This image, acquired by the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera on the 53rd martian day, or sol, of the rover's mission, struck science and engineering teams as not only scientifically interesting but remarkably beautiful
Mars Exploration Rover Spirit's panoramic camera captured this image on the 53rd Martian day, or sol, of the its mission. The large, shadowed rock in the foreground is nicknamed "Sandia" for a mountain range in New Mexico. It is about a foot (33 centimeters) high and 4.5 feet (1.7 meters) long.
Scientists think the rock is one of many pieces of ejecta, stuff kicked out long ago by a meteor impact that created the nearby Bonneville crater, to which Spirit is headed.
Sandia is probably basaltic rock, the scientists said. The vertical lines on the side of the rock facing the camera are known by geologists as "flow banding" and typically run horizontally. So Sandia is thought to be on its side.
Many smaller rocks can be seen in the background of the image. Some rocks are completely exposed, while others are only peeking out of the surface. Scientists believe that two processes might be at work here: accretion, which occurs when winds deposit material that slowly buries many of the rocks; and deflation, which occurs when surface material is removed by wind, exposing more and more of the rocks.
In a lightened
version of the image, scientists see what
look like small holes on the two visible sides of the rock. These are called
vesicles, and they were probably once gas bubbles within the lava. [Rover
News]
Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell
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