Spirit on Mars

“Sitting in the stands at the sports arena...

Waiting for the show to begin...”

“Red light ,green light,strawberry wine...

Agood friend of mine...”

“Follows the stars...”

“Venus and Mars are alright tonight ..”

“Nice finish must hike.”

“LMAO @ Chili.”

“And I was so looking forward to a new hiking trail on Mars. This doesn't help GW with his "vision thing" does it?”

“Ha! Not in your lifetime Dunadan.”

“You know because you're so old & everything.”

“Obviously this Spirit Mars rover thing is female. They should've known better. Expect more sporadic communications and wild mood fluctuations.”

“Test. TestTesttest”

“
X-Sender: xxxxxxx@agnes.gsfc.nasa.gov
Date: Tue, 10 Feb 2004 14:42:28 -0500
To: Xxxxxxx Xxxxxxxx
From: Xxxxxx Xxxxx
Subject: Fwd: A NAVAJO MESSAGE


----- NAVAJO MESSAGE FOR THE MOON

When NASA was preparing for the Apollo Project, it took the
astronauts to a Navajo reservation in Arizona for training. One day,
a Navajo elder and his son came across the space crew walking among
the rocks. The elder, who spoke only Navajo, asked a question. His
son translated for the NASA people: "What are these guys in the big
suits doing?" One of the astronauts said that they were practicing
for a trip to the moon. When his son relayed this comment the Navajo
elder got all excited and asked if it would be possible to give to
the astronauts a message to deliver to the moon.

Recognizing a promotional opportunity when he saw one, a NASA
official accompanying the astronauts said, "Why certainly!" and told
an underling to get a tape recorder. The Navajo elder's comments
into the microphone were brief. The NASA official asked the son if
he would translate what his father had said. The son listened to the
recording and laughed uproariously. But he refused to translate. So
the NASA people took the tape to a nearby Navajo village and played
it for other members of the tribe. They too laughed long and loudly
but also refused to translate the elder's message to the moon.

Finally, an official government translator was summoned. After he
finally stopped laughing the translator relayed the message:

"Watch out for these assholes - they have come to steal your land."
”

“Rovers reel in NASA Web-site hits
"CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA's twin Mars rovers are Internet superstars, having generated 6.53 billion hits on two agency Web sites -- a number that's greater than the world's population.

NASA is billing the huge traffic surge as "the biggest government event in the history of the Internet."

At the end of the article there are two links for:
www.nasa.gov and http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html”

“Still looking for water ---

They did find some BBs, though, <G>”

“Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington           March 2, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 04-077

OPPORTUNITY ROVER FINDS STRONG EVIDENCE MERIDIANI PLANUM WAS
WET

      Scientists have concluded the part of Mars NASA's
Opportunity rover is exploring was soaking wet in the past.

Evidence the rover found in a rock outcrop led scientists to
the conclusion. Clues from the rocks' composition, such as the
presence of sulfates, and the rocks' physical appearance, such
as niches where crystals grew, helped make the case for a
watery history.

"Liquid water once flowed through these rocks. It changed their
texture, and it changed their chemistry," said Dr. Steve
Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal
investigator for the science instruments on Opportunity and its
twin, Spirit. "We've been able to read the tell-tale clues the
water left behind, giving us confidence in that conclusion," he
said.

Dr. James Garvin, lead scientist for Mars and lunar exploration
at NASA Headquarters, Washington, said, "NASA launched the Mars
Exploration Rover mission specifically to check whether at
least one part of Mars ever had a persistently wet environment
that could possibly have been hospitable to life. Today we have
strong evidence for an exciting answer: Yes."

Opportunity has more work ahead. It will try to determine
whether, besides being exposed to water after they formed, the
rocks may have originally been laid down by minerals
precipitating out of solution at the bottom of a salty lake or
sea.

