NASA is stumped on where a rock came from. One picture it wasn't there. Next picture it was. Pictures were taken 12 days apart.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/sc...e-9070323.html

 

I saw that. Crazy isn't it? I wonder what really happened?

 

It could be something as simple as one of the rover wheels kicking it up, but they go so slow, I would be surprised if that was it. Also, without any scale, it is tough to determine just how big that rock is, which makes it even tougher to tell whether it could be kicked up.

 

Dropped by some goober not being careful on the soundstage where this is being filmed?

Adrianspeeder

 

Had not heard of this before, but very cool and thanks for posting.

At first I was going to guess some sort of software glitch in whatever they are using to process the pics and video. You can kind of see the same 'jelly center' on the before pic.

But the article says they are examining the composition of it, and its unlike any other rocks they have found.

 

Someone's chunking at them!

 

Interesting......

 

 

Martin the Martian; one of my favorite toons.

You make me VERY VERY ANGRY....

 

Does look like a jelly doghnut. Read some of the comments, - one said it could be Martian poo. (?)

Not sure. I guess if the sky, space or whatnot (not sure if there's atmosphere) can't be monitored, then there's no easy way for them to narrow it down.

So that space buggy doesn't have radar? Must have been an option ehh.

 

It had to be those martians, maaan. There's no other explanation, man! I seen 'um, I swear I seen 'um, man.

 

Cool stuff. I love all things NASA.

On an interesting note, the rover is basically rock crawling all the time, and it's causing damage to the machined aluminum wheels.

 

Sheesh - with their enormous budget, you'd think they would have used titanium .... dint they test the snot outta the hardware? Or is this considered acceptable rate of damage given the thing's life-expectancy?

Well - now we know the Martians are a buncha practical jokers. I'm waiting for them to tag the rover ...


MGD

 

Titanium is considerably heavier than aluminum.

Ti = 4.54 g/cm3
Al = 2.702 g/cm3

The last estimate I heard was $1,000,000/pound to put something into space. Changing the wheels to Ti would add a bunch of extra weight to the rover and might put the launch craft over its maximum weight. Since they used solid wheels the craters in the surface doesn't really hurt their function.

EDIT: Something else to consider is Al has a memory of its original shape and will take a small hit deform some and bounce back undamaged whereas Ti will not do this. The problem is once Al takes too much of a pop it will crack as you can see in some of the larger dents in the wheels.

 

That's true. I would've expected some better long-term testing for such a valuable rover. The wheels are only .75mm thick, and they're supporting a 1 ton rover.

However, I must say that NASA's budget is actually minuscule in comparison to the U.S. government's other expenditures... It's 0.5% of every tax dollar. Half a penny buys all this cool stuff!