[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Discovers A Potential Meteorite

From: Jeff Grossman <jgrossman_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Jan 14 16:52:19 2005
Message-ID: <5.1.0.14.2.20050114164528.012176a0_at_gsvaresm02.er.usgs.gov>

I don't know if this thing is a real meteorite, but check out these two
images. I think they are about the same size, both found in cold deserts.

Heat Shield Rock, Mars:
http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/all/1/p/346/1P158910593EFF40DPP2593L7M1.JPG

Derrick Peak Iron, Antarctica:
http://www.racine.ra.it/planet/testi/Foto/dpeak.htm

Incredibly similar.

Jeff

At 04:24 PM 1/14/2005, Ron Baalke wrote:


>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.
>
>
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Dr. Jeffrey N. Grossman phone: (703) 648-6184
US Geological Survey fax: (703) 648-6383
954 National Center
Reston, VA 20192, USA
Received on Fri 14 Jan 2005 04:52:12 PM PST