Starship Asterisk*

b9f077ac@opayq.com wrote:Heard on on-line radio, someone has filed lawsuit.

geckzilla wrote: By known crackpot, Rhawn Joseph.
He seems to be trying to make a name for himself by claiming discovery of fake aliens.

Keyman wrote:

geckzilla wrote: By known crackpot, Rhawn Joseph.
He seems to be trying to make a name for himself by claiming discovery of fake aliens.

As long as he doesn't discover any real aliens.

Isotelusmaximus wrote:Has anyone mentioned this object might be a Martian puffball of sorts?

MarkBour wrote:I've looked for updates on this from NASA. I would think the rock and its suspected original location would be of great interest to them. Yet, I haven't seen anything. Has anyone else?

Chris Peterson wrote:

MarkBour wrote:I've looked for updates on this from NASA. I would think the rock and its suspected original location would be of great interest to them. Yet, I haven't seen anything. Has anyone else?

No. I think it is only of moderate interest. They've aimed some instruments at it to examine the mineralogy, but beyond that, I don't think it's creating much of a hiccup in the overall mission plan. I wouldn't be surprised to see a paper in the next year, assuming the mineralogy proves unusual- something that isn't obviously the case.

[The rock] obligingly turned upside down, so we're seeing a side that hasn't seen the Martian atmosphere in billions of years and there it is for us to investigate.
. . .
The jelly part is like nothing we’ve seen before on Mars. It’s very high in sulfur and magnesium and it has twice as much manganese as anything we’ve seen before. I don’t know what any of this means. We’re completely confused, everybody on the team is arguing and fighting. We’re having a wonderful time!
. . .
It will likely be the target of considerable investigation over the next few days.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/ ... z2t1y45JTJ

MarkBour wrote:And I know they have had the rover sitting there, trying a number of tough movements to bring its instruments to bear on the "Pinnacle Island" sample. Also, they would want to investigate the theory about its point of origin to verify that it was indeed flipped over by Opportunity. 10 years, this rover has been on the planet, and I don't think that in the previous 9.9 years, it managed to do this kind of thing before, at least not on a strikingly interesting sample. They named it Opportunity, and here it is. But I do hope they share some findings sooner than a year from now in a paper, if only to give answers to the questions they themselves raised in the public consciousness.

BMAONE23 wrote:Here is an interesting article on the rock in PHYS.ORG containing an image of the likely former resting place partially visible beneath the Rover Solar Array Wing

Click to view full size image

BDanielMayfield wrote:Things about this that should no longer be viewed as "theory" but as rock solid fact: (1) It's a rock. (2) It's from Mars. (3) It was dislodged by one of Opportunity's wheels. (4) This is part of the indentation in the ground where it used to lay:

MarkBour wrote:
I would think that it might be a good idea to add to Curiosity's protocol to try to overturn or dislodge some small rocks on purpose, if that was not already in the plan. I think it seems a very interesting source of new information ... a little different than digging in the sand.

http://web.mit.edu/21h.418/www/asmorg/stone_o.html wrote:
<<Leave no stone unturned: that is, try everything, leave nothing unattempted. Many writers say that this adage arose in the following way. When Xerxes made war on the Greeks, and was vanquished at Salamis, he himself moved away from there but left Mardonius behind to carry on the war in his name. When the latter had also been worsted in the fight at Plataeae, and had taken flight, a rumour got about that Mardonius had left an immense treasure buried in the ground near his tent. Incited by this prospect, Polycrates, a Theban, bought that piece of ground. However, when he had looked for the treasure long and thoroughly, and had made no progress, he consulted the oracle of Delphi, as to how he could find that money. Apollo replied in these words 'Omnem moVERE lapidem (Leave no stone unturned)'. As soon as he had done this, he found, they say, a great hoard of gold.>>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_Stone_Unturned wrote:
<<_No Stone Unturned_ is a compilation album by The Rolling Stones released in 1973. Eight of the twelve tracks had been previously released on single b-sides in the United Kingdom, and the rest had been released on EPs.>>

BDanielMayfield wrote: Things about this that should no longer be viewed as "theory" but as rock solid fact: (1) It's a rock. (2) It's from Mars. (3) It was dislodged broken off a larger rock by one of Opportunity's wheels. (4) This is part of the indentation in the ground where it used to lay:

Techneck wrote:Why is the image cropped, in SOL 3540, right at the piece of small debris, similar to the Jelly Doughnut mater composition, compared to the FOV of SOL 3528. Something to hide? Just a thought. Would love to see the full frame... :mrgreen:

Chris Peterson wrote:

Techneck wrote:
Why is the image cropped, in SOL 3540, right at the piece of small debris, similar to the Jelly Doughnut mater composition, compared to the FOV of SOL 3528. Something to hide? Just a thought. Would love to see the full frame...

You can download the individual frames if you want.

They're just not linked in the APOD caption.