Mysterious Rock Appears on Mars

[Morg]

I believe the simple answer is called "wind."

Nah, it's Opportunity messing with us.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

So apparently the Mars mystery rock is like a jelly doughnut according to this article.

http://edition.cnn.com/2014/01/20/tech/innovation/mars-mystery-rock/index.html?hpt=hp_c3

Did Mars rover Opportunity order a jelly doughnut?
Not quite, but scientists are baffled by a white rock with a dark red low spot in the middle that "just plain appeared at that spot" on the planet where the rover is situated, says Steve Squyres, lead scientist of the Mars Exploration Rover mission.
In recent weeks, Opportunity took photos of the same spot on Mars, 12 days apart. The rover's panoramic camera showed only barren bedrock on mission day 3528 (in Mars time), but on day 3540, a photo of the same scene revealed the mysterious, doughnut-shaped rock.

This is the really strange part:

Opportunity is now studying the mystery rock more extensively, making measurements and taking pictures. Its instruments have shown scientists that the "jelly" part is "like nothing we've ever seen before," Squyres said. It's very high in sulfur and magnesium, and it has twice as much manganese as has ever been seen in anything on Mars.
No one knows what that means.

"We're completely confused, we're having a wonderful time, everyone on the team is arguing and fighting," Squyres said.

Yay, science, b-word!!!

 

[Octoberist]

Interesting.

 

[KevanG]

Aliens snuck up behind the rover and dropped it in front of it to mess with us.

 

[Mike_D202]

Jelly, you say?

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Opportunity supposedly topples a stone onto the scene which so happens to be of a previously unknown composition.

An advanced life-form with a Prometheus complex?

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

The unique composition aspect makes this story really bizarre.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Yep. If there's a statistician on SHH, please crack the numbers.

 

[The Guard]

If you zoom out, the rock completes the image of a smiley face.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

I should clarify when I say "supposedly toppled". That is a more than believable explanation in and of itself.

 

[BestGirl]

Is there any way to scoop this rock up and bring it back to Earth?

 

[Teelie]

No. There's no way to physically bring anything back to Earth. You'd need a rocket for that and fuel.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Been researching a little.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sojourner_%28rover%29

Camera-equipped rovers had explored Mars sixteen and a half years by the time Opportunity found the strange rock.

Sojourner, the first well-equipped rover (linked above), had the capability of studying sediments, as well:

APXS could determine elemental composition of Mars rocks and dust, except for hydrogen.[5] It works by exposing a sample to alpha particles, then measuring the energies of emitted protons, X-rays, and backscattered alpha particles.[5]

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Now what I want to know is how well Pinnacle Island had been analyzed before this. That's another variable to take into account.

 

[craigdbfan]

Might be debris from an asteroid that landed there.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

I think craig's got it.

Man, I can't believe Opportunity has been doing this for over a decade. Do you think it ever mutters to itself at night "I'm too old for this ****"?

 

[Teelie]

That is one theory but it is the lesser of the two likely scenarios they think happened.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

But how do you explain the unique composition then? There's been rovers and landers for over 35 years, and they've put in thousands of hours of work, and this is the first of its kind they've seen.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Sixteen and a half years of landscape study with a rover. Unless I missed something.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

Sorry I thought the Viking landers from the 70's (the ones that had the first Mars surface pics) were rovers as well, but they were stationary.

The point is still strong. 16 years and thousands of hours then.

 

[Superwoman Prime]

Agreed.

 

[Teelie]

I think I see what happened here. It might be from an asteroid but it didn't land there recently. The rock may have been there for decades or even several millenia but they think one of the wheels on the rover kicked it into that place. So that makes sense for it being both an asteroid and a rock moved by the rover itself.

 

[NickNitro]

An alien farted and moved the rock into frame. Problem solved, move along people.

 

[JJJ's Ulcer]

What do you guys reckon an alien's fart would smell like?