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Martian Meteorite Gets NASA Mars Rover's Attention

Posted by samzenpus on from the would-you-look-at-that dept.

coondoggie writes "NASA's Mars rover Opportunity will take a small detour on its current journey to check out what could be a toaster-sized iron-based meteorite that crashed into the Red Planet. NASA scientists called the rock 'Oileán Ruaidh,' which is the Gaelic name for an island off the coast of northwestern Ireland. The rock is about 45 centimeters (18 inches) wide from the angle at which it was first seen on September 16."

10 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. Something is missing by Stumbles · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If that is a meteorite, then where is the crater?

    --
    My karma is not a Chameleon.
    1. Re:Something is missing by tokul · · Score: 5, Informative

      If that is a meteorite, then where is the crater?

      Destroyed by winds and soil erosion.

    2. Re:Something is missing by masshuu · · Score: 5, Informative

      http://michaelscomments.wordpress.com/2006/11/19/meteorite-hits-car/
      Look at the size of that rock. It didn't make a crater the size of a house, all it did was add an easy access hole to someones trunk. And roof.
      I imagine by the time a rock that size passes through the atmosphere and survives, its moving slow enough to rebound off the surface, or, in this case, get stopped by a car.

      --
      O.o
    3. Re:Something is missing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

      A) it's small. Small meteorites don't make much of a crater because their velocity is slowed much more than larger meteorites
      B) the area that Opportunity is visiting has experienced substantial erosion on the bedrock surface, such that even if it did make a small dent in the surface, it could be eroded away by now. More durable rock types (such as the iron-nickel meteorites found previously, and also the hematite "blueberry" concretions that litter the surface) tend to accumulate on the surface as the softer rock is worn away. It's what geologists call a lag deposit.

      Incidentally, Opportunity has already moved a closer to the rock in question. The picture in the article was taken on Sol 2363, and there are now pictures downloaded to Sol 2367, such as this one, and this one. The higher-resolution "Panoramic Camera" images aren't fully downloaded, but you can see the edge of the rock. Looks like the next download pass they should have some pretty good shots. Check the "raw images" page for the Opportunity Rover in the next couple of days and there should be plenty of closer shots.

    4. Re:Something is missing by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Interesting

      You seem know nothing about trig and astrophysics so your assertions are completey bollocks. I can come up with at last 50 scenarios where that rock can simply plop there from space slow enough to make a smallish crater, bounce out and lay on the surface. And I only took classes up to the 101 level.

      Are you assuming that everything in space has millions of miles per hour relative velocities? You know the soil composition of that location?
      Are you telling me that if it came in a very shallow angle it could not get any aerobraking? Strange.... as NASA thinks it can, and I am absolutely certain they know a WHOLE LOT MORE than you do on the subject.

      Also given the gravity well strength of Mars, if that rock was simply captured because it was lazily floating about at only a couple hundred miles an hour, it's impact would be a low energy impact due to relative velocities calculated by any acceleration from mars's gravity well. These are only off the cuff in the head calculations. I'll leave it to you to crack out the calculator or mathlab and give us exact numbers. please calculate out at least 10 reentry angles and show us how you are right and NASA is wrong.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  2. Re:Oileán Ruaidh by benwiggy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Oileán Ruaidh translates to red island.

    "Oileán Ruaidh" is pronounced "red island". FTFY.

  3. Re:This sounds familiar... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Mars->Earth is comparatively easy because Mars has much lower gravity and (nowadays) has quite a thin atmosphere. I'm not sure Earth->Mars is even physically possible. It would certainly be many, many times less likely.

    In any case, out of the many thousands of meteorites found on Earth, less than a dozen are known from Mars. So it's very unlikely that the few examples that Opportunity has found are anything other than the usual bits and pieces from collisions in the asteroid belt. The iron-nickel nature of the ones found so far is consistent with such an interpretation. Iron-nickel ones are from broken-up asteroids where the process of chemical and density differentiation caused the iron-nickel to sink towards the core of the asteroid, and then it was smashed by collision -- you can't get iron-nickel meteorites by blasting at the surface of Mars or Earth because iron-nickel isn't exposed on the surface, it's deep in the core of the planets.

  4. Re:Why? by Notlupus · · Score: 3, Informative

    Well the Opportunity Rovers initial mission was supposed to last 90 sols (1 sol = 1 day on Mars), and it has so far functioned for over 2200 sols, so anything interesting they can do with it they will just go for.

  5. Re:Why? by MichaelSmith · · Score: 4, Interesting

    A rock which has been somewhere else can tell you about conditions at its source, and along the path it took to its present location. It makes sense to investigate rocks like this now because Opportunity may not live much longer. Best to take the opportunities (yeah) as they come.

    --
    http://michaelsmith.id.au
  6. Typical by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 4, Funny

    Typical, just typical. We spend all this time and money going to an exotic location to see the sights, but once we're there you want to spend all this time looking through the imported kitsch.