Opportunity confirms meteorite
Thu Aug 6, 2009 at 19:22 UTC
Composition measurements by Opportunity confirm that this rock on the Martian surface is an iron-nickel meteorite.
The camera took the image during the 1,961st Martian day, or sol, of Opportunity's mission on Mars (July 31), after approaching close enough to touch the rock with tools on the rover's robotic arm.
Researchers have informally named the rock "Block Island." With a width of about two-thirds of a meter (2 feet), it is the largest meteorite yet found on Mars. Opportunity found a smaller iron-nickel meteorite, called "Heat Shield Rock" in late 2004.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Cornell University
| Source: Jet Propulsion Laboratory | |
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