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Curiosity set to drill into crystal-rich rock on Mars

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10 years ago

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Washington: NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is all set to drill into a crystal-rich rock on the Red planet to find out salt mineral left behind when lake water evaporated, says an Indian-American scientist associated with the project.

The rock target called “Mojave” at Gale Crater displays copious slender features – slightly smaller than grains of rice – that appear to be mineral crystals.

“The crystal shapes are apparent in the earlier images of Mojave but we do not know what they represent,” said Curiosity project scientist Ashwin Vasavada at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

“We are hoping that mineral identifications we get from the rover’s laboratory will shed more light than we got from just the images and bulk chemistry,” he added.

To begin with, Curiosity is beginning a “mini-drill” test to assess the rock’s suitability for deeper drilling which collects a sample for on board laboratory analysis.

This is the fourth new version of the on board software since the rover’s August 2012 landing.

The “Mojave” drilling begins Curiosity’s third round of investigating the basal layer of Mount Sharp exposed at an area called “Pahrump Hills”.

Curiosity’s Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument (CheMin) can identify specific minerals in rock powder from a drilled sample.

Analysis of the drill hole and drill tailings may also reveal whether the crystals are only at the surface, like a salty crust, or are also deeper in the rock.

There could be a fairly involved story here.

“Are the salt crystals left from a drying lake? Or are they more pervasive through the rock, formed by fluids moving through the rock? In either case, a later fluid may have removed or replaced the original minerals with something else,” Vasavada asked.

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Apple is giving a huge discount on its gadgets: Details inside

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3 years ago

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May 5, 2022

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If you want to buy an iPhone and were waiting for a nice offer, then we have a piece of good news for you! Amazon Summer Sale May 2022 has begun and they are offering major discounts on various smartphones, laptops, and smart TVs, among others.

The sale is live now on the e-commerce platform with no-cost EMI options and exchange discounts on various products. In addition to this, Amazon has also partnered with several banks including ICICI, Kotak Bank, and RBL so that customers get instant discounts of up to 10% using their cards and EMI transactions.

Customers can easily enjoy this summer sale and get massive discounts on iPhones. They can also compare prices on Flipkart Big Saving Days Sale 2022 before making a purchase.

 

Amazon Summer Sale May 2022: Discount offer on iPhone 13 

Apple’s coveted phone model iPhone 13 in the 128 GB storage model will be available during the Amazon Summer Sale May 2022 for Rs 64,900. The MRP of the phone is Rs 79,900. This means that the customers will be able to enjoy a discount of up to Rs 15,000 on the purchase of the iPhone 13.

If you have an old iPhone in working condition then you will also be eligible to receive another additional discount worth up to Rs 17,000 on the iPhone 13.

Buy at Rs. 64,900 (MRP – Rs. 79,900)

Features of Apple iPhone 13 

The iPhone is powered by an A15 Bionic processor with 6 core CPU. Apart from this, it has 16 core neural engines. With the iPhone 13, up to 512 GB of storage will be available. The iPhone 13 has a 6.1-inch Retina XDR display with 1000 nits brightness.

The iPhone 13 has a 12-megapixel dual rear camera setup. This time a new wide-angle camera has been given, whose aperture is f/1.6. With this, there is support for sensor optical stabilisation. Night mode has been made better than before. The second lens is also 12 megapixels ultra-wide and has an aperture of f/2.4.

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