SETI public: What about the Mars Rover Rotini?

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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6969396/>

Rover rotini revisited

While this "Spirited" case of an odd imprint may be closed, another rover find remains puzzling.

Early in its mission at Meridiani Planum, the Opportunity Mars rover shot back a Microscopic Imager photo that included a feature shaped like a rotini pasta<http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4402153/>. At the time, its profile sparked discussion both inside and outside of the NASA Mars Rover Exploration team.

"I am surprised I do not hear any more commotion about the good old 'rotini' shape from Meridiani in the early part of the mission," Gorevan said. "We have not yet been able to duplicate that shape with the RAT or any Mössbauer spectrometer or alpha particle X-ray spectrometer contact mechanisms."

But Gorevan hastened to add: "That's infinitely far from saying it is of biologic origin, but it is proving resistant to duplication."

Gorevan and his team have performed no direct tests attempting to duplicate the "rotini" feature.

"Frankly, I do not know how to construct such a test," Gorevan explained.

"What we are doing is looking out for features that might be embryonic or very old forms of the rotini feature that might have been made with the RAT. More attention will be paid on this effort toward examination of terrestrial specimens," Gorevan noted.

No one on the Mars science team has made a request for Gorevan and his associates to try to devise some way to duplicate a rotini feature with their hardware. "And right now we have our hands full in keeping up with this lovely mission that never ends," he said.

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