Mars Rover Scientists Baffled By Mystery Rock

[FalloutJack]

Okay, now we need to send another probe called Obligatory, which would be a bigger and even-more-thorough probe than Curiosity and Opportunity.

 

[Pandaman1911]

...about the size of a jelly donut...

A JELLY DONUT?! Is chow allowed on Mars, Private Pyle?!

But seriously though, yay rocks. But not yay broken steering actuators, 'cuz that kinda makes things difficult, doesn't it? Oh well.

 

[Lord_Jaroh]

I'm leaning towards Mudcrabs myself. The damned things are everywhere.

 

[Major_Tom]

I think Opportunity just got jealous of Curiosity and put it there on purpose so he(?) can be in the limelight again.

 

[Andy Chalk]

...about the size of a jelly donut...

A JELLY DONUT?! Is chow allowed on Mars, Private Pyle?!

But seriously though, yay rocks. But not yay broken steering actuators, 'cuz that kinda makes things difficult, doesn't it? Oh well.

Great. Now I'm envisioning a NASA mission scientist looking at the monitor and saying, "Ho-lee Jesus. What is that? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"

As for the actuator, it is an unfortunate breakdown but bear in mind that Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 and had a planned lifespan of 90 Martian days, which (by my calculations) is a little over 100 Earth days. It's now approaching ten Earth years and still getting work done, which is absolutely phenomenal and almost certainly far beyond the dreams of even the most optimistic NASA scientists. It'll be a loss when it is finally lost, but we've already got more from it than we had any reasonable right to expect.

 

[J Tyran]

Considering there are moving rocks here on Earth [https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=moving+rocks&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QrXZUvSpFYyBhQejkYGICQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEwQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=955] that scientists cannot quite figure out having them on other planets is all we need.

except, they already did:

http://www.livescience.com/37492-sailing-stones-death-valley-moving-rocks.html

it gets fucking cold in the desert at night..
----------

things that look like a rock and moves.
<spoiler=better stay the fuck away from mars><youtube=DaHBQHjTmHc>

Just another proposition amongst dozens of others, no proof or observation there either and it makes no mention of how the rocks move when conditions are different to those very specific conditions.

So nope they haven't figured it out yet, I could link a bunch of people claiming to have solved it too. Come back when someone can show repeated observations and can reproduce the effect, you know actual science.

 

[J Tyran]

Considering there are moving rocks here on Earth [https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=moving+rocks&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QrXZUvSpFYyBhQejkYGICQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEwQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=955] that scientists cannot quite figure out having them on other planets is all we need.

except, they already did:

http://www.livescience.com/37492-sailing-stones-death-valley-moving-rocks.html

it gets fucking cold in the desert at night..
----------

things that look like a rock and moves.
<spoiler=better stay the fuck away from mars><youtube=DaHBQHjTmHc>

Just another proposition amongst dozens of others, no proof or observation there either and it makes no mention of how the rocks move when conditions are different to those very specific conditions.

So nope they haven't figured it out yet, I could link a bunch of people claiming to have solved it too. Come back when someone can show repeated observations and can reproduce the effect, you know actual science.

oh, you mean like this?

?I love to sail forbidden seas, ??
Herman Melville in ?Moby Dick? (1851)

Strange tracks cover a muddy plain, located in a remote part of Death Valley National Park, named appropriately Racetrack-Playa. Most of these tracks end behind large boulders of dolostone or syenite, some however start and end without an apparent object nearby. In the first case, it seems reasonable to assume that the rocks moving along the ground formed the furrows ? however nobody ever observed the actual process of formation.

