Posted on 07/31/2011 8:25:13 PM PDT by SunkenCiv
Explanation: What has the Opportunity rover found on Mars? While traversing a vast empty plain in 2005 in Meridiani Planum, one of Earth's rolling robots on Mars found a surprise when visiting the location of its own metallic heat shield discarded last year during descent. The surprise is the rock visible on the lower left, found to be made mostly of dense metals iron and nickel. The large cone-shaped object behind it -- and the flank piece on the right -- are parts of Opportunity's jettisoned heat shield. Smaller shield debris is also visible. Scientists do not think that the basketball-sized metal "Heat Shield Rock" originated on Mars, but rather is likely an ancient metallic meteorite. In hindsight, finding a meteorite in a vast empty dust plain on Mars might be considered similar to Earth meteorites found on the vast empty ice plains of Antarctica. The finding raises speculations about the general abundance of rocks on Mars that have fallen there from outer space.
(Excerpt) Read more at 129.164.179.22 ...
[Credit: Mars Exploration Rover Mission, JPL, NASA]
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IBTP
Darn!! You are too fast!
My initial reaction was: “WTH? The Spanish Conquistadors got there too?”
Then I realized it was just the Garthim...
My initial reaction was: “WTH? The Spanish Conquistadors got there too?”
Then I realized it was just the Garthim...
nice pic
Give us your metal or we'll play Slim Whitman.
Don’t tell the EPA or they’ll fine NASA, then declare all of Mars off-limits to humans.
You can play Slim Whitman all day long as far as I’m concerned, no hardship here
Looks a little like my place, where one can get a sunburn within a very few minutes or die from exposure during a summer night. ;-)
Rumor has it that the Martians have sent a bill for cleanup to the White House.
Congress, meanwhile, has emailed the Martians to “get in line.”
And whats-her-name from Texas will probably want to pay it.
KILROY WAS HERE.
From the looks that was one soft landing.
And you would think those moslems would know what an impact crater looks like. Maybe not enough money in the budget over at NASA to even TRY to do a believable Mars pic?
For all I know that is pic someone’s Uncle Bob took of a smithereen from a blown to hell Peugeot in the Kuwaiti desert.
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