Rover instrument finds possible 'tracer' of liquid water at landing site

By David Brand

Data from the mini-thermal emission spectrometer superimposed on an image taken by the rover's panoramic camera, representing the infrared light, or heat, emitted by objects. red colored circles represent warmer regions and blue, cooler. A warm and dusty depression similar to the one dubbed Sleepy Hollow stands out to the upper right. NASA/JPL/Arizona State University/Cornell University Click on the image for a high-resolution version (960 x 540 pixels, 241K)

The instrument, the Mini-TES (for miniature thermal emission spectrometer), views the landscape around the rover in the infrared, determining the types and amounts of many different kinds of minerals, particularly those that are formed by the action of water. Commenting at a news briefing on the first Mini-TES results returned to the planet on the rover's sixth day on Mars, Cornell astronomer Steven Squyres, leader of the rover scientific team, said that either the carbonates were present because they had interacted with the atmosphere or "they are telling us something fundamental about the Gusev crater." He was, he said, "of like mind" on both hypotheses.

The presence of carbonates is important, he said, because the mineral could be a "tracer" of the long-ago existence of liquid water.

An image from the rover's front hazard avoidance camera shows the rover in the final stage of its stand-up process. The two wheels on the bottom right and left are locked into position, along with the suspension system. NASA/JPL Click on the image for a high-resolution version (540 x 466 pixels, 28K)

At the briefing at the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL), manager of the Mars mission, it was announced that the balky airbag sticking up on either side of the lander's forward, or southeast-facing, petal -- the rover's planned drive-off ramp -- has defied attempts to retract under the lander. The rover will now exit, probably Jan. 15 or 16, from the rearward ramp, sending it off into the crater in a northwest direction. On Jan. 10 the rover will be instructed to make a 120-degree turn toward the northwest.

"We always knew we could egress in any direction," said Squyres at the briefing. "We are now ready to do science in a new direction."

Project manager Pete Theisinger defended the latest delay in getting the rover off the lander by emphasizing, "We are not going to take any inappropriate risks." He said, "We are proceeding in a measured, temperate way."

Mission manager Matt Wallace said the mission team started sol 6 (a sol is a Martian day of 24 hours, 39 hours and 35 minutes) by waking up the rover with Bob Marley's "Get Up, Stand Up." And that is exactly what the rover did, completing the next step in its preparation for leaving the lander by lifting and lowering its front wheels. It was a critical operation done autonomously, said Wallace. On sol 7 the rover will complete its standup by moving its rear wheels backward.

The Mini-TES is the second of the rover's instruments, after the two panoramic cameras (or Pancams), to return data about Gusev crater. The lead developer of the Mini-TES, Phil Christensen of Arizona State University, called the information "incredibly exciting." He showed a Pancam color picture of the landing site overlaid with dots, each one a spectrum converted into a temperature of the crater area, either fine-grain "soil" or a rock. Each spot took four seconds to acquire as the Pancam mast was moved up and down.

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