Mars Rover Opportunity Finds a Possible Meteorite
The Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity has eyed an oddly shaped, dark rock, which may be a meteorite and is about 2 feet across, on the surface of the Red Planet on July 18, 2009.
The team spotted the rock called 'Block Island' in the opposite direction from which it was driving. The rover then backtracked some 820 feet to study it closer. Scientists will test the rock with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to get composition measurements and to confirm if indeed it is a meteorite.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity successfully landed on Mars on January 3, 2004, and January 24, 2004, respectively. Their mission was to search for evidence indicating that Mars once held conditions hospitable to life.
To date, the Rovers have relayed over a quarter million images taken from the surface of Mars. Studies conducted by the Rovers have indicated that early Mars was characterized by impacts, explosive volcanoes, and subsurface water and each Rover has discovered geological evidence of ancient Martian environments where habitable conditions may have existed.
In the last five years, the Rovers have explored over 21 kilometers of Martian terrain, climbed Martian hills, descended deep into large craters, survived dust storms, and endured 3 cold, dark Martian winters. They have far exceeding the original 90-Martian day mission requirement and to this day continue their missions of surface exploration and scientific discovery.
For more information:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1437.html
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=894
AstroMart News Archive:
http://www.astromart.com/news/search.asp?search=.+&search_btn=Go
The team spotted the rock called 'Block Island' in the opposite direction from which it was driving. The rover then backtracked some 820 feet to study it closer. Scientists will test the rock with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to get composition measurements and to confirm if indeed it is a meteorite.
The Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity successfully landed on Mars on January 3, 2004, and January 24, 2004, respectively. Their mission was to search for evidence indicating that Mars once held conditions hospitable to life.
To date, the Rovers have relayed over a quarter million images taken from the surface of Mars. Studies conducted by the Rovers have indicated that early Mars was characterized by impacts, explosive volcanoes, and subsurface water and each Rover has discovered geological evidence of ancient Martian environments where habitable conditions may have existed.
In the last five years, the Rovers have explored over 21 kilometers of Martian terrain, climbed Martian hills, descended deep into large craters, survived dust storms, and endured 3 cold, dark Martian winters. They have far exceeding the original 90-Martian day mission requirement and to this day continue their missions of surface exploration and scientific discovery.
For more information:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_1437.html
http://www.astromart.com/news/news.asp?news_id=894
AstroMart News Archive:
http://www.astromart.com/news/search.asp?search=.+&search_btn=Go
