# Presentation: 467360

## Mars Exploration Rover Mission

**Mars Exploration Rover Mission**

**Week in Review               **
**April 10 - April 16**

**Spirit               and Opportunity **

## After a four-sol

** ****04/14/04**

**After a four-sol**
**“****stand down” for a new and improved flight software upload, Spirit resumed its investigation of the rock dubbed “Route 66” **
**this week.**

**Notes:**
Spirit Back at Work

This image taken by the hazard-avoidance camera on the Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 99 shows the rock dubbed "Route 66" and a flower-shaped brush mark made by the rover's rock abrasion tool. The image was taken after a four-day break for flight software updates and confirms that these updates were successful. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL

## Approximate true-color panoramic camera composite image taken April 14, 2004. 

**Spirit scientists used the rock abrasion tool **
**to brush the dust off of Route 66 in a daisy pattern **
**large enough for the miniature thermal emission spectrometer to analyze the freshly exposed area.**

## Spirit spent the rest of the week analyzing Route 66 with its other science instruments to understand how the rock’s unique, shiny coating formed. 

***Microscopic imager view, 1.2 inches across, of Route 66.****** ***

**Notes:**
Smooth Side of 'Route 66'
This image was taken by the microscopic imager onboard NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Spirit on sol 99 (April 13, 2004). It is a close-up look at a portion of the rock called "Route 66," which was brushed by the rover's rock abrasion tool. 
This image intrigues scientists because it looks very different from the microscopic images taken of other brushed rocks at the Gusev Crater location. The surface of Route 66 is very shiny and specularly reflective, which may indicate a glassy surface, or perhaps a very smooth, discontinuous coating. The unique coating appears mottled and may be multi-layered. 
Other interesting features in this brushed area of Route 66 are the very thin, arc-shaped lines that are visible in the upper left quadrant of the image. An initial hypothesis suggests that these arcs may have been caused by the rock abrasion tool when the instrument made its initial contact with the surface. 
Scientists will use the combined data from the rover's Mössbauer spectrometer and alpha particle X-ray spectrometer along with color versions of this image to try to reach stronger conclusions about what they are seeing and what processes caused the features. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell

## Meanwhile, Opportunity scientists released new results gained from the chemical analysis and extensive research done on Bounce Rock, the lone large 

***0.3-inch (7-millimeter) deep and 1.8-inch (4.5-centimeter) wide hole. ***

**Meanwhile, Opportunity scientists released new results gained from the chemical analysis and extensive research done on Bounce Rock, the lone large **
**rock on the Meridiani Plains.**

**Notes:**
This false-color composite of the rock dubbed "Bounce" shows the rock after the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity drilled into it with its rock abrasion tool. 

The drilling of the 7-millimeter-deep (0.3-inch) hole generated a bright powder. The color in this image has been enhanced to show that these tailings are relatively blue when compared with the unaltered rock (to the human eye, the tailings would appear red). 

This image was assembled from the infrared (750-nanometer), green (530-nanometer) and violet (430-nanometer) filters of the rover's panoramic camera. It was taken on sol 68. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell 

## Scientists compared the iron signature of Bounce Rock with those of three soil samples taken outside of Eagle Crater. 

**The results suggest that Bounce Rock did not originate in the plains of Meridiani Planum.**

**Notes:**
This illustration shows that the rock dubbed "Bounce" near the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's landing region at Meridiani Planum is not made up of the same minerals as surrounding soil. Spectra, or light signatures, from three soil samples taken outside of "Eagle Crater" are compared to that of Bounce (bottom). The dashed white line in the center of the spectra indicates where the "fingerprint" for triple-oxidized iron (Fe 3+) occurs. While the soil samples possess this feature, Bounce does not. The results suggest that Bounce did not originate in the plains of Meridiani Planum. These spectra were taken by the rover's Mössbauer spectrometer. Measurements of Bounce were made on sol 67. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/University of Mainz

