Sunday, June 27, 2004

Mars Rover Surprises Continue; Spirit, Too, Finds Hematite 06.25.04 On challenging slopes that NASA's Mars rovers began exploring this month, both Spirit and Opportunity have found new surprises for the folks back home. Image above: This close-up image taken by Spirit highlights the nodular nuggets that cover the rock dubbed "Pot of Gold." These enigmatic features appear to stand on the end of stalk-like projections. Data from the rover's scientific instruments has shown that Pot of Gold contains the mineral hematite, which can be formed with or without water. Scientists are planning further observations of that and other rocks in the area to determine this mineral's origin. + Click for full image. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/USGS. Spirit rolled up to a knobby rock just past where the "Columbia Hills" start to rise from the surrounding plain. It touched the rock with a mineral-identifying instrument at the tip of its robotic arm and detected hematite. Hematite identified from orbit was NASA's key reason for choosing Opportunity's landing site halfway around Mars from these hills within Gusev Crater. Opportunity, continuing its descent into "Endurance Crater," has found unexpected similarities between lower layers of rock it is examining for the first time and an overlying layer at "Eagle Crater" where, months ago, the rover discovered evidence that water once soaked the area. "It's gratifying how well these machines keep performing, considering they've now nearly doubled their original three-month missions on Mars," said Chris Voorhees, rover mechanical systems engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. By the end of next week, Spirit will have worked on Mars for half a year. It has driven more than three times the design requirement of one kilometer (0.6 mile). The only symptom of wear or aging on either rover so far is increased friction in one wheel on Spirit. The rover team at JPL is beginning to consider good sites for the solar-powered robots to spend the period of martian winter when reduced daily sunshine cuts power supply to a minimum. In the nearer term, though, team members are eager to follow through on the new scientific findings. Spirit's hematite finding is in a rock dubbed "Pot of Gold," about the size of a softball. "This rock has a shape as if somebody took a potato and stuck toothpicks in it, then put jelly beans on the ends of the toothpicks," said Dr. Steve Squyres of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., principal investigator for the rovers' science instruments. "How it got this crazy shape is anyone's guess. I haven't even heard a good theory yet." Dr. Doug Ming, a rover science-team member from NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, said, "There's apparently some type of weathering, a removal of material, but we're still trying to determine whether it's by chemical or mechanical processes." Further study of Pot of Gold could also help scientists assess what the hematite in it tells about past environmental onditions. "Hematite can form in a few different ways. Most of them require water, but it can also result from a dry, thermal oxidation process," Ming said. "It was hematite identified from orbit that made Meridiani Planum a compelling place to send Opportunity. There, we've learned that the hematite is indeed part of a water story. At Gusev we're just at the starting stage." After examining Pot of Gold with the microscopic imager and two spectrometers on Spirit's arm, the rover backed away from the rock to re-approach at a better angle for using its rock abrasion tool to expose the rock's interior. In the rough and slippery terrain, that maneuver took several days. The Other nearby rocks may also be inspected before Spirit resumes longer drives exploring the Columbia Hills area. Also, engineers are planning an attempt to redistribute lubricant in Spirit's balky right front wheel before the rover leaves its current vicinity. Image above: Opportunity is currently investigating the distinct layers of rockt hat make up this region in "Endurance Crater." + Click for full image. Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell. Team members presented both rovers' status at a press conference at JPL today. Opportunity has driven far enough into the stadium-sized Endurance Crater to put it within arm's reach of three layers of rock beneath a sulfate-rich layer. That area is similar to what Opportunity first examined in the shallower "Eagle Crater," where it landed in January. "We're trying to systematically characterize the stratigraphy of the crater as we drive down, analyzing each unit chemically and mineralogically with all the instruments available," said Nicholas Tosca, a science-team affiliate from the State University of New York, Stony Brook. The first two newly accessed layers resemble the upper layer in having sulfate salts and spherical concretions; both are signs of formation of the rocks under wet conditions. Squyres said, "I had thought we might see just basalt below the top salty layer, but instead it's salty as far as we've been able to see so far. Every time we see more sulfates as we work down this stack, it adds to the amount of water that was necessary to make this happen." JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover project for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. Images and additional information about the project are available from JPL at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov and from Cornell University, at http://athena.cornell.edu. Guy Webster NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory Dwayne Brown NASA Headquarters 7:26:50 PM    comment []