The first views Opportunity sent of its landing site in Mars'
Meridiani Planum region five weeks ago delighted researchers at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif.,
because of the good fortune to have the spacecraft arrive next
to an exposed slice of bedrock on the inner slope of a small
crater.

The robotic field geologist has spent most of the past three
weeks surveying the whole outcrop, and then turning back for
close-up inspection of selected portions. The rover found a
very high concentration of sulfur in the outcrop with its alpha
particle X-ray spectrometer, which identifies chemical elements
in a sample.

"The chemical form of this sulfur appears to be in magnesium,
iron or other sulfate salts," said Dr. Benton Clark of Lockheed
Martin Space Systems, Denver. "Elements that can form chloride
or even bromide salts have also been detected."

At the same location, the rover's Moessbauer spectrometer,
which identifies iron-bearing minerals, detected a hydrated
iron sulfate mineral called jarosite. Germany provided both
these instruments. Opportunity's miniature thermal emission
spectrometer has also provided evidence for sulfates.

On Earth, rocks with as much salt as this Mars rock either have
formed in water or, after formation, have been highly altered
by long exposures to water. Jarosite may point to the rock's
wet history having been in an acidic lake or an acidic hot
springs environment.

The water evidence from the rocks' physical appearance comes in
at least three categories, said Dr. John Grotzinger,
sedimentary geologist from the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, Cambridge: indentations called "vugs," spherules
and crossbedding.

Pictures from the rover's panoramic camera and microscopic
imager reveal the target rock, dubbed "El Capitan," is
thoroughly pocked with indentations about a centimeter (0.4
inch) long and one-fourth or less that wide, with apparently
random orientations. This distinctive texture is familiar to
geologists as the sites where crystals of salt minerals form
within rocks that sit in briny water. When the crystals later
disappear, either by erosion or by dissolving in less-salty
water, the voids left behind are called vugs, and in this case
they conform to the geometry of possible former evaporite
minerals.

Round particles the size of BBs are embedded in the outcrop.
From shape alone, these spherules might be formed from volcanic
eruptions, from lofting of molten droplets by a meteor impact,
or from accumulation of minerals coming out of solution inside
a porous, water-soaked rock. Opportunity's observations that
the spherules are not concentrated at particular layers in the
outcrop weigh against a volcanic or impact origin, but do not
completely rule out those origins.

Layers in the rock that lie at an angle to the main layers, a
pattern called crossbedding, can result from the action of wind
or water. Preliminary views by Opportunity hint the
crossbedding bears hallmarks of water action, such as the small
scale of the crossbedding and possible concave patterns formed
by sinuous crestlines of underwater ridges.

The images obtained to date are not adequate for a definitive
answer. So scientists plan to maneuver Opportunity closer to
the features for a better look. "We have tantalizing clues, and
we're planning to evaluate this possibility in the near
future," Grotzinger said.

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's
Office of Space Science, Washington.

For information about NASA and the Mars mission on the
Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov


Images and additional information about the project are also
available on the Internet at:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov


and

http://athena.cornell.edu



                       -end-

                       * * *

NASA press releases and other information are available automatically
by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov.
In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type
the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will
reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second
automatic message will include additional information on the service.
NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command
GO NASA. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail
message to domo@hq.nasa.gov, leave the subject blank, and type only
"unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message.”

“Beat ya...

...go see the "Yes, but was it ever breathing hard?" thread...lol...”

“You forgot to say "nanny-nanny-boo-boo"”

“nanny-nanny-boo-boo”

“Closure!

<whew>”

“The Spirit rover took a photograph of a UFO yesterday.



story

NASA scientists are covering up, saying it may have been a meteorite or the Viking 2 orbiter, sent in 1976. YEAH, RIGHT!”

“There used to be a time when a UFO thread on TT would get at least a few posts.”

“The head alien moved on to greener pastures, LOL





I'd hate to start a ruminant, tho'....”

“I hear it's going to run it's lat mission and now they are going to let the batteries run out. If Karl Rove had a sense of humor, he'd send Junior up there to change the batteries!!”

