Nasa Shocked as Mars JPL Rover Comes Upon a Mystery Rock.

 

 

Strange Rock Appeared from Nowhere.

 

 

 

 

From Independent Newspaper

 

A mysterious rock which appeared in front of the Opportunity rover is “like nothing we’ve ever seen before”, according to Mars exploration scientists at Nasa.

Experts said they were “completely confused” by both the origins and makeup of the object, which is currently being investigated by Opportunity’s various measuring instruments.

Astronomers noticed the new rock had “appeared” without any explanation on an outcrop which had been empty just days earlier. The rover has been stuck photographing the same region of Mars for more than a month due to bad weather, with scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in California monitoring the images it sends.

Nasa issued a Mars status report entitled “encountering a surprise”, and lead Mars Exploration rover scientist Steve Squyres told a JPL event it seems the planet literally “keeps throwing new things at us”.

He said the images, from 12 Martian days apart, were from no more than a couple of weeks ago. “We saw this rock just sitting here. It looks white around the edge in the middle and there’s a low spot in the centre that’s dark red – it looks like a jelly doughnut.

“And it appeared, just plain appeared at that spot – and we haven’t ever driven over that spot.”

Squyres said his team had two theories on how the rock got there – that there’s “a smoking hole in the ground somewhere nearby” and it was caused by a meteor, or that it was “somehow flicked out of the ground by a wheel” as the rover went by.

“We had driven a metre or two away from here, and I think the idea that somehow we mysteriously flicked it with a wheel is the best explanation,” Squyres said.

Yet the story got even stranger when Opportunity investigated further. Squyres explained: “We are as we speak situated with the rover’s instruments deployed making measurements of this rock.

“We’ve taken pictures of both the doughnut and jelly parts, and the got the first data on the composition of the jelly yesterday.

“It’s like nothing we’ve ever seen before,” he said. “It’s very high in sulphur, it’s very high in magnesium, it’s got twice as much manganese as we’ve ever seen in anything on Mars.

“I don’t know what any of this means. We’re completely confused, and everyone in the team is arguing and fighting (over what it means).

“That’s the beauty of this mission… what I’ve realised is that we will never be finished. There will always be something tantalising, something wonderful just beyond our reach that we didn’t quite get to – and that’s the nature of exploration.”

Squyres was speaking at an event marking the 10th anniversary of the arrival of Opportunity and Spirit on the surface of Mars.

While Spirit lost contact with Earth and was later declared “dead” in 2010, Opportunity has now roamed the planet far in excess of what was originally planned as a three-month mission. Nasa said that with its maximum speed of just 0.05mph, as of “Sol 3547” (15 January 2014) Opportunity had covered just over 24 miles (38km). NASA: Space in pictures

Isle Of Man Motorbike TT Speed Freaks.

The Isle of Man TT Race. I don't know how these guys have got the courage but if you have, the thrill must be addictive. Uplifting like nothing I can imagine. Just watching these daredevils is breathtaking. Guy Martin - the thrill-seeking adventurer takes part in these races and his ambition is to one day win it.

The Isle of Man TT has public roads shut off and the road around the island in the Irish Sea, between Britain and Ireland, is exempt from certain UK or Ireland Government rules. The Isle of Man has its own parliament and has not allowed the UK, Ireland, or EU road safety restrictions to stop its prestigious and monumental race. It is also one of the most dangerous racing events in the world. In around one hundred and seven events since 1907, the TT has claimed in excess of 240 lives during race and training sessions.

Combined with other non-fatal, yet hair raising crashes, the event speaks for itself. Every year, when the race is held, it is like a Mecca for motorbike enthusiasts and race spectators. People from around the planet flock to the island. I, like all good spectators, wish to go and watch the Isle of Man TT. At least once in my life. 

Would You Like To Drive One of Jim Clark's Formula One Cars?

Driving Jim Clark's Lotus 25 would be a dream come true for anyone who enjoys formula one and its high octane, fuel injected, excitingly dangerous history. Where the thin line between winning glory and devastating acceleration into the afterlife can happen in the flicker of a blink.

