysis will determine the purity of the devices SAM and CheMin. If Curiosity does this, then the Martian drilling will be delayed for another week or more. But NASA has repeatedly departed from previously announced plans, so it remains only to observe.
You can read more about the device of the drill and the reasons why NASA is so scrupulous and slow in drilling operations here: Curiosity and a puncher .
PS I propose a difficult quest: can we do in the comments without sparkling jokes about oil and democracy?
PPS And yes, I'm sorry, that is so long: a lot of things have accumulated, but more often it does not work.
Phew I almost forgot. Well, after all, they saw a piece of iron sticking out of a stone:
There are no better photos yet. Metallic on Mars can be a meteorite or a glandular concretion, akin to the iron balls that found Opportunity on the plateau of Meridian. It is still possible that this is fulgurite - an oblong glass tube that occurs during a lightning strike in the sand.
UPD . It is finished! The first well on Mars (HDR).
More than two weeks have passed since Curiosity arrived at a site called John Klein. This is the place that was declared the goal of drilling work almost a month ago. The first shootings were made back in December.
GigaPan
This place looks like a dried up puddle or on a wall with peeling paint, but close inspection showed that its structure is much more complicated.
GigaPan
')
In order to make a preliminary assessment of the surface structure, all the tools were involved.
The first step was a “rough treatment”. The rover is deprived of a geological hammer, but it has 340 kg of live weight and six aluminum wheels.
The damage that the wheels leave on the surface is not just a result of pressure. The rover stops in the place of interest and begins to rotate the wheels in different directions. The principle of this treatment best explains this instructional video:
After that, not just dents appear, but chipped even on hard rock.
( Anaglyph )
Breaking the surface layer, Curiosity has applied a new technique that has not been previously used - nighttime UV shooting. I have already written about it here, but I will still share the HDR image in UV rays:
Various geological rocks tend to glow under the influence of ultraviolet rays. Gypsum has a weak luminescence, and, apparently, its scientists hoped to see.
Then went through the traditional cycle of research APXS:
Photos on the desktop
In total, several targets have been identified where drilling is likely to be carried out.
Two of them brushed DRT
NASA carefully considered the characteristic surface detail of John Klein, which was called "veins as ridges." It is likely that this feature was formed in several stages. At first there was a cracked dry puddle, and then the cracks again filled with a new breed, most likely an omnipresent gypsum.
Approaching the site, Curiosity successfully stood in front of Mount Sharpe. Pre-shooting with navigation cameras showed that the atmosphere was already fairly clean of dust after the storm and you can return to large-scale landscapes.
( Large size and desktop )
While the mountain was shot only with the left mast camera. I'm still waiting for the shooting right. There is one site there that has long attracted attention.
It was shot with the right camera even earlier, at the initial stage of the journey, and this image opened up a lot of room for imagination.
It is easy to imagine that there is depicted some ancient forest fall, a giant layer of turf or something similar. But the length of these "branches" should be several tens of meters. Now the rover is about 300 meters closer and I want to see in more detail. Although, probably, soon he will drive even closer. But will not approach them.
This structure is located about 3 km from the rover, and on the way to it are dangerous black dunes, in which NASA does not dare to turn.
This place is closest to Curiosity, where ancient clay comes to the surface, which, potentially, may contain hydrocarbon traces of the former Martian life. A "forest" is most likely just clay drips, stretching under the million-annual rains. But, I repeat, the rover will not go there. Clays are waiting for him 8 kilometers from here and he will get to them well if by the end of 2013.
Finally, admiring the surroundings and choosing a convenient place, Curiosity took out the drill:
And he accomplished what many people secretly or openly hoped for: penetrated Mars.
The media immediately wrote "It began drilling." But what kind of drilling there, if the rotation of the drill was not, but it deepened by 4 millimeters? In total, two attempts were made:
The MAHLI camera took highly detailed macro images of the recesses:
( Yes, this is an oblong fossa from the drill, and not an oval tubercle. Sometimes perception plays funny jokes. )
It is curious that the structure of the soil resembles clay. If you're lucky, it turns out that this is really her, and you do not have to wait a whole year. But it may be another loose breed, so I do not want to encourage anyone.
And then ... Curiosity made a self portrait! Well, of course, what else should be done on Mars, when the whole Earth is looking forward to the beginning and results of drilling operations!
Full portrait on GigaPan
If you look closely, you can see the reflection of Sharpe Mountain in the mirror of ChemCam.
But the Martians and nasovskih photographers find there will not work. But it turns out to see his camera MAHLI
Foreseeing a new flow of questions, I answer.
So:
Most likely, the drilling work will begin from day to day, although NASA seems to have reported that test drilling of the stone that Curiosity has brought with it will be carried out.
It is guaranteed no organics, and its analysis will determine the purity of the devices SAM and CheMin. If Curiosity does this, then the Martian drilling will be delayed for another week or more. But NASA has repeatedly departed from previously announced plans, so it remains only to observe.
You can read more about the device of the drill and the reasons why NASA is so scrupulous and slow in drilling operations here: Curiosity and a puncher .
PS I propose a difficult quest: can we do in the comments without sparkling jokes about oil and democracy?
PPS And yes, I'm sorry, that is so long: a lot of things have accumulated, but more often it does not work.
Phew I almost forgot. Well, after all, they saw a piece of iron sticking out of a stone:
There are no better photos yet. Metallic on Mars can be a meteorite or a glandular concretion, akin to the iron balls that found Opportunity on the plateau of Meridian. It is still possible that this is fulgurite - an oblong glass tube that occurs during a lightning strike in the sand.
UPD . It is finished! The first well on Mars (HDR).
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/168551/
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