Explanation:
What has the Opportunity rover found on Mars?
While traversing a vast empty plain in
Meridiani Planum, one of Earth's
yearling rolling robots
found a surprise when visiting the location of it 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 Shied 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.
bisch sicher ? mini spion im kramalgaumer ruum hend mer gad per subruumcon mitteilt das kramalgaumer d'mineralie und d'metall ufem mars abbaue wönd...eventuell isch das es erschts bergwerk
Das ist nunmal die normale Topografie in diesem Gebiet (AFAIK Meridiani Planum).
Viel eigenartiger finde ich das beide MER's schon seit einem Jahr auf dem Mars sind, aber noch nicht zugefroren oder mit Sand bedeckt sind. Eigentlich hat die NASA mit einer Überlebenszeit zwischen 3-9 Monaten gerechnet.