 

Jim Clark tasted both sides - the euphoric adulation of winning while skimming the danger of death and finally the flip side of the formula one coin. His name now echoes in eternity and the thought of driving one of his actual cars is something close to the legend he has become. I would be too terrified to even contemplate racing in formula one, but to take one on a spin on an empty open track? Oh yes! I think I could manage that.

 

David Coulthard got to do just that, but then he is one of the many who have tweaked the nose of Formula one danger. I have a Lotus 25 diecast 1:18 of Jim Clark's 1967 Dutch Grand Prix car. It has pride of place in my little office room. I enjoy watching Formula One, but I get this interest in fads. I am going through such a fad of interest at the moment. It will settle down, but its Ron Howard, the late James Hunt and Nikki Lauda's fault.

For now, I'm enjoying going through a retro buzz  and the great Retro Brit names of the 50s and 60s are compelling me to look at the sport. Jim Clark, Mike Hawthorn, Peter Collins, Graham Hill, John Surtees and Jackie Stewart. That fifteen years was a golden age for British Formula One. Great days with only some of the vehicles of some of the ghosts that have left us.

 

How Formula One's 1961 Contestent Wolfgang Von Trips was So Close Yet Denied.

Wolfgang Von Trips was in a fierce competition against his Ferrari team mate Phil Hill during the Formula One world championship of 1961. Both drivers were close to securing the Formula One World Drivers Championship. For Wolfgang Von Trips it would secure Germany's first FI championship win, while for Phil Hill it would be a first for the USA.

There was just the 1961 Italian Grand Prix to go on the 10th September and if Wolfgang could finish third or better; the FI championship 1961 would be his. This was all he had worked for and like all F1 racers, who diced with death during every race, it was his dream to come true if he could clinch third spot or better.

 Wolfgang Von Trips was born in Cologne Germany in 1928 and was of a well to do family. They owned a castle outside of Cologne. As a lad of 14, Wolfgang caught polio, and was treated. Once he had overcome this obstacle he was summoned and sent into the Hitler Youth. This was during WWII when Germany was under the rule of National Socialism. In 1944, he along with friends of the Volkssturm and Hitler Youth, had to try and defend Cologne from advancing American troops.

He was among the captured when the city fell. Once the war ended, he returned to the family castle to find it had been ransacked by allies. Obviously, his family had much restoration to do. He was motivated by occupying British and American troops to take up his interest in Motorbikes and cars. He had an obvious talent in this field. This was probably disappointing for his family because it was their intention that young Wolfgang Von Trips was destined to run the family farm. He did attend collage studies in agriculture and passed these in 1954. However he was buying cars and entering racing competitions and was talent spotted in 1956, by no lesser man then Enzo Ferrari.

Wolfgang began his F1 carrier during the 1956 season. All this effort and risk in the fast lane, like his fellow competitors, culminated in the grand standing of 1961's Italian Grand Prix of Monza. All he needed was third place or better and the much coveted championship would be his. 

As the race started the duel between Wolfgang and Phil Hill got under way. This particular Grand Prix was a dangerous one of significance and had claimed lives before. This was also during an era of formula one racing when deaths were very often happening during every season. The drivers that do this sort of sport are great thrill seekers and it is argued that many are misfits in some way - speed merchants that need the buzz of dicing close to the edge of death. Perhaps Wolfgang Von Tripp was such a thrill seeker who was coming so close to glorious victory; that he could taste it - go that extra yard for the all desired prize.

There was a new up and coming young Scot named Jim Clark in this race and on an all important bend of the Monza circuit, Wolfgang turned his Ferrari in to the chasing path of Jim Clark's Lotus. At that moment Wolfgang's rear wheel clipped the front of the pursuing 'future British Champion' Jim Clark's car. The German driver went into a terrible spin off of the track and onto the verge. His car lifted as it hit the crash barriers and killed 14 spectators. Wolfgang Von Trip was also killed in the crash as he was thrown from the cascading wreckage.

