[meteorite-list] Rover Opportunity Wrapping up Study of Martian Valley

[Ron Baalke]

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6536

Rover Opportunity Wrapping up Study of Martian Valley
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
June 14, 2016

"Marathon Valley," slicing through a large crater's rim on Mars, has provided 
fruitful research targets for NASA's Opportunity rover since July 2015, 
but the rover may soon move on.

Opportunity recently collected a sweeping panorama from near the western 
end of this east-west valley. The vista shows an area where the mission 
investigated evidence about how water altered the ancient rocks and, beyond 
that, the wide floor of Endeavour Crater and the crater's eastern rim 
about 14 miles (22 kilometers) away.

Marathon Valley lured the mission because researchers using NASA's Mars 
Reconnaissance Orbiter had mapped water-related clay minerals at this 
area of the western rim of Endeavour Crater. The rover team chose the 
valley's informal name because Opportunity's arrival at this part of the 
rim coincided closely with the rover surpassing marathon-footrace distance 
in total driving since its January 2004 Mars landing.

"We are wrapping up our last few activities in Marathon Valley and before 
long we'll drive away, exiting along the southern wall of the valley and 
heading southeast," said Opportunity Principal Investigator Steve Squyres, 
of Cornell University, Ithaca, New York.

As Opportunity examined the clay-bearing rocks on the valley floor that 
were detected from orbit, the rover's own observations of the valley's 
southern flank revealed streaks of red-toned, crumbly material. The science 
team chose to investigate this apparently weathered material. The rover 
approached exposures of it to prepare for using the Rock Abrasion Tool, 
called the RAT. This tool grinds away a rock's surface to expose the interior 
for inspection.

"What we usually do to investigate material that's captured our interest 
is find a bedrock exposure of it and use the RAT," Squyres said. "What 
we didn't realize until we took a close-enough look is that this stuff 
has been so pervasively altered, it's not bedrock. There's no solid bedrock 
you could grind with the RAT."

Instead, the rover exposed some fresh surfaces for inspection by scuffing 
some of the reddish material with a wheel.

Squyres said, "In the scuff, we found one of the highest sulfur contents 
that's been seen anywhere on Mars. There's strong evidence that, among 
other things, these altered zones have a lot of magnesium sulfate. We 
don't think these altered zones are where the clay is, but magnesium sulfate 
is something you would expect to find precipitating from water.

"Fractures running through the bedrock, forming conduits through which 
water could flow and transport soluble materials, could alter the rock 
and create the pattern of red zones that we see."

As of June 14, Opportunity has driven 26.59 miles (42.79 kilometers). 
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, 
built the rover and manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, 
Washington. For more information about Opportunity, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/rovers

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

News Media Contact
Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-354-6278
guy.webster at jpl.nasa.gov

2016-153