NASA's intrepid Mars rover Opportunity has found yet another
meteorite on the surface of the red planet.
Opportunity stumbled upon this new meteorite, dubbed
"Shelter Island," less than three weeks after driving away from a
larger meteorite that the
rover examined for six weeks.
The rover began its approach to the meteorite with a 92-foot
(28-meter) backwards drive on Oct. 1, the rover's 2,022nd day on Mars.
Opportunity and its twin rover Spirit — which is currently embedded in a soft
spot of soil called Troy — have been on the Martian surface for more than
five years.
Shelter Island is a pitted rock is about 18.5 inches (47 cm)
long. The meteorite was first detected in images taken two Martian days
earlier. (A Martian day is 24 hours and 40 minutes long.)
Two Martian days after its backward drive, Opportunity
turned around to face the meteorite. In the days that followed, it made a final
3.3-foot (1-meter) move
to put the rock within reach of the rover robotic arm .
Mission managers are now planning to use the arm to contact the meteorite and
make measurements.
Opportunity has driven about 2,300 feet (700 meters) since
it finished studying the meteorite called "Block Island" on Sept. 11,
2009.
Block Island weighs at least half a ton, is composed of iron
and nickel, and is
likely too large to have plunged through the current thin atmosphere of
Mars without being obliterated upon impact, scientists say.
Both meteorites have been found during Opportunity's trek to
its next target, Endeavour Crater.
Opportunity also found a third meteorite, Heat Shield Rock,
in 2004.
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