He was a gallant racer, and like so many before and after him. Wolfgang Von Trips died tragically in pursuit of the sport he obviously had a passion for. The terrible legacy was the death of the Italian spectators too. It had shades of the horrific Le Mans disaster of 1955. 

The USA's Phil Hill went on to take the Formula One trophy of 1961. Wolfgang went out in an explosive blaze of Formula One legend and gloried tribute. He is remembered with honour by those who love the sport.  



Wolfgang Von Trips Crash 1961 Italian Grand Prix

Niki Lauda and James Hunt Rivalry 1976 Grand Prix in Movie: Rush

Wow! What a high octane, adrenalin charged movie. The story of Niki Lauda and James Hunt's rivalry during the 1976 Grand Prix Championship. The story brings home the great differences between the two motor racing drivers.

 

After watching this, you'll want to go out and buy your own racing car.

For me, this was the best film of 2013 and would have to say Ron Howard did a great job of bringing this dynamic story to the big screen.

 

We have two F1 drivers who are totally different. One is a chancer, a bulldozing charger who loves the high life of wine, women and song, plus the thrill of dicing with death. This is the British driver, James Hunt. His outlook is, perhaps more romantic towards the dangerous sport, but he has his own way of battling the gremlins. Often he is sick before a race because he is so highly charged with mixed emotions. He also nervously keeps flicking his cigarette lighter on and off. The super models and high life are the reward and also a carefree way of shutting out his gremlins.

 

Then we have the other, who is much more organised with a devotion to winning the sport, that is never reckless. He looks over his car with the technicians and mechanics. He is skilled and organised, but retains a confidence in his own ability. This is the dynamic Austrian driver, Niki Lauda who tends to shut out his emotions and has only a rude and brutal honesty that remains. He is on the ball all of the time and this is his way of dealing with the gremlins. He knows how very dangerous his sport is and is not a romantic chancer, but more realistic then James Hunt.

 

I can remember Niki Lauda during this rollercoaster ride of a F1 season because of his death defying crash and then his amazing come back all during the same season.

 

I have not enjoyed a movie as much as this one for a very long time and can remember the retro years of the 1970s decade when these larger then life characters were on our news screens. This is a brilliant movie with actors Daniel Brühl playing Niki Lauda and   Chris Hemsworth playing the playboy character of James Hunt.

 

Mike Hawthorn - Formula One Championship Winner 1958.

Stirling Moss with Mike Hawthorn

Mike Hawthorn was born in Yorkshire, the UK in 1929. His family moved to Sussex where he grew up and was schooled. He was a very distinguished-looking young man who only lived to be 29 years of age. He had platinum blond hair and always wore a bow tie beneath his motor racing boiler suit, often smoking a pipe. He was a bit like a Retro Brit schoolboy comic book hero of that time. Some that knew him well, said he was not such the modest young Englishman that he looked. He was often given to playing playful pranks, some of which, might not be acceptable in today's politically correct world. I think he was probably a product of his times, looking a little more like Campbell and son speed record breakers - the last of a stereotype Retro British bulldog breed. I think it is with this affection that Mike Hawthorn is remembered. He lived his short life to the full and in the fast lane.

He began his career in 1950 and raced for a few different teams. He won the Le Mans 1955 tournament under a cloud of resentment and disrespect for, during the race, there was a terrible crash and other competitors retired because over 80 spectators and a formula 1 driver were killed. Mike Hawthorn was a part involved though no harm came to him. It is often believed he may have inadvertently contributed to the crash while slowing for a pit stop. Another driver swerved to miss him and this driver caused the next car behind to somersault up to the vehicle's rear wheel arch and into the crowd of spectators. The death and carnage were awful, but Mike Hawthorn had already moved on and this happened behind him.

In 1958 he won the Formula 1 championship but decided to retire because of a death of his Ferrari team mate in the German Grand Prix. Mike Hawthorn and his team mate often shared their winnings and developed a great rivalry with another. Another teammate was an Italian driver called  Luigi Musso. For some reason, Hawthorn and Collins excluded Luigi from the winnings deal and it brought about a rivalry and resentment that caused all three to take greater risk competing with one another for the overall championship prize money. Luigi Musso took one risk too many at the French Grand Prix of 1958 and was killed in a terrible crash. He was rushed to the hospital where he died.

