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Possible Meteorite Imaged By Opportunity Rover

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the marvin-is-right-behind-it dept.

Matt_dk writes "The Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock, about 0.6 meters (2 feet) across on the surface of Mars, which may be a meteorite. The team spotted the rock called 'Block Island,' on July 18, 2009, in the opposite direction from which it was driving. The rover then backtracked some 250 meters (820 feet) to study it closer. Scientists will be testing the rock with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to get composition measurements and to confirm if indeed it is a meteorite."

58 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. I bet its an obelisk by Hansele · · Score: 1

    After all you know, Arthur C Clarke predicted this in 2001: A Space Odyssey, then in 2010

    1. Re:I bet its an obelisk by Tubal-Cain · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just hope it's not a monolith.

    2. Re:I bet its an obelisk by 3chuck3 · · Score: 1

      No Warhammer 40000 Necron Scout debris, Necrons came to Vaul Moon to look for their lost God, the Void Dragon!!!!!

    3. Re:I bet its an obelisk by davester666 · · Score: 5, Funny

      It's probably an native crouching down, thinking "if I just stay still, maybe it won't probe me".

      No chance, because paybacks a bitch. Now, we just need to figure out which end is the front and which is the back...

      --
      Sleep your way to a whiter smile...date a dentist!
  2. NASA should make RC toys by InMSWeAntitrust · · Score: 3, Insightful

    NASA should make RC toys to build funds, if anything I bought lasted as long as these rovers, I'd be a happy camper.

    1. Re:NASA should make RC toys by Canazza · · Score: 1

      I'd buy a model ISS to hang from my ceiling. The best part? They can charge extra for the add-ons!

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    2. Re:NASA should make RC toys by FudRucker · · Score: 1

      even better is make one with lots of wireless accessories that can roll around in your yard, things like a camera, microphone, loud speaker, pepper spray, tazer, machinegun (well maybe not a machinegun)

      --
      Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
    3. Re:NASA should make RC toys by Canazza · · Score: 2, Funny

      Just let me attach an "Ion Cannon" to it :D

      --
      It pays to be obvious, especially if you have a reputation for being subtle.
    4. Re:NASA should make RC toys by Vu1turEMaN · · Score: 1

      And then kids would buy them and dream of being astronauts and hell...maybe in 1000 years the United Earth Sphere Alliance will finally put money into space development. Until the Gundams come...

    5. Re:NASA should make RC toys by Chris+Burke · · Score: 5, Insightful

      NASA should make RC toys to build funds, if anything I bought lasted as long as these rovers, I'd be a happy camper.

      Yeah but who the hell is going to buy an RC toy that has a top speed of 0.1 mph and doesn't respond to your commands for twenty minutes?

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
    6. Re:NASA should make RC toys by Smidge204 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      > (well maybe not a machinegun)

      Yeah, the recoil would bounce the thing all over.

      Therefore; Rocket launcher.
      =Smidge=

    7. Re:NASA should make RC toys by farnsaw · · Score: 1

      They do make them, and sell them, but most people don't want to / cannot pay for $30,000,000+ radio control / semi-autonomous toys. Personally, I would and want to, but cannot afford to do so.

      --
      "Computer Scientists can count to 1024 on their fingers" (non-mutant, non-mutilatated, human computer scientists)
    8. Re:NASA should make RC toys by James+Skarzinskas · · Score: 5, Funny

      IE users?

    9. Re:NASA should make RC toys by GundamFan · · Score: 1

      It's too bad I don't have mod points, the parent actually made me laugh.

      --
      I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
      Mark Twain
    10. Re:NASA should make RC toys by ukyoCE · · Score: 1

      Which is going to live longer, the Mars Rover or IE 6

      >.

    11. Re:NASA should make RC toys by Late+Adopter · · Score: 1

      Radio Shack customers?

