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Mars rover spots possible meteorite

AUG 05, 2009
Physics Today
Physics Today : NASA’s Opportunity rover has eyed an odd-shaped, dark rock on the surface of Mars—NASA scientists think it could be a meteorite.
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Above is a close-up view of " Block Island ,” the odd-shaped, dark rock, which may be a meteorite. The rock was imaged with the navigation camera on NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity on sol 1959 (July 28, 2009). Credit: NASA/JPL-CaltechThe NASA team spotted the rock, which measures about 0.6 meters across, on July 18 in the opposite direction from which the rover was driving. Currently Opportunity has been directed to approach the rock for further analysis with the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer to get composition measurements and to confirm if indeed it is a meteorite.

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