NASA's Opportunity Rover came across an unusual rock this week Discovery News reported Friday.
"So my best guess for this rock ... is that it's something that was nearby," Steve Squyres from Cornell University, and lead scientist at a NASA Propulsion Laboratory told Discovery.com. "I must stress that I'm guessing now, but I think it happened when the rover did a turn in place a meter or two from where this rock now lies," Squyres told Discovery News. Squyres proclaimed the news at an occasion marking the 10-year anniversary since the Opportunity Rover arrived on the red planet Discovery News reported.
The Rover found the object a couple feet in front of it Discovery News reported.
"It obligingly turned upside down, so we're seeing a side that hasn't seen the Martian atmosphere in billions of years and there it is for us to investigate. It's just a stroke of luck," Squyres told Discovery News.
"It's about the size of a jelly doughnut," Squyres told Discovery News. "It was a total surprise, we were like 'wait a second, that wasn't there before, it can't be right. Oh my god! It wasn't there before!' We were absolutely startled."
"You think of Mars as being a very static place and I don't think there's a smoking hole nearby so it's not a bit of crater ejecta, I think it's something that we did ... we flung it," Squyres told Discovery News.
NASA's second rover on the red planet had a very long journey on the red planet, landing last August to begin taking in its air and further investigating its certain aspects BBC News reported.
The new findings include two kinds of argon gas in argon 36, and argon 38. Curiosity was able to find these through its Sample Analysis at Mars tool (SAM) the press release reported.
The Rover discovered rare meteorites through its Sample Analysis at Mars tool in October the American Geophysical Union reported in a press release. The findings included two kinds of argon gas in argon 36, and argon 38 the press release reported.
