28 Sep, 2012 · Sascha · Wissenschaft
So unglaublich spektakulär und interessant die Landung vom NASA-Marsroboter Curiosity auch gewesen sein mag, die wirkliche Sensation beginnt jetzt, da der Roboter seine eigentliche Mission beginnt und bereits erste Erfolge vermelden kann. So ließen die Wissenschaftler bei NASA Curiosity durch ein vermutlich ehemaliges Flußbett fahren und stießen auf Kiesel, die von fließendem Wasser geformt worden sein sollen.
“NASA’s Curiosity rover found evidence for an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at a few sites, including the rock outcrop pictured here, which the science team has named “Hottah” after Hottah Lake in Canada’s Northwest Territories. It may look like a broken sidewalk, but this geological feature on Mars is actually exposed bedrock made up of smaller fragments cemented together, or what geologists call a sedimentary conglomerate. Scientists theorize that the bedrock was disrupted in the past, giving it the titled angle, most likely via impacts from meteorites.
The key evidence for the ancient stream comes from the size and rounded shape of the gravel in and around the bedrock. Hottah has pieces of gravel embedded in it, called clasts, up to a couple inches (few centimeters) in size and located within a matrix of sand-sized material. Some of the clasts are round in shape, leading the science team to conclude they were transported by a vigorous flow of water. The grains are too large to have been moved by wind.
A close-up view of Hottah reveals more details of the outcrop. Broken surfaces of the outcrop have rounded, gravel clasts, such as the one circled in white, which is about 1.2 inches (3 centimeters) across. Erosion of the outcrop results in gravel clasts that protrude from the outcrop and ultimately fall onto the ground, creating the gravel pile at left.
This image mosaic was taken by Curiosity’s 100-millimeter Mastcam telephoto lens on its 39th Martian day, or sol, of the mission (Sept. 14, 2012 PDT/Sept. 15 GMT). ”