Geology professor helps with Mars study

IU geology professor David Bish contributed to the first experiments on Martian soil ingested by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration rover Curiosity.

The samples revealed the composition of the soil on Mars is similar to certain soils of volcanic origin found in Hawaii, according to a NASA press release issued Tuesday.

Bish has been working in NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., since August. He sat in the lab with other members of the mission’s science team on Aug. 5, the night Curiosity landed on Mars.

“Much of Mars is covered with dust, and we had an incomplete understanding of its mineralogy,” Bish said in the press release.

A member of the CheMin, or chemistry and mineralogy, team, Bish and his teammates use X-ray diffraction to analyze the composition of the soil, Bish said in August.

“So far, the materials Curiosity has analyzed are consistent with our initial ideas of the deposits in Gale Crater (on Mars) recording a transition through time from a wet to dry environment,” Bish said in the press release. “The ancient rocks, such as the conglomerates, suggest flowing water, while the minerals in the younger soil are consistent with limited interaction with water.”

Geology professor Juergen Schieber is also in Pasadena, working with cameras sitting on a robotic arm on Curiosity.

Bish and Schieber are scheduled to work with the team at the Jet Propulsion Lab a total of 90 sols, or Mars days.

— Kirsten Clark