Possible Meteorite Imaged By Opportunity Rover

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."

Comments

Re:Im no scientist

[Gothmolly]

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.

Lack of crater - explained?

[burtosis]

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.

Wow!

[hansede]

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

Re:Im no scientist

[Blublu]

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

Late-Breaking News from the Council

[Tackhead]

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.

Meteorite From Earth

[geoffrobinson]

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.

mars rover blog

[Frogg]

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

...fascinating stuff!! :)

Re:Odd Shaped Rock?

[GodfatherofSoul]

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

Re:Odd Shaped Rock?

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

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?"

Re:NASA should make RC toys

[Chris Burke]

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?

Re:NASA should make RC toys

[James Skarzinskas]

IE users?

Re:I bet its an obelisk

[davester666]

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...