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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."
So that is what happened to the Beagle lander! They finally found it.
Kinetic stupidity has a new brand leader: Allen Zadr.
I still prefer a cute bunny over metal robot.
To make a good sci-fi story though, Opportunity might have just reached its expiry date and that'll keep everybody in suspense for a long time.
Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
Wait -- I've seen this movie! DON'T GO LOOK AT IT!
If we tell GWB it's a WMD, maybe we'll finally get a real space program...
Jimmy Hoffa has been found...
Be careful with the abrasion tool or there could be an earth-shattering kaboom.
I would think that a meteorite would've been buried in the sand instead of sitting on top of it...
There are 10 kinds of people in the world, those who understand binary and those who don't...what about the other 8?
I always wondered what happened to it.
-- I discovered this SIG in the lost and found department.
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?
Project leader Kenobi: it's not a rock. It's a space station
Data Analyst Rimmer: Aliens!
Computer Programmer Neo: Woaaah
Charateristic topology, metal composition, scorched surroundings; clearly Mars is giving birth.
It's the Monolith. Taa... taa... taaa...... TATAAAA!!!
Vivin Suresh Paliath
http://vivin.net
I like
it's a Starbucks. They really ARE everywhere.
The Blaster Master Fighting for Truth, Justice, and Evil Pie since 1979
I stress that this is very preliminary!
:)
Did this guy think that by saying that he would somehow prevent half of the internet preparing some crackpot theory within 5 seconds of reading it?
Personally, I'll wait before jumping to conclusions, and look forward to reading the followup!
I'm not stressed. I'm just terribly, terribly alert.
This is a big deal. You don't find raw metal much on Mars; most of it is tied up with oxygen. Raw metal has many implications: if it is common, it can be a great source of base building. If the metals are rare on Earth as well, and they're common on Mars, they could provide a potential export source. If it is a meteor, and they're common, it could affect our models of how often Mars gets struck by meteors. Since the rock isn't buried, it could provide clues as to how long it's been on Mars, how fast Meridiani Planum is eroding, and give us dataon how metals wear over time on Mars.
Any time you find something you've never found before, it's a big deal. Honestly, to people who've been following the mission, it looked like Opportunity was pretty much wrapping things up. It just left a geological treasure trove and there isn't much more "on the map", so to speak. It's neat to see it continue making nice finds.
We're practicing our labials.
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?
Stressed? Me? Of course not. Stress is what a rubber band feels before it breaks, silly.
For those of you who don't know what TES (Thermal Emission Spectrometer) is, here is some more information. The webpage is quite interesting.
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...
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)
It could be a terrible miscalculation in scale. Good thing there are no small dogs on Mars.
"Iron meteorites", also called "irons", are usually just one big blob of iron-nickel (Fe-Ni) metal, as if it came from a industrial refinery without shaping. The alloy ranges from 5% to 62% nickel from meteorite to meteorite, with an average of 10% nickel. Cobalt averages about 0.5%, and other metals such as the platinum group metals, gallium, and germanium are dissolved in the Fe-Ni metal. (Fe is the chemical symbol for iron.) While most "irons" are pure or nearly pure metal, the technical definition of an "iron" includes metal meteorites with up to 30% mineral inclusions such as sulfides, metal oxides and silicates. The irons represent the cores of former planetoids.
The Spoon
Updated 6/28/2011
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!
Interesting find, but what's up with that caption?
That's not that interesting looking - like most of the rest of Mars we've seen - except to planetologists. I find it interesting that the surface of Mars is so boring. That's because all the action is below the surface, where Mars is teeming with vampires . Once Opportunity takes the bait of probing that rock, setting off the alarms, the thin Martian air will be filled with flapping batwings. Our wisdom in sending a bloodless probe will pay off, as we'll have drawn them out into the rays of the sun, where our robot minions are a match for the weakened biters. I'll be playing the SOLASER across the face of the Red Planet this week, amplifying the beneficent rays of the Sun perhaps enough to make a difference. That is, if the vampire-controlled FAA doesn't stop me with their "laser-warning system" they've bankrolled on trumped-up terror propaganda.
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make install -not war
What a great time to be alive! I'm happy that my tax dollars are funding this stuff.
Look ! Look at the shiny rock. In the meantime the Martians will be sneaking away behind them.