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."

Comments

Meteorite?

[HeighYew]

I would think that a meteorite would've been buried in the sand instead of sitting on top of it...

Meteorite with no crater?

[schon]

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?

Anyone with more knowledge of meteor physics than me have an explanation?

Re:Meteorite with no crater?

[DrXym]

Maybe it hit water in some previous age and sunk to the bottom?

What was their first reaction?

[RobertB-DC]

So the NASA team has been poking around the planet for more than a(n Earth) year, right? Most of the surprises happened months ago... now it's just a matter of finding something to do until the batteries quit holding their charge. Looking at the heat shield doesn't seem like a very revealing bit of science -- more of a "gee look how far we've come" sort of cool thing.

Then they get a picture of a big freaking rock with a bunch of wierd holes, sitting there in the middle of a windblown plain. Not covered in dust like everything else... even the wind patterns in the dust around it look new.

What do you think the first guy to get that picture said when he looked, and then looked again, and realized that this wasn't going to be just another day on Mars?