The significance of the Gale Crater's discoveries almost warrants reconsidering sending 2020 there. All the same, similar if not better deposits at Gusev and the Jezero/Syrtis area. I like to think Curiosity as a prelude to what 2020 may find.
I’d thought Exomars would be more suitable for this work. After all that’s what TGO & the rover are specifically designed to look into matters such as the ones related to this announcement.
Quote from: Star One on 06/08/2018 10:56 amI’d thought Exomars would be more suitable for this work. After all that’s what TGO & the rover are specifically designed to look into matters such as the ones related to this announcement.TGO is definitely turning up at the right time with the right instrument payload. And if they find that the isotopes in the methane are different from the current atmosphere, then the race will be on to try to track down the source. The Exomars rover won't help, because it doesn't have an atmosphere sampling capability. The significance of the annual variation is that a geochemical source would be more likely to produce at a constant rate, while a biological source would be more likely to vary with the seasons. It also means that the source is probably not near the equator, because seasonal variations are greatest close to the poles. The source is probably in the northern hemisphere, because methane levels peak at the end of northern summer. There is a lot of water ice close to the surface near the north pole. Some people have suggested that the area could be a habitat for microbes.
ExoMars could also shed considerable light on the origins of Red Planet methane, said Chris Webster, who led the new Curiosity methane study. The ExoMars rover will likely be able to characterize the carbon in methane molecules, determining how much of it is carbon-13, which contains one more neutron in its nucleus than a "normal" carbon-12 atom. (A methane molecule consists of a single carbon atom bonded to four hydrogen atoms.)"Even in relatively low methane abundances, they should be able to get the carbon-13 ratio," Webster, a senior research fellow at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, told Space.com, referring to the ExoMars team.
This is exciting stuff. The discovery of organics received some press coverage but I didn't learn about the seasonal methane detection until I read about it on NSF.I presume that seasonal does not necessarily equate to biological. Could methane be trapped in polar deposits and simply released seasonally when these deposits thaw?
New selfie from @MarsCuriosity rover shows the huge dust storm raging in the background. Processing: @_TheSeaning (link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/seandoran/42803766882/in/photostream/) flickr.com/photos/seandor…
There was some concern the rover might have dropped a piece of itself. "In fact, it was found to be a very thin flake of rock, so we can all rest easy tonight -- Curiosity has not begun to shed its skin," Curiosity team member Brittney Cooper declared, after a closer look. Curiosity got a better view of the rock by using its ChemCam to zoom in and identify it as a natural piece of the Mars landscape.
Over the past few days, engineers here at JPL have been working to address an issue on Curiosity that is preventing it from sending much of the science and engineering data stored in its memory. The rover remains in its normal mode and is otherwise healthy and responsive.The issue first appeared Saturday night while Curiosity was running through the weekend plan. Besides transmitting data recorded in its memory, the rover can transmit "real-time" data when it links to a relay orbiter or Deep Space Network antenna. These real-time data are transmitting normally, and include various details about the rover's status. Engineers are expanding the details the rover transmits in these real-time data to better diagnose the issue. Because the amount of data coming down is limited, it might take some time for the engineering team to diagnose the problem.On Monday and Tuesday, engineers discussed which real-time details would be the most useful to have. They also commanded the rover to turn off science instruments that were still on, since their data are not being stored. They're also preparing to use the rover's backup computer in case they need to use it to diagnose the primary computer. That backup computer was the rover's primary one until Sol 200, when it experienced both a hardware failure and software issue that have since been addressed.While the engineers work to understand the problem, Curiosity's science team is using the time to pore over data gathered on Vera Rubin Ridge and come up with the best location for another drilling attempt. We're looking at any clues that tell us the rocks are weaker and better for drilling. As the JPL-based project scientist, I really enjoy watching our scientists from all over the world take on these challenges. And, I also get to witness the brainpower that JPL brings to bear when the rover has a technical issue. We're rooting for the engineering team 100%!
Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, this week commanded the agency's Curiosity rover to switch to its second computer. The switch will enable engineers to do a detailed diagnosis of a technical issue that has prevented the rover's active computer from storing science and some key engineering data since Sept. 15.
The rough and rocky landscape of Mars continues to take a toll on the wheels of NASA's Curiosity rover. As part of a routine checkup, Curiosity snapped some new images of its wheels this week. Most of the photos don't look too alarming, but one in particular shows some dramatic holes and cracks in the aluminum.