## Scientists matched Bounce Rock’s mineral signature with minerals studied in laboratories here on Earth.  

**They found out that Bounce Rock is made up of about 70% pyroxene minerals that are also rich in calcium.**

**Notes:**
The mineralogy of "Bounce" rock was determined by fitting spectra from a library of laboratory minerals to the spectrum of Bounce taken by the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity's miniature thermal emission spectrometer. The minerals that give the best fit include pyroxene, plagioclase and olivine -- minerals commonly found in basaltic volcanic rocks -- and typical martian dust produced by the rover's rock abrasion tool. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/ASU

## Further analysis revealed that Bounce Rock’s iron signature matched that of a meteorite named Shergotty, which landed in India 

**Opportunity**

**Further analysis revealed that Bounce Rock’s iron signature matched that of a meteorite named Shergotty, which landed in India **
**in 1865.**

**A match with a meteorite **
**found here on Earth!**

**Notes:**
'Bounce' and Shergotty Share Common Ground
This illustration compares the light signature or spectrum of "Bounce," a rock at Meridiani Planum, to that of a martian meteorite found on Earth called Shergotty. Bounce's spectrum, and thus mineral composition, is unique to the rocks studies so far at Merdiani Planum and Gusev Crater, the landings sites of the Mars Exploration Rovers Opportunity and Spirit. However, the results here indicate that Bounce is not a one-of-a-kind rock, but shares origins with Shergotty. Shergotty landed in India in 1865. Bounce's spectra were taken on sol 67 by Opportunity's Mössbauer spectrometer. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/University of Mainz

## The chemical composition of Bounce Rock is also quite similar to another Mars meteorite called EETA79001-B.

**That means Bounce Rock probably has a similar origin to this meteorite, which is a basalt rock.**

**Notes:**
These two sets of bar graphs compare the elemental compositions of six martian rocks: "Bounce," located at Meridiani Planum; EETA79001-B, a martian meteorite found in Antarctica in 1979; a rock found at the Mars Pathfinder landing site; Shergotty, a martian meteorite that landed in India in 1865; "Adirondack," located at Gusev Crater; and "Humphrey," also located at Gusev Crater. The graph on the left compares magnesium/iron ratios in the rocks, and the graph on the right compares aluminum/calcium ratios. The results illustrate the diversity of rocks on Mars and indicate that Bounce probably shares origins with the martian meterorite EETA79001-B. The Bounce data was taken on sol 68 by the alpha particle X-ray spectrometer on Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity.

Image Credit: 
NASA/JPL/Cornell/Max Planck Institute 
Image Note: 
Ben-Clark_BARS-IN-B79R1 

## The matching spectra of the Shergotty meteorite and Bounce Rock suggest that both were flung far from home by a meteor impact on Mars.

**A large crater south of Opportunity’s landing site may be the location of the impact that threw Bounce Rock into Opportunity’s landing area.**

**Opportunity’s landing target ellipse**

**Impact crater**

**Notes:**
Flung Far from Home
The rock dubbed "Bounce" at Meridiani Planum, Mars, may have been thrown onto the plains during an impact that formed a 25-kilometer-diameter (15.5-mile) crater (arrow) located 50 kilometers (31 miles) southeast of the Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity landing site (to the right of ellipse center). This infrared image, taken by the thermal emission imaging system on the Mars Odyssey orbiter, shows the pattern of ejecta, or material, thrown from the large crater. Rays of this rocky material can be seen radiating outward from the crater. The Opportunity landing site is close to one of these rays, as well as other rays of small impact craters seen in high-resolution Mars Odyssey camera images within 5 kilometers (3.1 miles) of the landing site. Bounce rock may be a smaller piece of material ejected onto the plains by this impact event. 

Image credit: NASA/JPL/ASU 

## On April 14, with the flight software upload

**On April 14, with the flight software upload**
**complete, Opportunity continued to gather new chemical data from the trench it dug **
**near the Anatolia trough.   **

**Notes:**
Front Hazard-Avoidance camera image taken sol 80, April 15.

## 	In the coming sols, Opportunity will make

**COMING UP!**

**	****In the coming sols, Opportunity will make**
**        ****its way to “Fram Crater,” a waypoint on the **
**	****	****	****                ****half-mile journey to        **
**                                                  ****Endurance Crater.**

**During its first 100 sols on Mars, Spirit has driven **
**0.44 miles (706.5 meters) **
**on its 1.5-mile (2.4-kilometer) journey toward Columbia Hills.**