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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."

29 of 82 comments (clear)

  1. 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: 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.
    2. 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
    3. 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=

    4. Re:NASA should make RC toys by James+Skarzinskas · · Score: 5, Funny

      IE users?

  2. 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.

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      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 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.

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

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

      --
      meh
    5. 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
    6. 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.
    7. 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.

    8. 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

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      February 9th, 2009 8:55pm: Slashdot becomes self-aware.
  3. 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".

  4. 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)

  5. 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
  6. 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.

  7. 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 . . .

  8. 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]
  9. 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
  10. 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.
  11. 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!! :)

  12. 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.

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

    Just hope it's not a monolith.

  14. 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...

    --
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