Isn't that just more reason to go visit?

Curiosity's First X-Ray This graphic shows results of the first analysis of Martian soil by the Chemistry and Mineralogy (CheMin) experiment on NASA's Curiosity rover. NASA/JPL-Caltech/Ames

Martian soil is a lot like the weathered volcanic soils of Hawaii, according to the latest from the Mars rover Curiosity. The minerals in Martian soil are a similar composition to basaltic material on Earth.

This fits some assumptions about the makeup of Mars, but it’s helpful to have positive, quantitative proof, scientists say. Curiosity scooped up some sand from its current hangout at Rocknest, in the Glenelg region of Gale Crater, and sifted it through a sieve. Only particles smaller than the width of a human hair make it through the sieve and into Curiosity’s belly, where the powerful Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument resides. CheMin uses X-ray diffraction, which is a standard geologic technique for identifying rocks. It was no small feat to bring this technology to Mars--scientists had to shrink a room-sized setup into something smaller than a standard microwave oven.

X-ray diffraction is helpful for identifying a rock’s makeup because it tells you definitively what minerals are present. Chemical identification, which Curiosity can also do, is less precise--it might tell you you’ve got a carbon compound, for instance, but you wouldn’t know whether it was graphite or diamond. CheMin can, because it distinguishes mineral structure by recording how their crystals interact with X-rays.

In the first CheMin analysis, Curiosity spotted minerals like feldspar, pyroxene and olivine, which was not unexpected. “Roughly half the soil is non-crystalline material, such as volcanic glass or products from weathering of the glass,” said David Bish, CheMin co-investigator with Indiana University in Bloomington.

The material is similar to weathered basaltic soils in Hawaii, according to NASA.

So far, all the minerals in the rock are consistent with a wet past for Gale Crater. The ancient rocks hint at flowing water way in the past, while younger rocks and soil suggest a limited interaction with water. CheMin and the other instruments will stay busy at Rocknest for a while before Curiosity turns around and motors toward Mount Sharp.

7 Comments

Curiosity and all of the rovers are like the rover from the movie Planet 51.

It will roll by a pyramid, then send back pics of rocks…lol

Mars will become a refuge for the Human race, a way to escape this planet overmounting problems. It's not apparent now, but that little orange dot in the sky, so far away, is where our hopes will reside one day, I think.

There are a few scientists believe water flowed on Mars as early as 10,000 years ago and there are other scientist who have identified intelligent structures on Mars too from the NASA pictures. Some of these pictures are identical in layout as the Egyptian pyramids and point in shape to the Orion belt in the cosmos.

And on that note from above.... lol.
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The Sumerians knew the earth revolved around the sun, and they knew about all the planets in our solar system, size and location. They knew of Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto, which discovered by modern day science until 1781, 1846, and 1930! They know about all the planets in the solar system, and they knew of one more planets beyond Pluto and in 1983, scientists announced their belief that there was a planet beyond Pluto. Even more astonishing is the fact that they even knew the nature of these planets- for example, they knew that Neptune was mostly water and they describe the color of Neptune and Uranus.

They describe clearly, when our solar system came into being and the young Earth had a collision with a rogue planet that come into our solar system, changing the structure of our solar system, created the asteroid belt and our moon. The most recent theory of how moon came into being is similar the Sumerians description.

The Sumerians clearly state their source of knowledge came from extraterrestrials from a 12th planet, which has an elliptical orbit of 3600 years.

There story of creation of man is more elaborately explain by the Sumerians and the same as the shorter story is written in genesis from the bible.

While many religions, myths and stories of an ancient culture can show an earlier source of where their story came from earlier, the Sumerians spontaneously show up as a civilization with no prior history. Ancient Samaria was a civilization, which appeared “full bloom” meaning they appeared without any precursor, or more primitive civilization. The Sumerians have a complicated law system (including juries), medicine (including invasive procedures), ships and navigation, but more remarkably, an amazingly advanced knowledge of astronomy, city planning and streets, farming techniques, writing, mathematics and so much more.

Our manner of keeping time come 60 seconds, 60 minutes, 12 hour for the day 12 for night and 24 hours in a day, and they calendar we owe to the Sumerians.

The Sumerian culture is 10,000 years old. Get to know the Sumerian culture and their history and you will learn about your human culture roots and how we, humans, are created by the God\Extraterrestrials. Did you know that the Neanderthal brain was larger than the modern human brain? The alien Gods change the local primates to created humans with the quality of who we are! The history of Sumerians even explains why humans are made, too.

The Sumerians clearly state their source of knowledge came from extraterrestrials from a 12th planet, which has an elliptical orbit of 3600 years, planet X.

This Sumerian information is not mythology. This knowledge and culture is archeology science of a record history.

Umm, @Robot,

I can't find anything online stating Sumarian culture being older than 6000 years old or so. I was going to read up on them, but since simple details don't match up with what you said I lost interest.

johnt007871,
Yes, you are correct and thank you. It is 6000 years and I am not an expert. However, I do encourage you to read the experts scientific results.

What if I got that one detail wrong, if it was 6000 or 10000 years, it does not change the point of all the other details! I made a mistake and you give up so easily, strange, while having no interest in the other details?

Take care. People choose to believe what they want anyways, most of the time.

@Robot,
As awesome as that would be if it were to be proved true, that kind of thing is really hard to verify absolutely. Not to mention the GIANT wall of taboos that come with mentioning creation/extraterrestrials in any context.

But still, imagine how the world would change if you could prove it true, or even false, without a doubt! Anything between anarchtic armageddon and superboosting science and humanities progress.

Or just everyone shrugging their shoulders and saying "meh"... Humans are pretty hard to predict :/

I was interesting to read this but cannot say anything, because this information has not prove to be the correct news till now. but if really prove to be true then world would really change.



July 2013: The Future Of Flight

The incredible innovations, like drone swarms and perpetual flight, bringing aviation into the world of tomorrow. Plus: today's greatest sci-fi writers predict the future, the science behind the summer's biggest blockbusters, a Doctor Who-themed DIY 'bot, the organs you can do without, and much more.


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