[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Discovers A Potential Meteorite

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jan 14 16:24:32 2005
Message-ID: <200501142124.NAA00087_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn6883

Mars rover discovers a potential meteorite
Kelly Young
New Scientist
January 14, 2005

NASA's rover Opportunity has spotted an unusual rock on Mars that may be
a meteorite.

The rover first glimpsed the rock two weeks ago as it approached the
remains of its heat shield, which plummeted to Mars during the rover's
descent through the atmosphere in January 2004.

The object, about the size of a potato, caught the eyes of ground
controllers because of its unusual pitted surface. "We've been seeing
little rocks on the plain since the start of the mission," says Steven
Squyres at Cornell University, the Mars rovers' chief scientist. "We all
just kind of assumed they're little pieces of Martian basalt."

But Opportunity's infrared spectrometer, called Mini-TES, saw that this
object did not radiate thermal energy at the frequencies expected of
"typical" Martian rocks, leading scientists to hypothesise that the
object might in fact be a meteorite rich in metal.

Opportunity has stayed next to the object and will continue making
measurements over the weekend to confirm whether this is indeed a
meteorite. Squyres says they should have the results by Monday or
Tuesday. "It could be any number of things if somehow we got faked out
by the Mini-TES data," Squyres cautions.

Unexpected circumstances

Meteorites are objects that survive the - sometimes fiery - fall to a
planet's surface from space. Only about 2% of the meteorites that land
on Earth are made of nickel and iron. The rest are made of rock.

Squyres says that the rover's rock abrasion tool, which is used to grind
away the surface of rocks, had never been tested against a metal like
nickel. "I didn't see this coming," he told New Scientist.

Opportunity will celebrate its first birthday on the Martian surface on
25 January. So far, it has trekked over 2000 metres around Meridiani
Planum and recently weathered its first dust storm.

Opportunity's twin rover, Spirit, has been roaming around the other side
of the planet on an area called Husband Hill, but it has had trouble
getting around because its wheels have been slipping on the sandy,
sloped surface. Ground controllers have also been monitoring a
fist-sized rock which has become stuck in the wall of Spirit's wheel.
Received on Fri 14 Jan 2005 04:24:20 PM PST