MSL: Scientists Discover Unexpected Mineral on Mars

[bystander]

Scientists Discover Unexpected Mineral on Mars
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2016 June 22

[img3="Looking up at Curiosity in 'Buckskin' Selfie - Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
This low-angle self-portrait of NASA's Curiosity Mars rover shows the vehicle at the site from which it reached down to drill into a rock target called "Buckskin." Bright powder from that July 30, 2015, drilling is visible in the foreground. "]http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/spaceimages/ima ... _hires.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Scientists have discovered an unexpected mineral in a rock sample at Gale Crater on Mars, a finding that may alter our understanding of how the planet evolved.

NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover, Curiosity, has been exploring sedimentary rocks within Gale Crater since landing in August 2012. In July 2015, on Sol 1060 (the number of Martian days since landing), the rover collected powder drilled from rock at a location named "Buckskin." Analyzing data from an X-ray diffraction instrument on the rover that identifies minerals, scientists detected significant amounts of a silica mineral called tridymite.

This detection was a surprise to the scientists, because tridymite is generally associated with silicic volcanism, which is known on Earth but was not thought to be important or even present on Mars.

The discovery of tridymite might induce scientists to rethink the volcanic history of Mars, suggesting that the planet once had explosive volcanoes that led to the presence of the mineral. ...

Silicic Volcanism on Mars Evidenced by Tridymite in High-SiO₂ Sedimentary Rock at Gale Crater - Richard V. Morris et al

• Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (early edition)

[BMAONE23]

Hey Curiosity...Nice Selfie

[Evermore]

"Unexpected" and "Surprised" are curious words to use describing any discovery of anything anywhere in the universe. We should not be surprised by the unexpected .. not in the least .. if we are, we fell into the pit of thinking we know it all, and of course, we don't.

[geckzilla]

I think surprise goes along with unexpected quite often. I also don't think combining them leads down any sort of slippery slope. It's just a natural reaction in a lot of cases, though not all.

[Evermore]

I think surprise goes along with unexpected quite often. I also don't think combining them leads down any sort of slippery slope. It's just a natural reaction in a lot of cases, though not all.

My point was, expect anything, and you won't be surprised. And in a universe as large as ours, we can expect anything, so should not be surprised.

[Ann]

I think surprise goes along with unexpected quite often. I also don't think combining them leads down any sort of slippery slope. It's just a natural reaction in a lot of cases, though not all.

My point was, expect anything, and you won't be surprised. And in a universe as large as ours, we can expect anything, so should not be surprised.

We understand the rule of physics that govern our own human existence pretty well. If we come across something that completely contradicts and defies those rules of physics, we have the right to be surprised. Indeed, we have the right to conclude that what we are seeing is a fantasy, not the reality of our own universe.

And I apologize for the terrible Swedish voices here. Give me Dakota Fanning and Keith David any time!

Click to play embedded YouTube video.

Ann

[geckzilla]

Reminds me of the old aphorism which goes along the line of: Keep an open mind, but not so open that your brain falls out.

[Evermore]

Okay .. the world really is flat. Men cannot fly in heavier than air machines. We never went to the moon. And the internet is a figment of unborn babies' imaginations. You're right. Some things just CANNOT and NEVER will be!!!!

[geckzilla]

Well, golly gee, I'm sorry we don't have the discipline required to never be surprised at anything. By all means, throw a tantrum because no one has agreed with you so far.

[Evermore]

Well, golly gee, I'm sorry we don't have the discipline required to never be surprised at anything. By all means, throw a tantrum because no one has agreed with you so far.

Tantrum? Sounds like the name of a Grunge band to me. "By George ..." (to Harrison) "... I think we've got it! Just tweek this a bit, and twalk that, and Ringo, REALLY beat up those drums .. we'll have a whole new career!" (Paul might like it .. though methinks John would naysay.)

But really, you know, Geckzilla, my comment was mere intellectualism, there was a little emotional elbow, not enough to cause pain though, although in this day and age, one man's pain is another's pleasure, and all that.

[geckzilla]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[bystander]

Findings Point to a More Earth-like Martian Past
NASA | JPL-Caltech | MSL Curiosity | 2016 June 27

[img3="This scene shows NASA's Curiosity Mars rover at a location called "Windjana," where the rover found rocks containing manganese-oxide minerals, which require abundant water and strongly oxidizing conditions to form. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS"]http://mars.nasa.gov/msl/imgs/2016/06/m ... 52-br2.jpg[/img3][hr][/hr]

Chemicals found in Martian rocks by NASA's Curiosity Mars rover suggest the Red Planet once had more oxygen in its atmosphere than it does now.

Researchers found high levels of manganese oxides by using a laser-firing instrument on the rover. This hint of more oxygen in Mars' early atmosphere adds to other Curiosity findings -- such as evidence about ancient lakes -- revealing how Earth-like our neighboring planet once was.

This research also adds important context to other clues about atmospheric oxygen in Mars' past. The manganese oxides were found in mineral veins within a geological setting the Curiosity mission has placed in a timeline of ancient environmental conditions. From that context, the higher oxygen level can be linked to a time when groundwater was present in the rover's Gale Crater study area. ...

Microbes seem far-fetched at this point, but the other alternative -- that the Martian atmosphere contained more oxygen in the past than it does now -- seems possible ...

In Earth's geological record, the appearance of high concentrations of manganese oxide minerals is an important marker of a major shift in our atmosphere's composition, from relatively low oxygen abundances to the oxygen-rich atmosphere we see today. The presence of the same types of materials on Mars suggests that oxygen levels rose there, too, before declining to their present values. If that's the case, how was that oxygen-rich environment formed? ...

New Findings Hint at Oxygen-Rich Past on Mars
American Geophysical Union | 2016 June 27

Oxidation of manganese in an ancient aquifer, Kimberley formation, Gale crater, Mars - Nina L. Lanza et al

• Geophysical Research Letters (online 27 June 2016) DOI: 10.1002/2016GL069109 (preprint)

[Evermore]

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Looks like Ringo .. even has drumsticks .. MUST BE Ringo!