Curiosity spots foot-wide meteorite on Mars
Click for original image.
Curiosity appears to have identified a foot-wide rock on the surface of Mars that is likely a meteorite.
While the JPL press release at this link is certain this is a meteorite, the Curiosity science team is properly more circumspect:
The rock we are parked in front of is one of several very dark-colored blocks in this area which seem to have come from elsewhere, and we are calling “foreign stones.” Our investigations will help determine if this is a block from elsewhere on Mars that just has been weathered in an interesting way or if it is a meteorite.
The image to the right surely does look like a meteorite. If so, this would be one of the largest found so far on Mars by any rover.
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Click for original image.
Curiosity appears to have identified a foot-wide rock on the surface of Mars that is likely a meteorite.
While the JPL press release at this link is certain this is a meteorite, the Curiosity science team is properly more circumspect:
The rock we are parked in front of is one of several very dark-colored blocks in this area which seem to have come from elsewhere, and we are calling “foreign stones.” Our investigations will help determine if this is a block from elsewhere on Mars that just has been weathered in an interesting way or if it is a meteorite.
The image to the right surely does look like a meteorite. If so, this would be one of the largest found so far on Mars by any rover.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
It might be a glacial eratic
That is a meteorite.
It is more than likely one from long ago when the atmosphere was thicker, I think most now would not get the chance to burn as much coming in.
Mark that spot. That’s a chunk of metal in a place that doesn’t seem to have much.