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News
Mars Rovers found evidence of water : News : Oswego Ledger-Sentinel : Hometown Newspaper for Oswego and Montgomery, IllinoisMars Rovers found evidence of water
| Oswego native and deputy navigation team chief completes assignment
| by Nancy Atkinson
| 3/18/2004
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Scientists from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) made announcements last week that both rovers have detected solid evidence that there was once water on the Red Planet.
Rocks at the landing site of one rover, Opportunity, were once “soaked” in liquid water, according to scientists, while volcanic rocks near the second rover, Spirit, contain minerals that came from smaller amounts of water.
“Liquid water once flowed through these rocks,” Dr. Steve Squyres, principal investigator for MER said of Opportunity’s discoveries. “It changed their texture, and it changed their chemistry. We’ve been able to read the tell-tale clues the water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion.”
The clues come from the myriad of scientific instruments on Opportunity’s robotic arm. The Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer and the Thermal Emission Spectrometer found large amounts of sulfate salts (similar to Epsom salts) in the rocks. On Earth, rocks that contain that much salt were either formed in water, or after formation they were submerged in water for a long time. Opportunity’s Moessbauer Spectrometer also detected a mineral called jarosite, a hydrated iron sulfate mineral that forms in an acidic lake or hot springs environment.
In addition, pictures from Opportunity’s cameras and microscopic imager show spheres the size of BB’s embedded in a rock outcropping that is on the edge of the small crater in which Opportunity landed. These spheres are what geologists call concretions, which form from minerals inside a porous, water-soaked rock. Opportunity’s cameras have also revealed many flat, thin holes that are about the size of pennies in the rocks. These holes or “vugs” are exactly like formations in rocks on Earth where crystals of salt minerals form inside rocks that sit in salty water. The crystals then disappear by eroding or dissolving.
Opportunity’s landing site is in Meridian Planum, a flat, smooth, dark-colored plain on Mars’ equator that is about the size of Oklahoma. On the other side of Mars, Spirit is roving about in Gusev Crater, a rocky and more uneven area about 90 miles across.
An update on the “Oswego Dynamic Duo”
Meanwhile, Oswego native Christopher Potts who was the Deputy Navigation Team Chief for both rovers is now re-discovering what its like to have a regular and not-quite-so-frantic schedule.
With the successful cruise to Mars and landing of both rovers, Potts’ role in the MER mission has now concluded.
“The hustle and urgency of my days are pretty much over now,” said Potts. “It’s a very strange experience for me to have my role on a mission end so abruptly. It’s been a two year crescendo of activity, and then a sudden hand-off of responsibility to the surface operations team.”
But the MER mission still keeps him busy. Currently, half of Potts’ time is spent going over data from the mission, identifying lessons learned and documenting and archiving results. He has also submitted an abstract for a paper to be presented at an Astrodynamics Specialists Conference in August. The paper will summarize the propulsive maneuver design for the MER project.
“The other half of my time is spent investigating new job opportunities,” Potts added. “Thankfully there are quite a few projects here at JPL to choose from. The two leading candidates are a Mars Sample Return Mission and Jupiter Icy Moon Orbiter, both tentatively scheduled for launch around 2015.”
In his “spare” time, Potts does what millions of other space enthusiasts around the world are doing. He regularly checks the JPL website (www.marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov) for the most recent news and pictures from the rovers. The number of hits on this website has now surpassed the number of people on the planet, giving evidence of the enormous interest in the MER mission.
Potts also receives a Mission Manger’s downlink every Martian day, or Sol, which provides “a little more visibility into the engineering activities and concerns,” Potts said.
From his experience in working on the MER navigation team, Potts knows how hard his scientific colleagues at JPL are now working to get the most out of the time they have with the rovers. “It’s truly mind boggling to conceive of two rovers traversing on opposite sides of Mars, and all the constant ground support required to maximize the science information from each Sol,” he said.
Another Oswego native, Neil Mottinger, who worked in support of the launch of both rovers has not worked directly with the MER mission since July. But he understands the sense of abrupt disconnection that his friend and colleague Chris Potts is going through with MER, comparing it to being suddenly separated from a child that you have nurtured since before birth.
Mottinger continues his work on a joint mission with NASA and the Japanese Space Agency on an asteroid sample return mission. He said enjoys working with the people from Japan and learning more about their culture.
He also continues to “shift gears” following the dissolution of the group he worked with for several years.
“I need to grow in another dimension,” said Mottinger, “Quite differently from what Chris and his teammates have been going through.”
But Mottinger will definitely be keeping busy, saying the work coming his way is almost more than he can handle. Typical of his unassuming personality, Mottinger wants to make sure that everyone in Oswego understands that he and Potts did not single handedly launch and land the rovers on Mars, but that they were parts of teams that worked together to accomplish such a successful mission.
Mottinger explained, “The calling of us, the rank and file, is to attempt to be contributing members of a team, enabling the accomplishments of the team to be greater than any one member could do.” That’s a good motto for everyone to endeavor to pursue.
* As a postscript, I wish to thank the editors of the Ledger-Sentinel for allowing me to share my interest and excitement in the MER mission with the people of Oswego. Over the past 10 months, I’ve had the privilege of getting an inside look at the mission to Mars, but more importantly, I’ve gotten to know two wonderful people. Chris and Neil will always be my heroes.
Sincerely, Nancy Atkinson |
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