[meteorite-list] Mars Rover Discovers A Potential Meteorite

[j.divelbiss at att.net]

Thanx Jeff for the comparison.

If your first pic is the fragment on Mars...then it sure looks like a piece of an iron asteroid to me.

John




-------------- Original message from Jeff Grossman <jgrossman at 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.J 
> PG 
> 
> 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 
> 
> 
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