After being on Mars for more than a decade, NASA’s Curiosity rover is fairly accustomed to traversing Mars solo.
But last week we encountered another foreign visitor rumbling over Mount Sharp on the 3,724th Mars day. This meteorite also ended up in a dusty, barren desert after traveling an extraordinary distance through space. A meteorite 1 foot wide.
NASA calls space rocks cacao(opens in new window)is one of the few meteorites discovered by a lucky robot since it arrived on Mars in 2012. Using a mast camera, Curiosity took a photo showing her new discovery on January 27th. A unique Johnny 5-like shadow creates a frame. . Selfie [see below] It’s actually made up of six images stitched together, so the edges are jagged.
‘There is no way to pinpoint these dates,’ NASA said through an anthropomorphic curiosity account(opens in new window) on Twitter. “But it could have been here for millions of years!”
Massive Martian clouds return each spring. Scientists have discovered why.
Curiosity’s Shadow casts a frame around a newly discovered meteorite on Mars.
Credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech / MSSS
On Earth, scientists estimate about 48.5 tons of billion-year-old meteor material(opens in new window) It rains from space every day, and much of it either evaporates in the atmosphere or falls into the oceans, which cover more than 70% of the planet. Over 60,000 meteorites have been found on our planet. According to NASA, most of them come from asteroids, but only a few come from Mars and the moon.At least 175 people have been identified here(opens in new window) I come from the red planet.
“We could have been here for millions of years!”
Curiosity, a car-sized rover(opens in new window)and its predecessors have discovered meteorites before, and the Meteorite Society has begun to maintain a database of their discoveries(opens in new window)International organizations have given official name recognition to 15 such specimens since 2005.
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It’s not clear which planet, moon, or asteroid’s cocoa spilled out of the country, but mission scientists say it was an iron-nickel meteorite. are not uncommon in meteorites, but not as common as stony meteorites. Other meteorites discovered by the rover on the expedition had similar iron compositions.
Scientists speculate that iron meteorites are resistant to Martian erosion. This may explain why this large space rock appears to be sitting on flat ground instead of a hole.
Curiosity: ‘It’s likely there was a large crater in ancient times’ murmured(opens in new window)“Over time, erosion and other forces flatten the perimeter, chipping away at all but the hardest material.”
