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Hardened Lava Meets Wind on Mars
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 6, 2006 NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit used its microscopic imager to capture this jagged mini-landscape on a rock mission scientists have called "GongGong." Measuring only 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) across, its surface records two of the most important and violent forces in the history of Mars - volcanoes and wind. GongGong formed billions of years ago in a seething, stirring mass of molten rock. It captured bubbles of gases that were trapped at great depth, but which separated from the main body of lava as it rose to the surface. Like taffy being stretched and tumbled, the molten rock was deformed as it moved across the ancient Martian landscape. The tiny bubbles of gas deformed as well, becoming elongated. When the molten lava solidified, the rock looked like a frozen sponge. The rock then withstood billions of years of pelting by small sand grains carried by Martian dust storms that sometimes blanketed the planet. The sand wore away the surface until, little by little, the delicate strands that enclosed the bubbles of gas were breached and the rock�s current spiny texture emerged. Even now, scientists said, wind continues to deposit sand and dust in the holes and crevices of the rock. Similar rocks exist on Earth anywhere the same complex interplay of volcanoes and weathering occurs, whether the pelting of rocks by sand grains in California�s Mojave desert, or by ice crystals in the frigid Antarctic. GongGong lies among a group of rocks studied by Spirit and informally named by the Athena Science Team to honor the Chinese New Year - the Year of the Dog. In Chinese mythology, GongGong was the god-king of water in the North Land. When he sacrificed his life to knock down Mount BuZhou, he defeated the bad Emperor in Heaven, freed the Sun, Moon and stars to go from east to west, and caused all the rivers in China to flow from west to east. Spirit's microscopic imager took this image on Jan. 28, during on the rover's 736th day, or sol, of exploring Mars. GongGong lies in a place called the Inner Basin, between Husband Hill and McCool Hill in Gusev Crater. Spirit acquired the image while the rock was fully shadowed, with diffuse illumination mostly from the top in the view shown. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links NASA Mars Rovers Home Page Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com Lunar Dreams and more
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Is On The Approach
Pasadena CA (SPX) Feb 05, 2006NASA's next martian orbiter has gotten one step closer to the red planet with the transition from cruise phase to approach phase! |
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