Luigi Musso

Luigi Musso's girlfriend (Faimma Breschi) at the time of his death, revealed the nature of Musso's rivalry with Hawthorn and Collins and she had great cause to dislike the two Englishmen. She claims that when she returned from hospital to the hotel after watching her lover Luigi Musso die; Nigel Hawthorn and fellow British team-mate, Peter Collins, were laughing and joking in the hotel grounds, playing football. There was also a discarded can of beer which she found very disrespectful.

Before the championship ended the other Ferrari team member Peter Collins was killed in a crash during the German Grand Prix at Nürburgring. This brought Mike Hawthorn to the decision of quitting F1 motor racing.




Peter Collins

Then within the year, Mike Hawthorn was killed on the A3 near Guilford when his jaguar crashed. He was not in a race but driving the roads as any everyday citizen would. It was a terrible irony for the man who had become a legend in his time.

Luigi Musso's girlfriend (Fiamma Breschi) said she did not shed a tear for either of the F1 racing drivers because she was embittered that Nigel Hawthorn and his teammate caused the extreme risk-taking that led to the death of Luigi Musso.

    

Jim Clark Racing Driver (from the perspective of a seven year old kid)

From the mind of a seven year old boy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v62StJvxLu8

My only memory of Jim Clark, as a young seven year old, was from his prestigious reputation. I did not know what F1 racing meant, but I knew what racing cars looked liked. Racing cars were different from ordinary cars. Even though ordinary cars did race if they had stripes, and numbers painted on them, and were put on racing tracks or in fields. They still were not proper racing cars though.

Real racing cars were different and they went faster and you only saw them on television because they did not drive on streets. I also had hundreds of toy cars and knew what racing cars looked like. I knew the name Jim Clark because he raced such cars. The UK in the 1960s decade was full of names in various and exciting iconic interests. Interests that came to us from pop stars, film stars, football stars, comics of great British war heroes - we were fed on a diet of great heroes.

In school, or somewhere, I knew of Jim Clark. He drove racing cars and won trophies of great prestige because he was a champion racing car driver. I had no idea what he looked like. But when we kids played motor racing cars in the school playground or out on the streets, everyone argued over who was Jim Clark.

"I'm Jim Clark."

"No, I'm Jim Clark."

Needless to say the toughest kid in the group was usually Jim Clark.

It was in the summer of 1968 when I went on holiday with my cousins, who were a little older then me. We were playing in the garden of a guest house, where we were staying, and decided to play racing cars around this huge boat that was being made in the garden. I'm not sure if it was in Margate, Ramsgate or Broadstairs because we always seemed to go to one of these places every year. This boat looked like a miniature ark and someone was in the process of building it. While we were at the guest house; whoever was trying to construct the boat, must have left the project, because we never saw anyone working on the partly completed boat. All the wood was new and I remembered wondering how they would get such a big boat off of its stands and to the sea.

We were running around this partly constructed boat playing and laughing. Then decided we were racing cars, and around the boat was the racing track.

"I'm Jim Clark," I shouted enthusiastically. My elder cousins were very tolerant and not like the kids in the playground and in the street. I had a good chance of being indulged and getting my way.

"You can't," replied my cousin Danny. "Jim Clark is dead."

"No he's not - he's a racing car driver."

He went on to tell me that Jim Clark was killed in a racing car crash, in a real racing car race, only a short time ago. I was stunned and shocked. Jim Clark was dead and I never even knew it, or what he looked like.

As years rolled by and other F1 names came and went from the sport, I learnt more of Jim Clark through watching interviews with Jackie Stewart and Graham Hill. He was a very special champion that was liked and respected in the F1 sport across the world.

Below is a link to a documentary of Jim Clark that is on YouTube. It's a very moving documentary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v62StJvxLu8