Mars Opportunity anomalies

[taintedsample]

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225438EFFBRCSP2589L5M2.JPG

Greetings and well met.
Seen in this photo from Mars Opportunity, 3 rings in the sand.

[deuem]

Hi tainted, glad to see you here. No trolls, YEA!!!!

Tainted sample knows a lot about the missions to Mars. I know his thread will be informative.

We go back several years and I asked him over through yet another site. We will be working on other members also. tainted how about E6 for one.

Good luck on your start up. The crew is friendly here...
Deuem

[Littleenki]

Hi tainted, glad to see you here. No trolls, YEA!!!!

Tainted sample knows a lot about the missions to Mars. I know his thread will be informative.

We go back several years and I asked him over through yet another site. We will be working on other members also. tainted how about E6 for one.

Good luck on your start up. The crew is friendly here...
Deuem

Welcome, TS, its a nice place here!
Those rings appear to be formed either after the rover passed, or are actual physical objects that have settled into the landscape.
Is it possible they are two or three pieces of large metal circlips that popped off of the rover?
Interesting to say the least!
Cheers!
Littleenki

[Amaterasu]

Welcome, TS!

Glad to see a well-versed "newbie."  [smile]  That photo is quite interesting!  Wonder what created the circles - probably some part of the vehicle, since those are obviously it's tracks...

[ArMaP]

Welcome, taintedsample.

Those rings look like the marks from the RAT, the Rock Abrasion Tool the rovers carry to scrape the rock's surface to see how they really look like and take photos with the microscopic camera.

I guess that if we look for photos from the microscopic camera from that sol (or just before it) we will find the photos taken from those areas.

[taintedsample]

Welcome, TS!

Glad to see a well-versed "newbie."  [smile]  That photo is quite interesting!  Wonder what created the circles - probably some part of the vehicle, since those are obviously it's tracks...

Thanks for the warm welcome and Hi Deuem!
I thought at first too that it was something off the rover, but if you look again you will see that the rover has run one of the rings over. The rings also look like they have some amount of dust accumulated so I am ruling a part flying off the rover out. There are many shots in the exploratorium of these images, I will see if I can get a good closeup.

[Amaterasu]

I thought at first too that it was something off the rover, but if you look again you will see that the rover has run one of the rings over. The rings also look like they have some amount of dust accumulated so I am ruling a part flying off the rover out. There are many shots in the exploratorium of these images, I will see if I can get a good closeup.

Another thing...  They are NOT the same shape.  So if it was something from the rover, it would have to be TWO things.

[rdunk]

Hello taintedsample! it is good to have you here. I will be looking forward to your posts in the area of mars anomalies, as I also have a major interest in the story they have to tell us. I have posted several here, but have numerous others, some of the which I have never posted before anywhere. 

One thing about the Rover photos, they are usually fairly high resolution, or, are at least high quality photos.

Do you have the Sol day for the anomaly you posted in this thread? That would help some of us take a look at other pics around that same time.

Well, for sure the "partial rings" do not look natural! Yes, they are close to the rover position, so, that could give us a clue. ArMaP, could be right about the "Rat Tool", although, he is usually "not right" when it comes to commenting on Mars anomalies, significant skeptic that he is!!!!!   ArMaP, I am really just kidding with you! 

RAT tool stuff has been posted elsewhere, and if I find it, I will post a pic here for comparison.

Again, thanks for the post!

 

[deuem]

Hi tainted, rather this is the Rat tool or another probe? It should be possible to get some sizes and compare them. It should be ruled out or in technically. If it had done the test then moved forward it would run the test over. Before I go there I would have to know a lot of camera data. Lens, focal lengths and so on.  Good start,
Deuem

[ArMaP]

Do you have the Sol day for the anomaly you posted in this thread?

You can know the Sol by the name of the image.

This image is from Sol 2963.

[taintedsample]

You can know the Sol by the name of the image.

This image is from Sol 2963.