“That sounds like a great idea. Let's start a petition!”

“1. _____________________
2. _____________________
3. _____________________
4. _____________________

etc.”

“1. ________Treebeard_____________
2. _____________________
3. _____________________
4. _____________________

etc."”

“Hey, remember that song Cartman sang when the cows hit him with the ray.... ?


I love to sing-a
about the moon-a
and the June-a
and the spring-a,

I love to sing-a
'bout the sky of blue-a,
or a tea for two-a,
anything-a with a swing-a
to an I love you-a,

I love-a to, I love-a to sing...”

“Yeah, that was used by the owl in on of those Looney Tunes cartoons too!”

“"1. ________Treebeard_____________
2. __Roam Around_________________
3. _____________________
4. _____________________


NEXT!”

“Okay!

1. ________Treebeard_____________
2. __Roam Around_________________
3. ___Tilt_______________________
4. _____________________
5. _____________________
6. _____________________
7. _____________________
8. _____________________
9. _____________________
10._____________________

NEXT!!



I knew I should have posted the whole thing the first time (silly me).

('OWL Jolson'?? LOLOL)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I Love to Sing-a"
by Bob Fitterman

In response to the question of the song "I Love to Sing," which appears
in a Warner Brothers cartoon, here's what I know.

The cartoon is called "I Love to Singa," and was directed by Tex Avery
In 1936. There is a character in the cartoon called "Owl Jolson." As far
as I know, Al Jolson had nothing to do with the recording in the cartoon.
The music was written by Harold Arlen, the words are by E. Y. Harburg,
and the copyright date on the song is also 1936.


VERSE

Ah! Oh! ain't it grand
to live and breathe
and let your chest expand.

Ah! The skies are blue,
The World's a song,
When life is notes to you,

I've got eternal youth because
I've got my heart where it belongs,
Don't care who makes the nation's laws

Long as I can sing its songs;

REFRAIN

I love to sing-a
about the moon-a
and the June-a
and the spring-a,

I love to sing-a
'bout the sky of blue-a,
or a tea for two-a,
anything-a with a swing-a
to an I love you-a,

I love-a to, I love-a to sing,

Give me a song-a,
about the son-a-gun,
who went and done her wrong-a
but keep it clean-a;
With a cottage small-a
by the water fall-a
any sob-a that'll throb-a
to a bluebird's call-a
I love-a to, I love-a to sing;

I was born a sing-in' fool-a,
La-de-da,
Major Bowes {Hollywood} is gonna spot me,
Got thru Yale,
with Boola Boola,
La-de-da,
Ole microphone's got me!

I love to sing-a
I love to wake up with the South-a
in my mouth-a,
and wave the flag-a,

With a cheer for Uncle Sammy
and another for my mammy,
I love to sing!

Some notes I have from a film series that included this cartoon
Indicate the song was an earlier Warner tune. Perhaps someone
can shed some light on the film it appeared in or who sang it there.

[ See Dan Shinn's report. -- Robbie ]

If you want piano music for a lot of great songs old songs that Carl
Stalling worked into the Warner Brothers cartoons, look for a book
Called "The Great Looney Tunes Collection." One of my favorites
from the book is "The Merry-Go-Round Broke Down." I heard it at
the end of each of the Warner cartoons (as did most of you), but I
never knew the real words until I got this book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Now that's geting pretty frickin' obscure! LOL”

“That UFO thing is pretty bizarre. It was just last week they were imaging one of the moons... Phobos or Deimos, I forget which. They're both really small.

Good names, though... Fear and Terror: the chariot horses of the God of War.”

“cool beans!

i think it was a spacecraft full of highly evolved apes... :)”

“Those guys could've used a shave, huh? LOLOL”

“Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington                                     March 23, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 04-100

STANDING BODY OF WATER LEFT ITS MARK IN MARS ROCKS

NASA's Opportunity rover has demonstrated some rocks on
Mars probably formed as deposits at the bottom of a body of
gently flowing saltwater.

