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Mars Rock Found In Antarctica

Posted by timothy on from the it-was-lonely dept.

lousyd writes "Scientists with with ANSMET, the Antarctic Search for Meteorites, have found a meteorite in the Antarctic that apparently has come from Mars. Weighing in at 715.2 grams, the find has been confirmed by the National Museum of Natural History. The rock is a member of the 'nakhlite' set, and has been named MIL 03346. By having the real thing before them, this offers Mars researchers a reality check on the data coming back from the various probes currently on Mars."

5 of 51 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Welll by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

    Yes.

  2. Re:I'm curious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    Anyone know what to look for when searching meteorites ?

    Antarctica really is the best place to look for meteorites. There are huge areas where the only rocks are metoeorites (the rest is snow and ice). I'm sure it's on ANSMET's site some place, but I can't find it. Part of the East Antarctic Ice Sheet flows into the Transantarctic Mountaains. As the ice flows up the mountainside it sublimated by strong winds (nasty place). Any rocks in the ice are left just sitting on the surface. The dark rocks stand out well on the blue ice.

  3. Re:Venus rocks not likely by Urkki · · Score: 2, Insightful
    • Remember folks, launching stuff into a much higher orbit requires lots of energy.

      The reason Mars rocks get here is because they are intercepted on their way to the sun.

    Bzz. Wrong. Launching stuff to a much lower orbit also requires lots of energy. Basically the energy requirement is the same between two orbits, no matter wether you go from a lower to a higher orbit or the other way around. Quite obivious when you think about it, otherwise you could make perpetual motion machine, tapping the energy difference...
  4. Re:I'm curious... by nlindstrom · · Score: 2, Insightful
    By having the real thing before them, this offers Mars researchers a reality check on the data coming back from the various probes currently on Mars.
    Bzzzzt! Wrong! You cannot compare A with B and use B to verify A if you are unable to independently verify B first. In other words, since we've yet to bring back any samples from Mars, we cannot know for certain that the Arctic rock is indeed Martian, and therefore cannot use it to sanity-check the data coming from Mars.

    It's a great case of a cyclic logic falicy: A agrees with B, therefore B verifies A. It's like saying God exists because the bible says so, and the bible is correct about God's existence since God wrote the bible.

  5. Re:I'm curious... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
    It's not as simple as you think (pretend?). There are many facts in a single rock. A good geologist could probably tell you over a hundered things about a single rock. A thousand if you gave them a bunch of money to run some expensive tests. Not just one. For example, trapped gasses show the rock came from Mars because it matches the air sampled by probes. You can then use other facts about the rock to tell you more about rocks seen by probes on Mars.

    It's funny how people on Slashdot are so sure they know so much more than people who spend their entire lives on a topic. Do you have also have a plan for cleaning the solar panels that you're sure NASA missed?

    I also don't know what your comment has to do with the parent comment maybe you clicked in the wrong place? While I'm picking at nits, I'd like to point out that they are Antarctic rocks.