NASA Finds “Mysterious” Rock In Front Of Mars’ Opportunity Rover




/ 11 years ago

ku-xlarge

NASA scientists from the Mars Exploration Rover project have discovered a strange discrepancy in two photos taken by the Opportunity rover. The first picture displays a photo taken 3528 SOL days (or Martian days) after the Opportunity arrived on Mars. The second photo shows the exact landscape, only with a strange object, presumably a rock, added to the background just after 12 SOL days.

The first reaction of NASA’s scientists looked 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.” The object itself is merely the size of a “jelly doughnut”, as they described it. Nonetheless, it is a startling discovery for NASA scientists since they cannot explain the ‘rock’s whereabouts. Therefore, they have already cooked up a couple of possibilities of how the “jelly doughnut” got there.

The first theory is described as the rock belonging to a meteor which has entered the Martian atmosphere, and a fragment that detached from the meteor might have found its place in the exact spot we are looking at now. The other, more plausible, theory is that the rover itself might have tipped it over when it did a turn in place on bedrock, having one of its wheels broken. The manoeuvre might have coupled a portion of the rock to the wheel, which in turn flipped it.

There is still the “third” possibility, as every alien fanatic out there might think, that a Martian threw the rock (obviously ruled out of the question). Whatever the cause might be for the mysterious object’s appearance, we will undoubtedly see more information about it as scientists are eager to analyse it from each and every angle possible (and impossible even).

Thank you Gizmodo for providing us with this information
Image courtesy of Gizmodo


Topics: , , , , , ,

Support eTeknix.com

By supporting eTeknix, you help us grow and continue to bring you the latest newsreviews, and competitions. Follow us on FacebookTwitter and Instagram to keep up with the latest technology news, reviews and more. Share your favourite articles, chat with the team and more. Also check out eTeknix YouTube, where you'll find our latest video reviews, event coverage and features in 4K!

Looking for more exciting features on the latest technology? Check out our What We Know So Far section or our Fun Reads for some interesting original features.

eTeknix Facebook eTeknix Twitter eTeknix Instagram eTeknix Instagram
  • Be Social With eTeknix

    Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Reddit RSS Discord Patreon TikTok Twitch
  • Features


Send this to a friend
})