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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 14 October 2012

The first Martian rock NASA’s Curiosity rover has reached out to touch presents a more varied composition than expected from previous missions.

The rock also resembles some unusual rocks from Earth’s interior.

The rover team used two instruments on Curiosity to study the chemical makeup of the football-size rock called “Jake Matijevic” (matt-EE-oh-vick).

The results support some surprising recent measurements and provide an example of why identifying rocks’ composition is such a major emphasis of the mission. Rock compositions tell stories about unseen environments and planetary processes.

“This rock is a close match in chemical composition to an unusual but well-known type of igneous rock found in many volcanic provinces on Earth,” said Edward Stolper of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, who is a Curiosity co-investigator. “With only one Martian rock of this type, it is difficult to know whether the same processes were involved, but it is a reasonable place to start thinking about its origin.”

On Earth, rocks with composition like the Jake rock typically come from processes in the planet’s mantle beneath the crust, from crystallization of relatively water-rich magma at elevated pressure.

Jake was the first rock analyzed by the rover’s arm-mounted Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) instrument and about the thirtieth rock examined by the Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) instrument.

Two penny-size spots on Jake were analyzed Sept. 22 by the rover’s improved and faster version of earlier APXS devices on all previous Mars rovers, which have examined hundreds of rocks. That information has provided scientists a library of comparisons for what Curiosity sees.

“Jake is kind of an odd Martian rock,” said APXS Principal Investigator Ralf Gellert of the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. “It’s high in elements consistent with the mineral feldspar, and low in magnesium and iron.”

ChemCam found unique compositions at each of 14 target points on the rock, hitting different mineral grains within it.

“ChemCam had been seeing compositions suggestive of feldspar since August, and we’re getting closer to confirming that now with APXS data, although there are additional tests to be done,” said ChemCam Principal Investigator Roger Wiens (WEENS) of Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico.

Examination of Jake included the first comparison on Mars between APXS results and results from checking the same rock with ChemCam, which shoots laser pulses from the top of the rover’s mast.

The wealth of information from the two instruments checking chemical elements in the same rock is just a preview. Curiosity also carries analytical laboratories inside the rover to provide other composition information about powder samples from rocks and soil.

The mission is progressing toward getting the first soil sample into those analytical instruments during a “sol,” or Martian day.

“Yestersol, we used Curiosity’s first perfectly scooped sample for cleaning the interior surfaces of our 150-micron sample-processing chambers. It’s our version of a Martian carwash,” said Chris Roumeliotis (room-eel-ee-OH-tiss), lead turret rover planner at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Before proceeding, the team carefully studied the material for scooping at a sandy patch called “Rocknest,” where Curiosity is spending about three weeks.

“That first sample was perfect, just the right particle-size distribution,” said JPL’s Luther Beegle, Curiosity sampling-system scientist. “We had a lot of steps to be sure it was safe to go through with the scooping and cleaning.”

Following the work at Rocknest, the rover team plans to drive Curiosity about 100 yards eastward and select a rock in that area as the first target for using the drill.

For more about the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover mission, visit www.nasa.gov/msl and http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl .

You can follow the mission on Facebook and Twitter at www.facebook.com/marscuriosity and www.twitter.com/marscuriosity .

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Written by: Lake County News reports

Published: 13 October 2012

NICE, Calif. – A Lucerne man was in critical condition at a regional trauma center Saturday night after he was seriously injured in a motorcycle crash earlier in the day.

Ramsey Wade Milks, 39, was injured in the wreck, which the California Highway Patrol said occurred at about 5:10 p.m.

Milks was driving his 1982 Yamaha 500 motorcycle and exiting the northbound Highway 29 offramp to the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff when, according to the CHP, he illegally passed a vehicle on the left while failing to step for the posted stop sign at the base of the offramp.

The CHP said Milks continued driving his motorcycle in a reckless manner and at a high rate of speed eastbound on the Nice-Lucerne Cutoff east of Lakeshore Drive. He then allowed his motorcycle to travel to the right of the paved eastbound lane.

Milks lost control of the motorcycle on the soft dirt and gravel shoulder that borders the eastbound lane and the motorcycle went down the sloped embankment, the CHP said.

The left side handlebar of Milks’ motorcycle struck a power pole on the east shoulder of the cutoff, and the impact caused Milks to be ejected into the power pole, according to the CHP.

The CHP said Milks was transported via REACH air ambulance to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital.