"We think Opportunity is parked on what was once the shoreline of a salty sea on Mars," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the science payload on Opportunity and its twin Mars Exploration Rover, Spirit.

Clues gathered so far do not tell how long or how long ago liquid water covered the area. To gather more evidence, the rover's controllers plan to send Opportunity out across a plain toward a thicker exposure of rocks in the wall of a crater.

NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Science Dr. Ed Weiler said, "This dramatic confirmation of standing water in Mars' history builds on a progression of discoveries about that most Earthlike of alien planets. This result gives us impetus to expand our ambitious program of exploring Mars to learn whether microbes have ever lived there and, ultimately, whether we can."

"Bedding patterns in some finely layered rocks indicate the sand-sized grains of sediment that eventually bonded together were shaped into ripples by water at least five centimeters (two inches) deep, possibly much deeper, and flowing at a speed of 10 to 50 centimeters (four to 20 inches) per second," said Dr. John Grotzinger, rover science-team member from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.

In telltale patterns, called crossbedding and festooning,
some layers within a rock lie at angles to the main layers. Festooned layers have smile-shaped curves produced by shifting of the loose sediments' rippled shapes under a current of water.

"Ripples that formed in wind look different than ripples formed in water," Grotzinger said. "Some patterns seen in the outcrop that Opportunity has been examining might have resulted from wind, but others are reliable evidence of water flow," he said.

According to Grotzinger, the environment at the time the rocks were forming could have been a salt flat, or playa, sometimes covered by shallow water and sometimes dry. Such environments on Earth, either at the edge of oceans or in desert basins, can have currents of water that produce the type of ripples seen in the Mars rocks.

A second line of evidence, findings of chlorine and bromine
in the rocks, also suggests this type of environment. Rover scientists presented some of that news three weeks ago as evidence the rocks had at least soaked in mineral-rich water, possibly underground water, after they formed. Increased assurance of the bromine findings strengthens the case rock-forming particles precipitated from surface water as salt concentrations climbed past saturation while water was
evaporating.

Dr. James Garvin, lead scientist for Mars and lunar exploration at NASA Headquarters, Washington, said, "Many features on the surface of Mars that orbiting spacecraft have revealed to us in the past three decades look like signs of liquid water, but we have never before had this definitive
class of evidence from the martian rocks themselves. We planned the Mars Exploration Rover Project to look for evidence like this, and it is succeeding better than we had any right to hope. Someday we must collect these rocks and
bring them back to terrestrial laboratories to read their records for clues to the biological potential of Mars."

Squyres said, "The particular type of rock Opportunity is finding, with evaporite sediments from standing water, offers excellent capability for preserving evidence of any biochemical or biological material that may have been in the
water."

Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., expect Opportunity and Spirit to operate several months longer than the initial rover's three-month prime missions on Mars. To analyze hints of crossbedding, mission controllers programmed Opportunity to move its
robotic arm more than 200 times in one day, taking 152 microscope pictures of layering in a rock called "Last Chance."

JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover Project for
NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington. For images and information about the project on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov

http://athena.cornell.edu

-end-

                             * * *

NASA press releases and other information are available automatically by sending an Internet electronic mail message to domo@hq.nasa.gov. In the body of the message (not the subject line) users should type the words "subscribe press-release" (no quotes). The system will
reply with a confirmation via E-mail of each subscription. A second automatic message will include additional information on the service. NASA releases also are available via CompuServe using the command GO NASA. To unsubscribe from this mailing list, address an E-mail
message to domo@hq.nasa.gov, leave the subject blank, and type only
"unsubscribe press-release" (no quotes) in the body of the message.”

“too bad they didn't think about making them Mars rovers a little heavier, or the wheels a little wider. sure would make climbing those scree hills a little easier. 16% grade shouldn't be too hard.”

“Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington April 8, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 04-122

NASA EXTENDS MARS ROVERS' MISSION

NASA has approved an extended mission for the Mars
Exploration Rovers, handing them up to five months of
overtime assignments, as they finish their three-month prime
mission.

The first of the two, Spirit, met the success criteria set
for its prime mission. Spirit gained check marks in the final
two boxes on April 3 and 5, when it exceeded 600 meters
(1,969 feet) of total drive distance and completed 90 martian
operational days after landing.

Opportunity landed three weeks after Spirit. It will complete
the two-rover checklist of required feats, when it finishes a
90th martian day of operations April 26. Each martian day, or
"sol," lasts about 40 minutes longer than an Earth day.

"Given the rovers' tremendous success, the project submitted
a proposal for extending the mission, and we have approved
it," said Orlando Figueroa, Mars Exploration Program director
at NASA Headquarters, Washington.

The mission extension provides $15 million for operating the
rovers through September. The extension more than doubles
exploration for less than a two percent additional
investment, if the rovers remain in working condition. The
extended mission has seven new goals for extending the
science and engineering accomplishments of the prime mission.

"Once Opportunity finishes its 91st sol, everything we get
from the rovers after that is a bonus," said Dr. Firouz
Naderi, manager of Mars exploration at NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., where the rovers were
built and are controlled. "Even though the extended mission
is approved to September, and the rovers could last even
longer, they also might stop in their tracks next week or
next month. They are operating under extremely harsh
conditions. However, while Spirit is past its 'warranty,' we
look forward to continued discoveries by both rovers in the
months ahead," he added.

JPL's Jennifer Trosper, Spirit mission manager, said even
when a memory-management problem on the rover caused trouble
for two weeks, she had confidence the rover and the
operations team could get through the crisis and reach the
90-sol benchmark. "We never felt it was over, but certainly
when we were getting absolutely no data from the spacecraft
and trying to figure out what happened, we were worried," she
said.

Trosper was less confident about Spirit's prospects for
reaching the criterion of 600 meters by sol 91, given the
challenging terrain of the landing area within Gusev Crater.
On sol 89, Spirit set a short-lived record for martian
driving, with a single-sol distance of 50.2 meters (165 feet)
that pushed the odometer total to 617 meters (2,024 feet).
Two days later, Opportunity shattered that mark with a 100-
meter (328-foot) drive.

Beyond the quantifiable criteria, such as using all research
tools at both landing sites and investigating at least eight
locations, the rovers have returned remarkable science
results. The most dramatic have been Opportunity's findings
of evidence of a shallow body of salty water in the past in
the Mars Meridiani Planum region.

"We're going to continue exploring and try to understand the
water story at Gusev," said JPL's Dr. Mark Adler, deputy
mission manager for Spirit. Spirit is in pursuit of
geological evidence for an ancient lake thought to have once
filled Gusev Crater.

Reaching "Columbia Hills," which could hold geological clues
to that water story, is one of seven objectives for the
extended mission. Opportunity has a parallel one, to seek
geologic context for the outcrop in the "Eagle" crater by
reaching other outcrops in the "Endurance" crater and perhaps
elsewhere. Other science objectives are to continue
atmospheric studies at both sites to encompass more of Mars'
seasonal cycle and to calibrate and validate data from Mars
orbiters for additional types of rocks and soils examined on
the ground.

Three new engineering objectives are to traverse more than a
kilometer (0.62 mile) to demonstrate mobility technologies;
to characterize solar-array performance over long durations
of dust deposition at both landing sites; and to demonstrate
long-term operation of two mobile science robots on a distant
planet. During the past two weeks, rover teams at JPL have
switched from Mars-clock schedules to Earth-clock schedules
designed to be less stressful and more sustainable over a
longer period.