U.S. Loses First Place As Biggest Recipient Of Global Investment By MICHAEL R. SESIT Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL June 28, 2004 PARIS -- China last year for the first time eclipsed the U.S. as the biggest recipient of foreign direct investment, part of a huge increase in such investment by multinational companies in the world's underdeveloped, fast-growing economies, according to a new OECD report. The report by the Paris-based Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the 30 member nations of which include the world's most highly industrialized, showed that net foreign direct investment, known as FDI, to emerging economies from the 30 OECD countries rose about sixfold in 2003 to a record $192 billion, or €158 billion, up from $31.7 billion in 2002. Of that, China attracted $53 billion, slightly less than the year before, compared with $40 billion for the U.S. U.S. FDI was down from $72 billion in 2002 and $167 billion in 2001. FDI mostly involves the purchase of physical assets, including mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, investments in plants and equipment, the buying of property and capital transfers to foreign-owned enterprises. It doesn't include portfolio investment. In relatively poor or unsophisticated economies, FDI also can include benefits besides funding, such as managerial expertise, technological skills and access to the global network of the investing company. "FDI flows can serve as an indicator of the attractiveness of the business climates of competing economies," said Hans Christiansen, a senior OECD economist and one of the study's authors. Meanwhile, FDI into the 30 OECD member nations fell 28% to $384 billion last year from $535 billion in 2002, according to the study, which is scheduled to be released today. It was the third consecutive year of declines, down from a peak of $1.3 trillion in 2000. The OECD sees FDI recovering in its member countries in the near to medium term. Its economists predict a rise in European and Japanese growth and continued strong growth in the U.S. over the next two years. "This, together with the recovery in stock prices in 2003, should result in higher direct investment flows," Mr. Christiansen said. China's appeal reflects its fast growth, its status as the world's biggest market in terms of population and a continued venue for low-cost production. Still, Mr. Christiansen said that lately, FDI was largely motivated by a desire to produce consumer goods for the domestic Chinese market. Investors haven't found India, which last year received $4 billion in FDI, as attractive. Nonetheless, Mr. Christiansen said that it is the world's second-most-populous country, that growth is picking up and that the government has become more accommodating to foreign investment. "If that trend continues, there can be little doubt that the outlook is for much higher FDI flows to India," he said. For the time being, Russia's prospects aren't as bright. In 2003, the country attracted only $1 billion in FDI, the lowest amount since the mid-1990s. Most of the investment Russia does get goes to the energy sector, and the OECD said the country could bring in more if it made further broad-based institutional changes. Although the U.S. experienced the biggest FDI decline in dollar terms, it had plenty of company in the industrialized world. For instance, FDI flows to Canada in 2003 were off 69%, while those to European countries fell 23%, including a 64% decline in flows to Germany and a 47% drop in flows to the U.K. An exception was France, which attracted $47 billion, marginally less than the $48.9 billion the country drew in 2002 and roughly three times the sums invested in either Germany or Britain. In contrast to many other countries, France experienced some large-scale acquisitions, such as the takeover of aluminum company Pechiney SA by Canada's Alcan Inc. Secondly, despite French politicians' stated intention to create "national champion" industries that can compete with global rivals, "most of the French business sector is open to foreign purchases," Mr. Christiansen said. Lastly, he said France is a prime location for second homes in Europe. The OECD blames the fall in direct investment to industrial countries on "the sluggish macroeconomic performance of many of the larger OECD economies, not the least in Europe." It also cites many companies' need to integrate past, high-price acquisitions -- made during the heyday of the New Economy boom of the 1990s -- instead of embarking on new ones. 7:15:38 PM    comment []

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