I get all my images from the exploratorium.
Opportunity images: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/
Spirit images: http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/spirit/
Filename readme (to figure out the SOL and time): http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/FILENAME-README

Here are links to the other similar images:
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225438EFFBRCSP2589L5M2.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225662EFFBRCSP2589R7M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225650EFFBRCSP2589R6M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225629EFFBRCSP2589R5M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225617EFFBRCSP2589R4M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225596EFFBRCSP2589R3M1.JPG
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-26/1P391225552EFFBRCSP2589R1M1.JPG

http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/pancam/2012-05-25/1P391225406EFFBRCSP2589L4M1.JPG

[deuem]

Hi tainted, I checked out the above list and it left me wondering, have you ever found a site with a step by step explanation of what is going on or just photos? Somebody must be keeping records. If so can you find any tech talk for this photo?

Also in some of the photos it looke to me that there was a fourth circle, close in. all 4 are in line. The 4th is very shallow and hard to see.

Deuem

[rdunk]

You can know the Sol by the name of the image.

This image is from Sol 2963.

Thanks for the info! However, I haven't the foggiest where in the name the sol day is. With one of your links, I guess you have to "figure it out"

For most all of my Rover research, I use the NASA links, and with their links, the sol day is right in the link.

My link for these pics would be:

http://marsrover.nasa.gov/gallery/all/opportunity_p2963.html

I have several "Rat Tool" pics with the abrasions, but nothing so far that are like these. the ring dia seems to look about the same size, which is about 2 inches in dia.

Unless the sand has partially covered the normal full circular appearance of the rat tool marks, then this must be something else. Besides, I think the Tool is used basically on rocks, and not on "sand".

Now they could have just dropped the arm with tool to the surface, three or four times, for whatever reason, like maybe just checking it out. Opportunity is getting pretty old!!

Also, hasn't Rover Opportunity just come out of winter hibernation again?? Seems like I saw something on that recently.

That's funny! After writing this, I did a quick search and found the  article that fits with with what we are seeing in these pics (except for different sol days). They may just have "taken" the pics on sol day 2963. They in fact are using the robotic arm "in to investigate the chemical origin of the ubiquitous Martian dust". I will post post the article and the link for it.

http://www.marsdaily.com/reports/Waking_Up_with_the_Suns_Rays_999.html

**********************************************************

Waking Up with the Sun's Rays
by Staff Writers
Pasadena CA (JPL) May 28, 2012


After moving from her winter perch, Opportunity drove to an undisturbed dusty patch to investigate the chemical origin of the ubiquitous Martian dust.

On Sol 2957 (May 19, 2012), the rover used her robotic arm to collect a Microscopic Imager (MI) mosaic of the surface target, called "North Pole." This was followed by an Alpha Particle X-ray Spectrometer (APXS) placement for a multi-sol integration.

On Sol 2960 (May 22, 2012), Opportunity repositioned the robotic arm instruments on an associated target for another set of Microscopic Imager mosaics followed by a placement of the APXS for a long measurement.

The plan ahead is to resume driving toward the north end of Cape York in search of more gypsum veins. The rover benefited from another small dust cleaning event, improving solar array energy production.

With the seasonally improving solar insolation and the recent dust clearing events, the rover is now experiencing solar array wake-ups, the autonomous rover wake-ups induced by bright morning sunlight.

As of Sol 2961 (May 23, 2012), solar array energy production was 395 watt-hours with an atmospheric opacity (Tau) of 0.387 and an improved solar array dust factor of 0.559.

Total odometry is 21.36 miles (34,380.58 meters).

[taintedsample]

 
http://qt.exploratorium.edu/mars/opportunity/navcam/2012-05-23/1N391049077EFFBRCQP1977R0M1.JPG
I think we can rule it out to RAT.

I was just about to post the same thing rdunk! Good find, also nice to see opportunity on the move again. I have some other anomalies to post from further back. I'll go through them and post the more interesting ones.

[rdunk]

I was just about to post the same thing rdunk! Good find, also nice to see opportunity on the move again. I have some other anomalies to post from further back. I'll go through them and post the more interesting ones.

tainted sample, I am looking forward to seeing your other anomalies. Also, , when you have taken a look at some of the anomalies posted here, please comment on your thoughts about what you see!

One point, in my opinion all anomalies are interesting. An anomaly is an anomaly! In the real world of the search for proof of others, off Earth, the simplest of things can be specific indications of intelligent design. And the more simple anomalies found, the more the absolute proof of other civilized life.

There are many anomalies on Mars that strongly show (IMO) signs of intelligent design, and/or civilized life - even hard for us to believe type of life!