Hollow 'doughnut' rock appears in Mars rover's path

[cronus]

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn2 ... topltJFAdU

Hollow 'doughnut' rock appears in Mars rover's path

After a decade on the Martian surface, you might think that NASA's Opportunity rover has seen it all. But just before the 10th anniversary of the rover's landing, its operators got a surprise treat: a weird rock "materialised" right in front of the rover's wheels.

The image on the left was taken by the rover's panoramic camera on the 3528th sol, or Martian day, of the mission. The image on the right is of the same spot 12 days later. It shows an additional rock about the size of a doughnut that seems to have appeared out of the blue.

"We just all went, 'Huh? What's going on?'" says rover project scientist Matt Golombek at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "It's very interesting when you see a rock that wasn't there before. It's a fun surprise."

Nicknamed Pinnacle Island, the rock has a raised ridge and a hollowed-out centre. The rover team is not sure where it came from, but they suspect it could have been ejected by a nearby meteorite impact – or dropped there by the rover itself. "It's most likely just a rock that was picked up and kicked by the wheel, which clicked it over to a new spot," says Golombek.

(continued)

[Rum]

Merican cops - they get everywhere..

[Clinton Huxley]

You've missed out how this is somehow a portent of the end of civilisation

[cronus]

You've missed out how this is somehow a portent of the end of civilisation

It's a tire from when the Martians had cars.....now all rust. I've seen the future and the tyres will survive.

[cronus]

You've missed out how this is somehow a portent of the end of civilisation

It's a tire from when the Martians had cars.....now all rust. I've seen the future and the tyres will survive.

[FBM]

'Ich bin ein Berliner'.

[Faithfree]

It looks more like a jam tart.

[cronus]

Discarded crisp packet....seen them before at exotic and rare locations. Tourists probably.

[mistermack]

Well, I think it's interesting. How many rocks do you ever see, with a hollowed-out shape like that? I'll bet you could look for a week, and not see one. It's not a natural way for rocks to fracture or wear.

And there are apparently no large fossils on mars, so that excludes most of the mechanisms that would make a rock form that way on earth.

So not only is there an incredibly rare event, of a rock moving on Mars, but it's an incredibly rare rock.

I'm betting that there is a lot of head-scratching going on at NASA.
Maybe a bit fell off the rover, and then got run over? But as the photo is taken from exactly the same place, you would think that that's because it hadn't moved between the two pictures being taken.

[cronus]

Could be and most likely is part of the original parachute that's been blowing about the surface in that vicinity. Rover not travelled far. It'll be gone by the time they turn the heap of scrap around.

[cronus]

...back to square one, thing is shit high in magnesium and sulphur - consistent with it not being from Mars and possibly having somekind of artificial industrial/electro engineering build.

[mistermack]

...back to square one, thing is shit high in magnesium and sulphur - consistent with it not being from Mars and possibly having somekind of artificial industrial/electro engineering build.

Got link? I couldn't find that.

But I take it back about the shape, there seems to be all sorts of weird shapes possible.
Have a look at this one, it's on the Huffington Post website about the Mars Probes.
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/01 ... 17458.html
I can't imagine how some of those shapes came about. Needs a geologist.

[trdsf]

Maybe it's an old AOL free trial disk, after being run over by the rover.

[Scott1328]

Apollo 18 was rite, dems is doze spider rocks wut kiilt those asternot fellers and that commie dude

[cronus]

Apollo 18 was rite, dems is doze spider rocks wut kiilt those asternot fellers and that commie dude

If aliens wanted to troll for the lulz then throwing a mystery rock and waiting is precisely what I'd do myself.