Tag Archives: Viking landers

Opportunity: Sleepy II, and driving on

Posted on July 26, 2016 by rburnham

Sol 4445, July 26, 2016. Opportunity turned its Pancam onto a clump of rocks collectively dubbed Sleepy II. (False-color version by Holger Isenberg.) Names here commemorate rocks studied by the Viking landers 40 years ago this summer. Then the rover … Continue reading →

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Mars organics likely meteoritic, not Earth contamination

Posted on November 14, 2014 by rburnham

Organic matter recently detected by NASA’s robotic rover Curiosity [and much earlier by the Viking landers in the 1970s] is probably not due to contamination brought from Earth, as researchers originally thought. A team of German and British scientists now … Continue reading →

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Can melting snow make small holes in Mars rocks?

Posted on September 28, 2011 by rburnham

Many rocks on the surface of Mars show pits and small holes. One way such pits can form is when gas-rich lava erupts; the pits, called “vesicles,” form when gas escapes from the lava as it’s cooling. Wind-driven sand can … Continue reading →

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