New images from NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity show the robot now studying a dark rock on the red planet, thought to be an iron meteorite.
The toaster-sized rock is being given a scientific look by Opportunity’s robot arm that’s laden with instruments.
Opportunity has found four iron meteorites during the rover’s exploration of the Meridiani Planum region of Mars since early 2004 – and comparative imagery of the earlier finds say this object is number five.
The newfound rock has been given the informal name “Oileán Ruaidh” (pronounced ay-lan ruah), which is the Gaelic name for an island off the coast of northwestern Ireland.
The rock being analyzed is about 45 centimeters (18 inches) wide from the angle at which it was first seen.
Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004 for what was planned as a three-month mission – and is still going strong.
“The dark color, rounded texture and the way it is perched on the surface all make it look like an iron meteorite,” said science-team member Matt Golombek of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Mars Exploration Rover mission for the NASA Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
By LD/CSE