The sailing rocks of Death Valley were studied since 1948, when geologists Jim McAllister and Allen Agnew mapped the area and noted the tracks. In March 1952 geologist Thomas Clement tried to observe the rocks moving, but a heavy thunderstorm forced him into his tent. Only the next morning he noted fresh formed tracks on the ground and a thin layer of water covering the ground. As most of the tracks coincide with the overall wind direction (southwest to northeast), it was assumed that the wind pushed the rocks over the wet and slippery mud. However this hypothesis could explain only a part of the moving rocks, especially the smaller ones. Curiously there is no correlation between the size of the rock and length of the track, even if it seems that larger boulders seem to travel less than smaller ones.

In the following years the strangest ideas tried to explain the mystery of Racetrack-Playa: extraterrestrials, geologists or animals pushing the stones, a hoax to fool tourists, earthquakes, magnetic or gravitational anomalies and unknown wind and water currents.

Geographer George Stanley Druhot (1914-1983) assumed a dominant role of ice, not only as slippery surface, but also as a sort of sail, when ice forms plates around the boulders and increases the surface on which the wind can act.

In 2010 a research team from various institutions (NASA, Slippery Rock University (!)- Pennsylvania, University of Wyoming) reanalyzed the geological and meteorological conditions at Racetrack-Playa, finding evidence to support Stanley´s idea. Geologist Paula Messina showed that the ground is covered by argillaceous sediments and bacterial mats, forming under wet conditions a very slippery surface. The climatic data showed also that ice can in fact form during wintertime in Death Valley, when also most tracks on Racetrack-Playa are formed. The ice hypothesis (and similar models) explains also the tracks without apparent object nearby, as the chunk of ice melted after the formation of the track, and the deepening of some furrows behind the respective boulder, as the plate of ice surrounding the boulder melts, the rock tends to sink deeper into the mud.

Most researchers agree that a simplistic ? one factor assuming ? model fails to explain all the sailing rocks. It´s probably the odd combination of mud and bacteria, forming a slippery ground, the topography, forcing the wind into one prevalent direction, the sizes of the boulders, the particular temperature changes experienced in Death Valley and the occasional formation of ice, that like a ghostly hand moves the rocks around the desert.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X13002481

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2013/07/22/the-mystery-of-death-valleys-sailing-stones-solved-again/

The "solved again" title says it all, yet another bunch of ideas that ignore how these rocks are still moving during the hottest and driest time of year when there is no ice or standing water.

Until they can do that these ideas have as much merit as the nutjob idea of aliens coming to Earth to move some rocks around in a remote desert.

 

[Pandaman1911]

...about the size of a jelly donut...

A JELLY DONUT?! Is chow allowed on Mars, Private Pyle?!

But seriously though, yay rocks. But not yay broken steering actuators, 'cuz that kinda makes things difficult, doesn't it? Oh well.

Great. Now I'm envisioning a NASA mission scientist looking at the monitor and saying, "Ho-lee Jesus. What is that? WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"

As for the actuator, it is an unfortunate breakdown but bear in mind that Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 and had a planned lifespan of 90 Martian days, which (by my calculations) is a little over 100 Earth days. It's now approaching ten Earth years and still getting work done, which is absolutely phenomenal and almost certainly far beyond the dreams of even the most optimistic NASA scientists. It'll be a loss when it is finally lost, but we've already got more from it than we had any reasonable right to expect.

Oh right, I was thinking that this thing was the more recent rover that landed. Or maybe it's the ONLY rover that landed in a while, and I'm just really really really behind the times.

And yeah, I just remember saying "a jelly donut?" in my head, 'cuz that's kind of an oddly specific description, and of course that just popped into my head.

 

[latiasracer]

Considering there are moving rocks here on Earth [https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=moving+rocks&safe=off&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=QrXZUvSpFYyBhQejkYGICQ&sqi=2&ved=0CEwQsAQ&biw=1920&bih=955] that scientists cannot quite figure out having them on other planets is all we need.

except, they already did:

http://www.livescience.com/37492-sailing-stones-death-valley-moving-rocks.html

it gets fucking cold in the desert at night..
----------

things that look like a rock and moves.
<spoiler=better stay the fuck away from mars><youtube=DaHBQHjTmHc>

Just another proposition amongst dozens of others, no proof or observation there either and it makes no mention of how the rocks move when conditions are different to those very specific conditions.

