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PIA05239: Spirit's First Grinding of a Rock on Mars
Spirit's First Grinding of a Rock on Mars
Target Name: Mars
Is a satellite of: Sol (our sun)
Mission: Mars Exploration Rover (MER)
Spacecraft: Spirit
Instrument: Panoramic Camera
Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT)
Product Size: 1024 samples x 1024 lines
Produced By: JPL
Full-Res TIFF: PIA05239.tif (819.7 kB)
Full-Res JPEG: PIA05239.jpg (143.6 kB)

Click on the image to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original).

Original Caption Released with Image:
The round, shallow depression in this image resulted from history's first grinding of a rock on Mars. The rock abrasion tool on NASA's Spirit rover ground off the surface of a patch 45.5 millimeters (1.8 inches) in diameter on a rock called Adirondack. The hole is 2.65 millimeters (0.1 inch) deep, exposing fresh interior material of the rock for close inspection with the rover's microscopic imager and two spectrometers on the robotic arm. This image was taken by Spirit's panoramic camera, providing a quick visual check of the success of the grinding. The rock abrasion tools on both Mars Exploration Rovers were supplied by Honeybee Robotics, New York, N.Y.
Image Credit:
NASA/JPL/Cornell

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