Phoenix on Mars

Sol 74 RAC 3D montage of soil on edge of scoop:

Always looking for new ways to put the images together.

Er, one of these things is not like the others...

( Hint: One word Benjamin: triangles )

Why do I "do it"?

Because it is the most fun I have had in ages. ( Why when I was a boy ( eyes misting over ) I could see in my mind for billions and billions of miles ( that's how we measured great distnces then ) and the universe seemed just a small step away from our home here on Earth. And I imagined my great Nth to some great power grandchildren on wonderous planets doing wonderous things -- lives as great and incomprehensible as our own lives are to our distant amoeba ancestors...)

And if others get something out of it -- then great! It's a win-win.

Great fun, i have always wondered why there are so few people, that find this stuff facinating?

I have asked this before, but "rosy red" Is Very Red, from this image

Seems like they have jacked up the red channel a bit, but i hav'nt been able to see any major differences with my own images, between the trenches.

This must be the perchlorate rich area, Rosy Red.

Must be rosy red soil on your montages.

I get good 3d on the top image.

Hi Mann

It looks like the typical NASA jacking up of the red channels. Look at the flag. There is no blue there just shades of red. Anyhow, despite this rosy red looks very red indeed. Are Perchlorates typically red? The clumps look quite fine even though they are sticking to the doors. Do they have ice in them?

Winston

Hi Mann

Googled Perchlorates / color. Lots of interesting stuff came up.

Perchlorates are dessicants and are used as such in inkjet colours. Imagine what such dessicants can do on Mars if they can "fix" the sparse water available into a form which can be utilized by microbes in their metabolic reactions. perchlorates also seem to have some effect on siderophore (chelation ) effects re. the reduction of iron compounds and the uptake of iron in a number of microbes on earth.

I can now see slightly more clearly, how perchlorates could well be important constituents of martian soils and be intimately involved in the metabolism of putative microbes. Again, the perchlorates themselves do not appear to be inherently toxic, although some of their breakdown products might be.

I think you are on a very interesting path.

Winston

I don't think that we have heard the last of some type of a perchlorate cycle Winston.

on a side note of Perchlorates, is iron. Its seems that although Salt, can be benifical in some types of the microbial breakdown of perchlorate, if IRON is present, it can Kill the proccess. How,.. is the interesting part.

It Coats the microbes, in Iron, sufficating them.

sol 72 R7B6 of TEGA soil:

mann, mann, mann.

Please read the Flickr comments in the linked image.

The color map used was ( R, G, B ) = ( R7, RB, R6 ). Note that the flag colors are not correct.

I did a little analysis of the surface soil visible in the upper right and the TEGA soil that shows a slight increase in the brightness -- but most likely not meaningful.

Remember, in our tourist snaps any color comparisons must be in the same picture to have any meaning.

( Gee, Uncle Howard is purple -- but so is Aunt Helen -- Maybe it's the green cheese they are eating? )

Rid green grue. I made a disclaimer with my comment horton, as i saw the flag, it was for a dramatic effect, (the link to red soil). Still it must be RED DER Than other spots, no?
Whats the difference with the montage in 341?

sol 72-76 animation of changes on top of old TEGA -- all covered with soil...

I can't see any slumping into the partially open door.

er, mann, no offence intended.

Just wanted to point out for the millionth time that color created with filters not designed for color is not really color.

I did what little analysis I could, and concluded that the soil on top of old TEGA might be brighter in the R7 filter -- but I wouldn't bet next weeks grocery money on it. So it's ridder - not redder.

Re reply 341 -- I have no idea where that particular soil came from. A carefull comparison of time stamps on various SSI and RAC images might help settle the matter -- but the tour guide said get back on the bus and I ran out of time...

( This is one of me standing in front of a mountain -- but I didn't have time to read the plaque to see what it was named. )

sol 76 RAC 3D of soil atop TEGA partially opened door:

Er, looks like a small avalanche of soil slid into the opening.

Three down and 5 to go.

Listening to people talk about color………………….No charge

Looking at images people say are, ”True color.”……..$1.95

Looking at Hort images……………………………….Priceless

Fred

Frost on the pumpkin. The trick-or-treaters can not be far behind.

Fred

What a cool sequence, and a harbinger of things to come. I can almost see Phoenix clutching a sign stating 'Beware the end is nigh'.

[link]

sol 83 SOS ( Soil on a Scoop):

and this Über close living-on-the edge sort'a 3D view.

Do not adjust your computer. The green is not really. Most likely. Maybe. Sure would like to see this as an official "Earth color" image...

sol 84 animation of polar clouds:

I can feel a chill in the air...

Hi Mann/Marsman/Hort et al

This is one of the clearest images I've seen of the Phoenix SODs. Its an SSI image composite from sol 84. The sods on the landing pad are clearly seen to have taken up very consistent repeating shapes. They are mainly filaments but there are many curved filaments capped by smooth globular things at either ends. There are also circles, spheres, etc. Also of note is the discolouration of soil near to the lander. It shows up green in my composite but who knows what colour it really is. There are many things in that soil, if they were on Earth, that would be classified as probably organic after a cursory look.

Winston

I forgot to mention above that you should also look for the bead like arrangement of spheroids that seem to make up many of the filaments just to the left of the landing leg pad. Also, the image has been magnified by 2; ie it is 2X magnification from the original 512x512 image. I don't think that there has been appreciable pixellation produced by this magnification.

Winston

Thank you Winston, I will take a look to see if there might be astreo veiw avalible. I hate looking to close without stereo.

i wonder why they cannot take an image of the ground, like this one,

wich is clear, and actually looks like a real image, its a R1, as compared to this R1,

wich looks like crap?

Some interesting sol 87 RAC soil animations.

The first animation shows the soil lose cohesion as the sun shines on the soil within minutes.

Best guess: soil "dries out", loses it's grip and slides down the scoop.

The second animation is the soil remaining on the tip of the scoop over five hours. There is virtually no change.

Best guess: Zap the soil with UV, dry it out -- and it is "dead". Of course, it may have been dead to start with.

thats a nice comparision, sun verses shade.

So the question remains, how will they get a shady side sample into an oven?

sol 86 L12RABC of spoil pile:

Er, wonder what makes the channels running down the pile -- and why are they darker?