    12. Re:NASA should make RC toys by rafaelolg · · Score: 1

      If you think the NASA toys would last long imagine how long a Mir toy would last.

  3. Im no scientist by Alarindris · · Score: 3, Insightful

    But shouldn't there be a bigass crater with a meteorite that big?

    1. Re:Im no scientist by Gothmolly · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Less than you'd think - the biggest damage is not caused by the impact, but by the supersonic shock wave of superheated air preceding the meteor. In a thin atmosphere like Mars, there's a much less pronounced shock wave.

      --
      I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
    2. Re:Im no scientist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      Well, in the picture there's no crater at all. The thing is sitting on the surface. That's certainly "less than I'd think".

    3. Re:Im no scientist by truckaxle · · Score: 1

      Conservation of energy. Less atmosphere, less shock wave; greater velocity and impact force.

    4. Re:Im no scientist by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I know nothing either, but maybe a big meteorite landed some distance away and made a crater and exploded flinging decent sized fragments out in all directions, this then bounced and rolled to a stop without ending up sitting in a crater.

    5. Re:Im no scientist by Blublu · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Wait, shouldn't the moon then be ... less ... uh, cratered?

      --
      meh
    6. Re:Im no scientist by Alioth · · Score: 3, Interesting

      There probably is one, somewhere. This may be a smaller piece of a much larger impact - I'd expect bits of the meteorite to bounce and land some distance from the main impact site.

      --
      Oolite: Elite-like game. For Mac, Linux and Windows
    7. Re:Im no scientist by Drakin020 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The Opportunity rover is also on a long path towards a crater if I'm not mistaken. That could be from an impact that send other rocks flying out to various areas.

      --
      The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
    8. Re:Im no scientist by farnsaw · · Score: 1

      If you look carefully at the image on the page linked, just to the left of the rock, you can clearly see the footprints of those who moved it into place.

      ... now I just have to edit that image... where did I store that NASA website password again?

      --
      "Computer Scientists can count to 1024 on their fingers" (non-mutant, non-mutilatated, human computer scientists)
    9. Re:Im no scientist by kiehlster · · Score: 1

      That's only if they decide to study it with the Uranium Pew-36 Explosive Space Modulator instead of the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer.

    10. Re:Im no scientist by cyn1c77 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Less than you'd think - the biggest damage is not caused by the impact, but by the supersonic shock wave of superheated air preceding the meteor. In a thin atmosphere like Mars, there's a much less pronounced shock wave.

      What!?!?! Do you have any technical qualifications to make that statement? Because from a scientific standpoint, it is complete bullshit.

      No way. I completely disagree with you. That's like saying that a bullet doesn't hurt you that much, but the shock it drives in the air ahead of it does all the damage. Think about the impedance mismatch between the shocked air and the solid ground... it makes no sense.

      While you are correct that there is less of a shock in a thinner atmosphere, you have your damage reasoning completely wrong. The airblast does very little damage to solid rock where as the impact of a stone or metal meteorite will deliver massive damage. You need to consider the relative energy contained in the shock wave versus the kinetic energy of the moving solid object. The solid object driving the shock wins every time... and by a massive margin. That's why it is driving the shock wave in the atmosphere.

      If anything, the thinness of the Martian atmosphere means that it would have hit the planet going much faster and remaining much more intact (prior to impact) than it would have on Earth or Venus. Thus, the thinness of the atmosphere would result in increased damage to the surface.

      A more likely explanation is that this is a fragment from a cratering event that got blown away from the crater during the impact explosion.

    11. Re:Im no scientist by RockWolf · · Score: 2, Funny

      No, the moon has virtually no atmosphere unlike Mars which has a thin wind, causing erosive effects. The moon is like a museum until something hits it.

      At which point it continues to be a museum, just with a hole in it.

