Exploration of Victoria crater by the Mars rover Opportunity.
نویسندگان
چکیده
The Mars rover Opportunity has explored Victoria crater, an approximately 750-meter eroded impact crater formed in sulfate-rich sedimentary rocks. Impact-related stratigraphy is preserved in the crater walls, and meteoritic debris is present near the crater rim. The size of hematite-rich concretions decreases up-section, documenting variation in the intensity of groundwater processes. Layering in the crater walls preserves evidence of ancient wind-blown dunes. Compositional variations with depth mimic those approximately 6 kilometers to the north and demonstrate that water-induced alteration at Meridiani Planum was regional in scope.
منابع مشابه
Amazonian chemical weathering rate derived from stony meteorite finds at Meridiani Planum on Mars
Spacecraft exploring Mars such as the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity, as well as the Mars Science Laboratory or Curiosity rover, have accumulated evidence for wet and habitable conditions on early Mars more than 3 billion years ago. Current conditions, by contrast, are cold, extremely arid and seemingly inhospitable. To evaluate exactly how dry today's environment is, it is impo...
متن کاملThe Physics of Sand Dune Formation and Migration on Mars
Sand dunes have been observed throughout the surface of the planet Mars. Movement of these dunes has been theorized and inferred from the lack of craters on dunes. Dune movement has not yet been directly imaged, however. Understanding sand movement processes is vital to a correct Martian climate model, as well as the safety of future missions to Mars. Imagery from several Martian orbiters was a...
متن کاملTwo Years of Autonomous Targeting Onboard the Mer Opportunity Rover
The Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science (AEGIS) system provides automated, sciencedrive data collection for planetary rovers. AEGIS is currently being used onboard the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission’s Opportunity rover to provide autonomous targeting of the MER Panoramic camera. Prior to AEGIS, targets were typically manually identified in images transmitted to Earth an...
متن کاملMeteorites on Mars: Implications from Three Probably Paired Meteorite Candidates at Meridiani Planum
Introduction: The Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Opportunity has come across several possible meteorites, among them the only officially recognized meteorite on another planet, the IAB iron meteorite Meridiani Planum [1]. Three meteorite candidate rocks investigated by Opportunity-informally dubbed Barber-ton, Santa Catarina and Santorini by the MER team-have very similar chemical and mineralogic...
متن کاملHypotheses for the origin of fine-grained sedimentary rocks at Santa Maria crater, Meridiani Planum
En route to Endeavour crater, the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity embarked on a short but significant campaign at Santa Maria crater during sols 2450–2551. Santa Maria crater is a relatively young impact crater, approximately 100 m in diameter and 11–17 m deep. Opportunity performed detailed analyses on several ejecta blocks and completed an extensive imaging campaign around the crater. Many...
متن کاملذخیره در منابع من
با ذخیره ی این منبع در منابع من، دسترسی به آن را برای استفاده های بعدی آسان تر کنید
برای دانلود متن کامل این مقاله و بیش از 32 میلیون مقاله دیگر ابتدا ثبت نام کنید
ثبت ناماگر عضو سایت هستید لطفا وارد حساب کاربری خود شوید
ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Science
دوره 324 5930 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2009