Open AccessWeek 3: Red, white, and somewhat blue at the Pathfinder site
Author(s) -
Edgett Ken
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/97eo00207
Subject(s) - gray (unit) , mars exploration program , white (mutation) , geology , astrobiology , art history , colored , art , archaeology , cartography , geography , materials science , physics , chemistry , medicine , biochemistry , radiology , composite material , gene
ARES VALLIS, MARS—In keeping with the theme of its Fourth of July landing, Mars Pathfinder seems to have found itself in a red, white, and “blue” landscape. While Mars is known as the “Red Planet,” it is the white and somewhat‐blue stuff that is grabbing the attention of the science team. At a press briefing on July 22, the team showed an enhanced color image of the region in front of the rock, Yogi. (A gray‐scale version of this image is seen in Figure 1). The most exciting feature in the image is a white patch of subsurface material revealed by a deep scour in the soil that was caused by the rover wheels as it turned to examine Yogi. The white patch has a visible reflectance spectrum similar to the white, crusty material exposed by wind about 2.5 m away. Team member Mike Malin talked about these crusts during the first week of the mission. He interpreted them as evidence for the past presence of water that left behind dried mud and/or evaporite material. Also revealed by the new color perspective on the landing site: Yogi has a two‐toned surface. About 1/3 of the rock as seen from the lander is blue‐gray, the other 27/3 has a red, rust‐colored surface. The red material on Yogi and everywhere else at the landing site contains oxidized iron. The blue‐gray surface on this rock is thought to contain unoxidized iron.