      /~Rockwolf

      --
      February 9th, 2009 8:55pm: Slashdot becomes self-aware.
    12. Re:Im no scientist by bhiestand · · Score: 1

      You need to consider the relative energy contained in the shock wave versus the kinetic energy of the moving solid object. The solid object driving the shock wins every time... and by a massive margin. That's why it is driving the shock wave in the atmosphere.

      Clearly you have not yet seen the elusive Martian Stork Feather Meteorite.

      I accept your apology, sir.

      --
      SWM seeks new sig for a brief fling
  4. I was worried for a second... by mongoose(!no) · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was worried for a second when I misread the title as "Possible Meteorite Imagined By Opportunity Rover".

    1. Re:I was worried for a second... by GundamFan · · Score: 1

      Yeah, poor little guy doesn't have any humans to crush now that he is self aware. Conversely, Opportunity became self aware and just sees the logic in following NASA's commands... no one ever explores this possibility in sci-fi...

      --
      I don't give a damn for a man that can only spell a word one way.
      Mark Twain
  5. Odd Shaped Rock? by truckaxle · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Why the use of this adjective? Most rocks i know of are "odd shaped"

    1. Re:Odd Shaped Rock? by GodfatherofSoul · · Score: 4, Informative

      Odd==not eroded according to the geology and climate of Mars.

      --
      I swear to God...I swear to God! That is NOT how you treat your human!
    2. Re:Odd Shaped Rock? by MobileTatsu-NJG · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Why the use of this adjective? Most rocks i know of are "odd shaped"

      Because it stood out from the other rocks in the area. It's easy to imagine that they had Slashdot nitpickers in mind when they wrote that. "How could they tell it wasn't just a rock that's been sitting there for ages and ages?"

      --

      "I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)

    3. Re:Odd Shaped Rock? by Late+Adopter · · Score: 1

      Because it resembles every second one they find.

  6. all this story made me thing of was by circletimessquare · · Score: 3, Informative

    mmm... block island

    salt water taffy, clams, lobster...

    http://www.blockislandguide.com/cuisine.html

    sorry, its 11:52 am right now on the east coast

    time to go to lunch i think

    --
    intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
  7. Lack of crater - explained? by burtosis · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Perhaps it tumbled into position and the crater(s) are some distance away. It looks highly unusual as it is sitting too high up above the surface indicating that it was not deposited along with the rest of the material which *guessing* is why they were able to identify it as a possible meteorite from such a far away distance. Besides the color presumably not matching the surrounding material.

    1. Re:Lack of crater - explained? by macraig · · Score: 1

      The parent object "exploded" on impact and this got flung far from the impact point, most likely. I believe they call that phenomenon ejacula... err, ejecta.

    2. Re:Lack of crater - explained? by Drakin020 · · Score: 1

      Opportunity is actually on it's way to a large crater. Perhaps it could come from an impact in that area.

      --
      The greatest revenge in life is massive success.
    3. Re:Lack of crater - explained? by Froeschle · · Score: 1

      Besides the color presumably not matching the surrounding material.
      I would be inclined to agree if it were not a grey-scale image.

  8. Wow! by hansede · · Score: 4, Funny

    Looks like the Monolith was discovered on Mars. For some reason I was expecting it to be found on the Moon . . .

    1. Re:Wow! by ijakings · · Score: 1

      Maybe we should import this "Monolith" to earth, it cant make games any worse than its namesake.

    2. Re:Wow! by mtemmerm · · Score: 1

      I had imagined it... taller?

  9. . . . what if someone is inside . . .? by PolygamousRanchKid+ · · Score: 1

    Scientists will be testing the rock with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to get composition measurements and to confirm if indeed it is a meteorite.

    . . . if there's some Mars critters in there, they ain't gonna be happy.

    . . . before you say "get off my lawn," do you mind if I point my "alpha particle X-ray spectrometer" at your house . . . ?

