More from the Mars junkyard (new Opportunity pics)

[tridim]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2871661&mesg_id=2871892&page=

I'm piggybacking this off of another Mars thread because there seems to be some interest in it. Any ideas what this is? It's from the latest sol on NASA's site.

[AlienGirl]

1. Got to be something that came off the rover

It looks too weird to be natural.

Tucker

[indigobusiness]

2. Flight of the Phoenix?

Prequel?

What is that white object in the foreground?

[AlienGirl]

3. A toy airplane exploded by a bottle rocket

That's what the white thing looks like to me.

Tucker

[indigobusiness]

6. Looks like a handsaw and an oxygen tank to me.

Maybe it's art?

[eyepaddle]

4. Here's what the NASA caption says

NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity took this image with its panoramic camera when the rover was about 130 meters (427 feet) from its heat shield, during the rover's 322nd sol (Dec. 19, 2004). The protective device shielded the rover from intense frictional heat as it entered the martian atmosphere. The heat shield was shed during the descent and landing sequence, just before the rover (within its folded lander) was lowered on a bridle. Scientists and engineers are interested in seeing what effects the descent had on the heat shield and are directing Opportunity to examine it.

for this pic:



It's the remains of the conical heat shield which was jettisoned before landing--NASA used to have a cool computer animation of the whole atmospheric entry/descent/landing/roll-out of the rover. It might still be on the site as of now I forget where.

[tridim]

5. That.. is this..

Differnt wreckage.

[AlienGirl]

7. Different wreckage or just a different angle?

I can see where the heat shield would look like the original pic after a few days of wind and gravity working on it.

Tucker

[indigobusiness]

9. The shield photo shows none of the inner structure

hinted at in the other picture.

[eyepaddle]

8. It seems like some people

really want to pull a "gotcha" and say that this is something artificial and mysterious.

It is artificial and is NOT mysterious. I just looked over the website and found a picture of the aeroshell complete with a caption. The picture in the OP should also have a caption--post it. Or I can look around for another minute. As long as I'm typing, both rovers was shielded by a front and back shell--which were released at different times and so would land in separate locations.

Back in a flash

on edit artificial and not artificail--oops

[indigobusiness]

10. I have no interest in making it into something it's not...

but neither am I interested in making prosaic explanations in order to write it off as mundane.

It's not like other worlds don't hold the potential for the truly mysterious.

The truth is what matters.



http://origin.mars5.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/329/1P157387164EFF40A3P2360L7M1.HTML

[tridim]

12. There is no official NASA caption

It's a raw image.

Here's a page with some raw images from the same sol.

http://origin.mars5.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_p328.html

Two different wreckages (and different ground features) from the same vantage point, on the same day, with no NASA explanation. If it's just the heat shield I see no reason why Opportunity shouldn't drive right up to it and take closeups.

[eyepaddle]

15. You are correct on the lack of a caption.

My position is that if it looks like a NASA heat shield--there's a pretty good chance that it is a NASA heat shield.

here is a pic of the spacecraft on it's way to mars



and here's what it looks like now:

http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/artwork/rover2browse.html

everything else got dumped at some point in the mission.

I'm not trying to draw this out--it's just been awhile since I stopped checking in daily and I forget where some stuff is. Sorry.

[uncle ray]

11. ok, but can you explain the driftwood pic?

yesterday a pic was posted in the science forum, of what looks like a very weathered piece of wood. have we used wood on any space exporation missions?

[indigobusiness]

14. This thread was born out of a new thread on that I started in GD

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2871661&mesg_id=2871661

[AlienGirl]

17. The driftwood doesn't look that odd to me

[indigobusiness]

20. How do you explain it?

And its uniqueness on the landscape?

[Ediacara]

24. It isn't driftwood

It's an in situ chunk of sandstone. The laminae, or "wood grain," perfectly match the laminae you're seeing in the surrounding weathered sandstone. The dust appears to have been blown out of the cracks a little more surrounding the "driftwood" than other surrounding sheets of sandstone.

[RC]

13. It looks like some of the missing wreckage from the Pentagon.

But then again, I could be wrong.

[indigobusiness]

16. You often are.

As am I.

[tridim]

18. This explains it.. I think.

BTW, I just found this site.. It has much better pics than the NASA site. No idea why that is. http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity

[indigobusiness]

19. The objects seem related by their proximity...

Back to the Lumberyard!

[tridim]

21. Be sure to check out that site!

I'm finding stuff there that NASA doesn't show us. Like this one..



and this one.. on the edge.



There are some lumber pics there, but there's a big gap in the forward hazcam during the sol's in question.

[indigobusiness]

22. Gorgeous!!! Wow, that is stunning...thanks.

I'm going to have to turn off Nickleodeon and pay closer attention.

Spectacular!

[indigobusiness]

23. Here is a pic of the landing platform. Is that the "wreckage" on the left?

The thread is getting pic heavy, so here's the link:

[bvar22]

25. Some of you are...

...preeety good with the quick explanations, but lets see you explain...
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THIS!!!!!