'Foreign object' found by Mars rover a rock flake,NASA
Washington, Aug 17 : A so-called "foreign object debris" spotted by Mars rover Curiosity and speculated to be a piece of spacecraft debris has turned out to be a very thin flake of rock, NASA has said.
The object in the image captured on August 13 also triggered speculation among scientists that the Curiosity rover might have shed a piece of itself.
But an analysis by Curiosity's Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instruments revealed that the object, which was officially referred to as "Pettegrove Point Foreign Object Debris" (PPFOD), only raised a false alarm, NASA said on Thursday.
"In fact it was found to be a very thin flake of rock, so we can all rest easy tonight - Curiosity has not begun to shed its skin," Curiosity team member Brittney Cooper wrote in a mission update of the analysis.
"Perhaps the target should have been given a different name befitting the theme of the current quadrangle in which Curiosity resides: 'Rabhadh Cearr', or 'False Alarm' in Scottish Gaelic," Cooper said.
The Curiosity team had reasons to worry as in 2012, the rover spotted an equally mysterious bright object on the surface that turned out to be a tiny piece of plastic material shed from the rover, CNET reported.
The rover is currently monitoring the dust opacity or "tau" in Gale crater as the global dust storm that started on Mars in June declines.
Let the Truth be known. If you read VB and like VB, please be a VB Supporter and Help us deliver the Truth to one and all.
England sticking with Key, McCullum and Stokes despite Ashes humbling
London (AP): England is not sacking anybody following the 4-1 Ashes loss in Australia.
A review of the tour by the England and Wales Cricket Board, announced within hours of the final match in January, was concluded on Monday. Firing people would “be the easy thing to do,” ECB chief executive Richard Gould said but he insisted, "This is not the time to throw everything out."
Managing director Rob Key, coach Brendon McCullum and captain Ben Stokes kept their jobs after the best England side to go to Australia in 14 years lost the Ashes in 11 days with two games to spare.
“Moving people on can sometimes be the easy thing to do. That's not the route that we're going to take,” Gould said. “I've seen the driving ambition and determination that we're lucky enough to have within our leadership group to take the lessons from the Ashes and move forward.”
Gould previously was the chief executive of Bristol City soccer club and said the ECB would not follow the same route as soccer's hire-and-fire culture.
“Cricket is a very unique sport in that it takes a team of leadership ... it's not like football where there's a single point of failure or success with a manager," he said. He added the ECB would not “select or deselect management based on a popularity campaign.”
The main criticisms of England's tour were poor preparation, player misbehavior, and selection mistakes.
At a press conference at Lord's, Gould and Key said McCullum and Stokes have not had a “bust up,” they did not want McCullum to “completely change” but “to evolve,” the behavior of some players was “unprofessional,” there will be more consequences for underperforming, and a commitment to “better long-term planning” ahead of major test series.
Some changes were already implemented for the Twenty20 World Cup, where England reached the semifinals. Gould implied that performance saved McCullum.
Key acknowledged that England supporters would be disappointed to see the management team go unpunished.
“I know people want punishment and that people then should be sacked for that,” Key said. “That doesn't mean we don't feel like we've gone through some serious pain: Brendon, myself, Ben. It's been as tough a time as I think I've had.”
