The Mars rover Opportunity has found a meteorite, scientists revealed today. The rock was first seen on January 15th, its thermal emissions were scanned and the results suggested that the rock was metal, which would mean it was a meteorite.
Using its Mossbauer spectrometer, Opportunity confirmed the suspicions that the rock, found near its discarded heat shield, was made of iron and nickel.
"This is a wonderful surprise," says the rovers' lead scientist, Steve Squyres, at Cornell University, New York, US. "I didn't see this one coming."