    --
    Schroedinger's Brexit: The UK is both in and out of the EU at the same time!
  10. A meteorite? by VincenzoRomano · · Score: 2, Funny

    that must have softlanded not to leave the crater!
    As an alternate scientific hypotesis I would say the martians just put a rock there to make fun of us!

    --
    Maybe Computers will never be as intelligent as Humans.
    For sure they won't ever become so stupid. [VR-1988]
  11. It's a crashed probe sent from Europa. by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

    Look, Earthlings don't have a monopoly on flubbing rover landings or making unit conversion screw-ups. Fortunately we still have a monopoly on working Mars rovers! They though that since Mar's atmosphere is so weak they could completely ignore air friction and make the thing out of really light and cheap materials, and that melted hunk of slab is all that's left of their rover.

    On the other hand, the Euporans are way ahead of us on exploring Neptune.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  12. Late-Breaking News from the Council by Tackhead · · Score: 5, Funny
    Citizens of our peaceful red world stand engorged with pride, as confirmation has come in that the second of the robotic invaders from the blue planet has been immobilized. K'Breel, speaker for the Council of Elders, made the announcement from his flagship:

    When we embarked upon this campaign, we had no idea how long it would take. Having buried the first monstrosity up to its wheels in the ashes of legions of the blue planet's soldiers, our Kinetic Bombardment Force has turned its attention to the region infested by the monstrosity's evil twin. Rejoice, podmates, for even the blue planet's own puerile propaganda illustrates that their second robotic monstrosity now stands paralyzed with fear!

    When a journalist suggested that the blue planet's robot had merely paused to inspect a meteorite, K'Breel had the traitor's gelsacs stapled to the heat shield of his flagship, and initiated re-entry procedures.

    1. Re:Late-Breaking News from the Council by Chris+Burke · · Score: 3, Funny

      For the love of Jeebus, please Martian journalists, please learn to stop contradicting K'Breel to his face!

      --

      The enemies of Democracy are
  13. Meteorite From Earth by geoffrobinson · · Score: 4, Funny

    It would be humorous if the meteorite on Mars was of Earth origin (blow back from Earth getting hit by something). We found evidence of life on Mars! Err, it's from Earth.

    --
    Except for ending slavery, the Nazis, communism, & securing American independence, war has never solved anything.
  14. mars rover blog by Frogg · · Score: 4, Interesting

    here's a link to a blog by someone on the mars rover team:- Mars and Me

    ...fascinating stuff!! :)

    1. Re:mars rover blog by j0se_p0inter0 · · Score: 1

      Thanks for the link! Some good stuff on there,

  15. Not odd is odd by tizan · · Score: 1

    A rock in the shape of a sphere or a cube or a tetrahedron...now that will be odd to have
    such a non odd shaped rock on Mars. Hence a non odd shaped rock is odd and an odd
    shaped rock is non odd. Go figure what was meant then

  16. Turns out... by erbbysam · · Score: 1

    Turns out that Opputunity spotted this metorite in space. Heading towards earth. That is all.

  17. and costs millions of dollars? by WoTG · · Score: 1

    I don't think I'd be able to afford a realistic version of the rover... but an officially licensed NASA rover toy would be kind of cool.

  18. 7th meteorite found by rovers by peter303 · · Score: 2, Informative

    The first one found in 2005 made big news. Since then there have been seven more suspected.

  19. Re:pedant = 1 by Chris+Burke · · Score: 1

    Your proposed subject line is inferior. Doesn't matter if you won't read anything that might challenge your monopoly on whining. Your irrational hatred of passive voice is still foolish and wrong. That is not what your 4th grade writing teacher was trying to tell you.

    Also, and go ahead and call me a pedant, but pedantry does not mean criticizing the style of something that is grammatically, syntactically, and semantically correct.

    --

    The enemies of Democracy are
  20. History Repeats Itself by sysusr · · Score: 1

    Silly NASA keeps forgetting to put in the blast crater...

    --
    \x72\x6D\x20\x2D\x72\x66