So nope they haven't figured it out yet, I could link a bunch of people claiming to have solved it too. Come back when someone can show repeated observations and can reproduce the effect, you know actual science.

oh, you mean like this?

?I love to sail forbidden seas, ??
Herman Melville in ?Moby Dick? (1851)

Strange tracks cover a muddy plain, located in a remote part of Death Valley National Park, named appropriately Racetrack-Playa. Most of these tracks end behind large boulders of dolostone or syenite, some however start and end without an apparent object nearby. In the first case, it seems reasonable to assume that the rocks moving along the ground formed the furrows ? however nobody ever observed the actual process of formation.

The sailing rocks of Death Valley were studied since 1948, when geologists Jim McAllister and Allen Agnew mapped the area and noted the tracks. In March 1952 geologist Thomas Clement tried to observe the rocks moving, but a heavy thunderstorm forced him into his tent. Only the next morning he noted fresh formed tracks on the ground and a thin layer of water covering the ground. As most of the tracks coincide with the overall wind direction (southwest to northeast), it was assumed that the wind pushed the rocks over the wet and slippery mud. However this hypothesis could explain only a part of the moving rocks, especially the smaller ones. Curiously there is no correlation between the size of the rock and length of the track, even if it seems that larger boulders seem to travel less than smaller ones.

In the following years the strangest ideas tried to explain the mystery of Racetrack-Playa: extraterrestrials, geologists or animals pushing the stones, a hoax to fool tourists, earthquakes, magnetic or gravitational anomalies and unknown wind and water currents.

Geographer George Stanley Druhot (1914-1983) assumed a dominant role of ice, not only as slippery surface, but also as a sort of sail, when ice forms plates around the boulders and increases the surface on which the wind can act.

In 2010 a research team from various institutions (NASA, Slippery Rock University (!)- Pennsylvania, University of Wyoming) reanalyzed the geological and meteorological conditions at Racetrack-Playa, finding evidence to support Stanley´s idea. Geologist Paula Messina showed that the ground is covered by argillaceous sediments and bacterial mats, forming under wet conditions a very slippery surface. The climatic data showed also that ice can in fact form during wintertime in Death Valley, when also most tracks on Racetrack-Playa are formed. The ice hypothesis (and similar models) explains also the tracks without apparent object nearby, as the chunk of ice melted after the formation of the track, and the deepening of some furrows behind the respective boulder, as the plate of ice surrounding the boulder melts, the rock tends to sink deeper into the mud.

Most researchers agree that a simplistic ? one factor assuming ? model fails to explain all the sailing rocks. It´s probably the odd combination of mud and bacteria, forming a slippery ground, the topography, forcing the wind into one prevalent direction, the sizes of the boulders, the particular temperature changes experienced in Death Valley and the occasional formation of ice, that like a ghostly hand moves the rocks around the desert.

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169555X13002481

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/history-of-geology/2013/07/22/the-mystery-of-death-valleys-sailing-stones-solved-again/

The Pioneers used to ride these babies for miles!



OT :


This is Spooky. Almost, 2spooky...

I hope it's not aliens.

 

[Strazdas]

this is the same living creature that was hired to play in Apollo 18 [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772240/reference] movie. Its basically a sentient rock.

 

[beastro]

Gotta lose the majority of news from Mars these days, news about nonevents.

"Hey! We just discovered something amazing! Are you paying attention? Oh ok..... well it's really not a big deal at all and it's simple to explain... really boring actually, but thanks for looking our way!!!"

And yeah, I just remember saying "a jelly donut?" in my head, 'cuz that's kind of an oddly specific description, and of course that just popped into my head.

They know what lures people in.

Had it been the size of just a regular donut, no one would have bothered reading any further.