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Opportunity Spots Curious Object On Mars
EhobaX writes "Space.com is reporting that NASA's Opportunity Mars rover has come across an interesting object -- perhaps a meteorite sitting out in the open at Meridiani Planum. Initial data taken by the robot's Mini-Thermal Emission Spectrometer (Mini-TES) is suggestive that the odd-looking "rock" is made of metal."
Maybe it was. It could have come down very shallow and not made a deep impact. Then strong winds could have blown the sand around it to uncover it. If it is made of metal, then it's probably too heavy for the winds to move it much. The wavy patterns in the sand around it make me think the area gets some wind.
I'm just guessing, of course, but it's a possibility.
OK, so speculation is that it's a meteorite - OK, but this was found on a large plain.. what are the odds that a meteor could hit a planet and not leave a crater? Wouldn't the gravity of Mars cause it to increase velocity?
One scenario is that the rock hit Mars a gazillion years ago. Wind storms filled the area with Mars dust. Over the eons, the weather patterns changed, and now the wind storms are blowing the dust out of the area... uncovering the rock.
Though the thing sure looks a lot like a dehydrated Martian to me. Just add water!
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
The best part of the story is it seems that both the rovers will be continuing on for quite some time. Talk about a huge vat of gravy for this mission. It's really nice to see our taxpayer dollars repaid so handsomely.
With the initial "water" find complete, these little critters are free to give us so much more information about Mars than we could have gotten with 50 Viking probes or any manner of orbiting system.
I have something in common with Stephen Hawking...
Actually, the Heat Shield WAS important.
Designing re-entry shields for planets you don't know alot about ( compared to earth ) can be tricky. Undoubtably they overengineered it, and made it heavier than needed just in case.
By examining the heat shield, and the thermal damage, they can get a better feel for the physical and thermal stresses caused by a martian re entry.
This would lead to lighter, better heat shields. And since cost is proportional to weight, a lighter more effective heat shield leads to cheaper future mars missions, or allows one to cram more instruments into a probe. Either way, WIN!
They are tooling around a planet we still know little about, so it's all good.
Maybe the rock did leave a crater in the sand millions of years ago, and the crater got blown away by the wind, leaving the heavy rock sitting there.
Things can sit on the surface forever there. It's not like there's anyone there to say "ooh, this is shiny!" and disturb it. That's a human thing... (although now that human scientists sent a rover to Mars, they're saying "ooh, that rock is shiny!" and disturbing it)
This object is not very far from other debris from the re-entry. It could very well turn out to be a chunk of something that got a bit melty on the way in.
The next Cmdr Taco duplicate will be ready soon, but subscribers can beat the rush and see it early!
What a great time to be alive! I'm happy that my tax dollars are funding this stuff.