[meteorite-list] Mars Curiosity Rover Heads Uphill After Solving 'Doughnut' Riddle

[Ron Baalke]

February 14, 2014

Dwayne Brown
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1726
dwayne.c.brown at nasa.gov 

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov 
     
RELEASE 14-052
     
Mars Rover Heads Uphill After Solving 'Doughnut' Riddle

[Image]
This image from NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity shows where a  
rock called "Pinnacle Island" (lower left corner) had been before it appeared  
in front of the rover in early January 2014.
Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell Univ./Arizona State Univ.

Researchers have determined the now-infamous Martian rock resembling a jelly  
doughnut, dubbed Pinnacle Island, is a piece of a larger rock broken and  
moved by the wheel of NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity in early  
January.

Only about 1.5 inches wide (4 centimeters), the white-rimmed, red-centered  
rock caused a stir last month when it appeared in an image the rover took  
Jan. 8 at a location where it was not present four days earlier.

More recent images show the original piece of rock struck by the rover's  
wheel, slightly uphill from where Pinnacle Island came to rest.

"Once we moved Opportunity a short distance, after inspecting Pinnacle  
Island, we could see directly uphill an overturned rock that has the same  
unusual appearance," said Opportunity Deputy Principal Investigator Ray  
Arvidson of Washington University in St. Louis. "We drove over it. We can see  
the track. That's where Pinnacle Island came from."

Examination of Pinnacle Island revealed high levels of elements such as  
manganese and sulfur, suggesting these water-soluble ingredients were  
concentrated in the rock by the action of water. "This may have happened just  
beneath the surface relatively recently," Arvidson said, "or it may have  
happened deeper below ground longer ago and then, by serendipity, erosion  
stripped away material above it and made it accessible to our wheels."

Now that the rover is finished inspecting this rock, the team plans to drive  
Opportunity south and uphill to investigate exposed rock layers on the slope.

Opportunity is approaching a boulder-studded ridge informally named the  
McClure-Beverlin Escarpment, in honor of engineers Jack Beverlin and Bill  
McClure. Beverlin and McClure were the first recipients of the NASA Medal of  
Exceptional Bravery for their actions on Feb. 14, 1969 to save NASA's second  
successful Mars mission, Mariner 6, when the launch vehicle began to crumple  
on the launch pad from loss of pressure.

"Our team working on Opportunity's continuing mission of exploration and  
discovery realizes how indebted we are to the work of people who made the  
early missions to Mars possible, and in particular to the heroics of Bill  
McClure and Jack Beverlin," said rover team member James Rice of the  
Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Ariz. "We felt this was really a fitting  
tribute to these brave men, especially with the 45th anniversary of their  
actions coming today."

Opportunity's work on the north-facing slope below the escarpment will give  
the vehicle an energy advantage by tilting its solar panels toward the winter  
sun. Feb. 14 is the winter solstice in Mars' southern hemisphere, where  
Opportunity has been working since it landed in January 2004.

"We are now past the minimum solar-energy point of this Martian winter," said  
Opportunity Project Manager John Callas of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory  
(JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "We now can expect to have more energy available  
each week. What's more, recent winds removed some dust from the rover's solar  
array. So we have higher performance from the array than the previous two  
winters."

During Opportunity's decade on Mars, and the 2004-2010 career of its twin,  
Spirit, NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Project has yielded a range of findings  
proving wet environmental conditions on ancient Mars -- some very acidic,  
others milder and more conducive to supporting life.

JPL manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for NASA's Science Mission  
Directorate in Washington. For more information about Spirit and Opportunity,  
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers 

You can follow the project on Twitter and on Facebook at:

http://twitter.com/MarsRovers 

and

http://www.facebook.com/mars.rovers 

-end-