/customerservice/
|
Clues sent by Mars 'dune buggy' excite NASA scientists
Talk about a long trip: An unmanned rover has been driving on Mars for more than seven years, though not constantly. Now the solar-powered exploratory vehicle with six wheels has reached a promising destination -- a sunken crater called Endeavour. And the first rock its long robotic arm picked up for remote-control analysis has opened a new chapter in the study of Mars. NASA mission scientists are excited because the rock has sizable quantities of two elements that suggest geology formed by heat and water -- based on how things work here. Earlier evidence and now the presence of zinc and bromine, shown in data transmitted home, suggest a warmer, wetter period in Mars' past that may have offered friendlier conditions for some form of life. "The excitement level within the engineering and science teams is way up," says project scientist Ray Arvidson of Washington University in St Louis. The dune buggy-size rover, named Opportunity, could spend years examining the new terrain. It's one of two that arrived in January 2004, landing on different sides of the planet with the goal of exploring the surface for signs of past water. Each already found evidence of water that suggests life might have been possible on ancient Mars, but that water was highly acidic. The other rover went silent after a sand trap last year. NASA plans to launch an SUV-size mobile lab in November that will reach Mars next summer. Its name, aptly, is Curiosity.
Front Page Talking Points is written by
Alan Stamm for NIEonline.com, Copyright 2013
We welcome comments or suggestions for future topics: Click here to Comment Front Page Talking Points Archive►Fresh population figures show the changing face of America ►U.S. scrutiny of online communication and calls stirs debate over snooping vs. security ►Facebook draws the line: Hateful, nasty posts about women are out of bounds ►Summer brings movie lineup of superheroes, zombies, sci-fi and comedies ►Federal safety board urges tougher drinking-and-driving cutoff limit to match other nations ►Northeast braces for noisy invasion: Flying cicada bugs return after hiding for 17 years ►U.S. military prison at Guantanamo, Cuba, remains a tricky problem for President Obama ►Doctors warn about serious health risks from 'The Cinnamon Challenge' video craze ►Earth Day on April 22 focuses attention on how we can protect the natural environment ►Thousands of past players take on the National Football League over brain injuries |
Look for more news involving science, including meteorology (the study of weather).
Engineers created the vehicle exploring Mars. Show a photo or article with anything else, large or small, designed by an engineer. 
Scientists study clues from the history of Mars. Try to find coverage or comments about something that happened in the past, especially long ago. 
Astronomer says: "This rock doesn't look like anything else we've seen before" on Mars. -- Steven Squyres, Cornell University professor in Ithaca, N.Y.