Opportunity report, Sol 4391, by A.J.S. Rayl, The Planetary Society

20160605_2Scuffedtreasure-Sol4379B0518192016False_L257_thumbJune 6, 2016: Opportunity Scuffs Up Signs of Past Water at Marathon Valley: Opportunity spent the first half of May digging into an outcrop, taking dozens of panoramic images from her site on the south wall of Marathon Valley at Endeavour Crater’s western rim, and basking in the Martian spring weather. And then, as Mars Exploration Rover (MER) officials prepared to present the mission’s plan to keep the expedition roving through 2018, the veteran robot field geologist scuffed up a new target and uncovered a small bounty of geological gems.

“Mars has totally surprised us, again,” said Ray Arvidson, MER deputy principal investigator, of Washington University St. Louis.

The MER team had commanded Opportunity to drag her left front wheel across one of the deep-red pebbled bands of soil that the scientists have seen around Marathon Valley. They expected the rover would simply excavate some of the red pebbles. (…)

For months now, the MER scientists had conjectured that these deep-red band areas are aqueous alteration zones, with the bands being troughs that formed of porous fractures where groundwater probably preferentially moved. Even so, the rover’s “uncovery” was not what they thought they would see.

“It’s a big, big surprise,” said Steve Squyres, MER principal investigator, of Cornell University. “It validates the notion that these are indeed places where there has been significant aqueous alteration, but I don’t think there is one of us who expected this.” [More at link]

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