News Archive

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 Spirit Finds New Rock Type Peace, with the RAT's mark arrowed. Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornel Spirit has found a rock in Colombia hills, which contains large amounts of internal Sulfur. Most rocks only have Sulfur on their crusts, but the new rock --Peace-- has large quantaties in its interior. The Sulfur seems be in ratio with the Magnesium contents of the rock in different places, leading scientists to believe that there is Magnesium Sulfate in the rock. Peace seems to contain volcanic rock imbedded in it, possibly small rocks embedded in a Magnesium Sulphate matrix. Opportunity has been examining its own heat shield. The data isn't surprising, but will help designers design better heat shields for future missions. (More info: New Scientist) @ 12:24 EST