Word: martian
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Sojourner also managed to obtain a "fingerprint" of the other chemicals in Barnacle Bill. The fingerprint turned out to be virtually identical to those of the 12 meteorites found on Earth that are believed to have Martian origins. "So," concluded University of Tennessee scientist Hap McSween after the visit to Barnacle Bill, "now we can say that we have analyzed 13 Martian rocks...
...such luck. On Sol 6, NASA's designation for Pathfinder's sixth day on Mars, they transmitted the appropriate instructions to the lander, which was to relay them to Sojourner. But the Pathfinder team had inexplicably failed to awaken the lander, which is shut down every Martian night, and the message was not received. "One miscalculation cost us the whole evening," sighed J.P.L. deputy project manager Brian Muirhead. As a result, Sojourner remained incapacitated and unable to operate the next day. That led a rover team member to crack, "On the seventh day, it decided to rest...
NASA has ambitious plans for Sojourner this week. It wants the rover to investigate Scooby Doo and Casper, two rocks that look intriguingly white in lander photos and just might contain hints of ancient Martian life. How so? To scientists, the duo's whitish hues suggest that they may be sedimentary rocks. "That would be awesome," says Ken Edgett, an Arizona State University geologist, "because sedimentary rock is the kind of thing that forms under water. And when you have water that sits around for a long time and sediments pour into it, the possibility of preserving fossils goes...
Pathfinder's lander too should have a busy week. It is scheduled to shoot pictures of the Martian sunrise and sunset, the moons Deimos and Phobos and other features of the landscape...
...chance of surviving for seven days, he explains, "because that's what we designed it for. But after that, maybe it's got a 90% chance for eight days or 75% for two weeks." While the rover's electronics are protected in a warm box, the Martian temperatures, swinging wildly from 8[degrees]F to 130[degrees]F, may degrade the batteries. "We'll have to see how well they hold charges," says Wessen. Another threat, both to the lander--which is designed to survive for 30 days--and to the rover is Martian dust, which could coat the solar...