For more information about the project on the Internet,
visit:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov
&
http://athena.cornell.edu
”

“Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington April 28, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1547)

Guy Webster
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/354-6278)

RELEASE: 04-142

MARS ROVERS FINISH PRIMARY MISSION AND ROLL ONWARD

Both of NASA's Mars Exploration Rovers have completed
their originally planned mission and are tackling extra-
credit assignments.

"Spirit and Opportunity have completed all the primary
objectives of the mission. The terrific success achieved is a
tribute to a superb team whose commitment to excellence, and
keeping the public engaged, is hard to match," said Orlando
Figueroa, director of the Mars Exploration Program, NASA
Headquarters, Washington.

Opportunity finished its 90th martian day of surface
operations on Monday. That was the last of several criteria
set in advance for full mission success. Spirit passed its
90-day mark on April 5. Both rovers have met all goals for
numbers of locations examined in detail, distances traveled,
and scientific measurements with all instruments. Both rovers
are healthy. In early April, NASA approved funding for
extending operation of Spirit and Opportunity through September.

"This brings Opportunity's primary mission at Meridiani Planum to a resounding and successful close. It's stunning to think through the short history of this vehicle," said Matt Wallace, Opportunity mission manger at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., where rover assembly began
barely two years ago. In its three-month primary mission, Opportunity drove 811 meters (more than half a mile) and sent home 15.2 gigabits of data about Mars, including 12,429 images.

Opportunity found other rock exposures in recent days similar
to the ones near its landing site that yielded evidence for a
body of salty water covering the area long ago. Instead of
spending many days to examine those rocks, controllers told
the rover to go to the rim of a 130-meter-wide (approximately
430-foot-wide) crater informally named "Endurance."

-more-

-2-

When Opportunity sends home a view into Endurance Crater, expected within a few days, scientists and engineers will begin deciding whether the rover should try to enter that crater. "We're coming up on a major branch point in the
mission," said Dr. Scott McLennan of the State University of New York, Stony Brook, N.Y., a member of the rovers' science team. "Can we get down into Endurance? Can we get back out?" he questioned.

Last week, Opportunity paused beside a crater dubbed "Fram,"
less than one-tenth the size of Endurance Crater. It examined
a rock studded with small, iron-rich spherules that are one part of the evidence for past water in the region. The rover used its rock abrasion tool to grind a hole. This allowed examination of the interior of the rock, called "Pilbara."

McLennan said, "Pilbara is a dead ringer for McKittrick," a rock target in the outcrop Opportunity examined in February and March. Another rock at Fram showed hints, it might provide the best-yet evidence about how minerals precipitated out of solution as the ancient body of water evaporated. "It's something that would be of interest to come back and study more if we don't see something of even greater interest
along our way," he said. Images of Endurance Crater from a distance seem to show much thicker layers of outcrop than Opportunity has been able to reach so far.

Improvement to the rovers' mobility from new software has
expanded options for planning their explorations. Spirit and
Opportunity have driven farther in April than in the previous three months combined. Spirit has traveled more that 1.2 kilometers (three-fourths of a mile), and has another 1.8 kilometers (more than a mile) to go before reaching highlands informally named "Columbia Hills." Scientists hope to examine rock layers older than the volcanic plain Spirit has been crossing. This week, Spirit is crossing from an area
dominated by material dispersed by crater-forming impacts into an area with fewer rocks.

"We are transitioning into a geologically different region.
Nothing could be more striking evidence of this than the view
ahead of a landscape that has fewer and smaller rocks than
the region explored so far," said Dr. Dave Des Marais, a rover science team member from NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif. Scientists are using Spirit's observations at ground level to check ideas about the
region's geology based on observations from orbiting
spacecraft. That could improve interpretation of orbital data
for the whole planet. Spirit will systematically survey the soils, rocks and other features on the plain as it continues toward Columbia Hills, with an arrival planned for mid to late June.

For images and additional information about the project on
the Internet, visit:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/

&

http://athena.cornell.edu


-end-”