Milks was admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit, where he was being treated for a skull fracture and brain swelling, the CHP reported.

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Written by: Nathalie V. Antus

Published: 13 October 2012

CLEARLAKE, Calif. – A week of workshops focused on reinventing and revitalizing Clearlake’s Lakeshore Drive drew significant attendance this past week.

Officials said that the participation in the events dedicated to the Lakeshore Drive Downtown Corridor was very high and extremely positive.

On Friday evening, a final workshop and community reception were held, which included the unveiling of the preliminary designs that a design team came up with based on community involvement. Lake County News will have a followup article on the specifics of those preliminary designs.

The “Envisioning the Future of Clearlake’s Downtown Lakeshore Corridor” events earlier in the week began with a walking assessment followed by a workshop in Clearlake City Hall on Tuesday evening.

Mayor Joey Luiz welcomed participants at the workshop at city hall and Paul Zykofsky, associate director of the Local Government Commission, moderated the evening’s event.

Special guest, Irwin Kaplan – former interim city of Clearlake Community Development director and head of the City’s Vision Task Force – discussed how the task force’s document and design guidelines that were used as blueprints for the current Lakeshore Drive planning project.

The Vision Task Force Report can be found at http://theclearlakevisiontaskforce.wikispaces.com/Report .

Kaplan reiterated a quote that still holds true, five years after he said it during the presentation of the task force’s report: “If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.”

With the new Caltrans grant that is helping to fund the Lakeshore Drive Downtown Corridor project, rather than reinventing the wheel, the Vision Task Force Report is an informative blueprint containing, “precious things to the community,” Kaplan said.

He reminded the audience and community that they were stakeholders, “with a chance to make things better.”  

Alluding to the majestic trees that fill the city of Clearlake, Irwin compared improving the city to, “precious oaks – they don’t grow overnight.”

Zykofsky asked the audience for their vision of the Lakeshore corridor in 10 to 20 years down the road.  

Community members were asked to write their answers on index cards that were provided. Then, they were asked to put down five different words about what they valued and why they connected with the city. These words were written on sticky notes and pasted together on the wall behind the audience.

The goal for improving Lakeshore Drive was to help design a livable and healthy community, and to “encourage your hopes, not your fears,” Zykofsky said.  

Advisory and focus group meetings, along with the Lake County/City Area Planning Council, had weeks earlier helped set the tone for the evening’s events and the rest of the week’s.

Community members would become community designers, using aerial photographs to sketch suggestions and communicate their ideas for changes to the project area.  

A slideshow was presented by Zykofsky, with projected improvements, including complete streets that support safe, comfortable and convenient routes, where transit, pedestrians and those using wheelchairs could proceed on the roads. The vision was for streets designed not only for cars but for people.

Several different towns were highlighted, showing their progress. In Shasta County, Cottonwood’s Main Street was featured, with new curb extensions and planters, bringing plazas and parking to life.  Its roads, speed zones and gateway designs all changed positively with improvements.

Other examples presented included having 5-foot buffers, for side by side walking, crosswalk visibility and crossing islands. Street improvements included having skewed intersections and right angle-cross walk intersections.  

Popular features on Lakeshore Drive are its bike lanes. Ten feet of space is needed for lanes, but it was explained that 12 feet would be even safer.

Back-in angled parking is a feature that is developing in numerous towns. Off Highway 16 in Esparto, the feature, with directions posted, allowed cars to back in, leaving their trunks facing the sidewalks, away from the main road, and car doors opening to a point of safety as well.

Roundabouts, a modern feature, can be found in two places in Lake County. Instead of a three- or four-way stop, roundabouts move traffic at a better capacity, according to traffic studies. Clearlake’s Olympic and Lakeshore Drive was deemed a good example for such a feature. The design team suggested that beautiful intersections could be created with roundabouts.  

The city of Clearlake has three lakefront parks, and suggestions for improving them offered at the workshop included farmers’ markets and the kinds of improvements made at Lucerne’s waterside parks, where new grass, benches, lighting and other features were installed.

Having places to sit, lighting, murals and fountains also were highlighted in the presentation.  

Kaplan reminded the audience that few cities have a main road that caters to tourist traffic as does Lakeshore Drive.  

Community members then became “community designers.” They divided into several smaller groups for the design workshop portion of the evening. At each design table, groups were to design their solutions, writing and sketching their ideas, issues and concerns and present to the rest of the group.

Email Nathalie V. Antus at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .