Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Another Possible Mars Meteorite

NASA's Mars rover Opportunity, on its way to Endeavour crater, has spotted what looks to be another meteorite on the surface. If the small, dark rock does in fact turn out to be a meteorite, it will be the fifth one Opportunity has found. The rover will be driven to the rock to make a final determination.

So far, in approaching seven years, Opportunity has traveled 14.5 miles over the surface. Finding that many meteorites in such a small area likely tells us that meteorites are fairly common on Mars. If that's accurate, human expeditions to the planet could not only learn Mars' history and build a future, they could also learn a lot about the history of the Solar System simply by picking up and analyzing the right rocks.

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